Photo : Brennan Romeril , Marshall ’ 11
AS DIRECTOR OF THE STUART COLLECTION , Mary Beebe has had to find boulders to build a teddy bear , crash‐land a house atop a building , and handle the controversy of emblazoning the seven deadly sins in neon around a building .
But Beebe wouldn ’ t want it any other way . In fact , it was the prospect of diverse challenges like these that made her willing to upend her life in 1981 and move from Portland , Ore . to take on the job of spearheading and developing a unique public art collection for the UC San Diego campus .
The Collection ’ s founder , James Stuart DeSilva , felt art had changed his life and opened his eyes to the creative world outside of his career in business . “ I developed a passion to become involved with the artistic genius of our time ,” he wrote in a 2001 essay . After a location search yielded UC San Diego and the exciting bonus of an educational function , in 1980 UC Regents approved the concept for the sculpture collection , and the Stuart Foundation donated an initial $ 1.4 million to bring public art to campus in the hopes that it could change the lives of others as well . The result is a breathtakingly diverse and still growing collection of works scattered over 1200 acres of campus . Installations range from Barbara Kruger ’ s Another sited on the walls and floor of the Price Center , to Alexis Smith ’ s 560‐foot Snake Path slithering up to Geisel Library .
“ The whole campus is a kind of garden ,” says Mathieu Gregoire , project manager for the Collection . “ To find these things in that garden is a part of the magic .”
To create that magic naturally , Beebe doesn ’ t just buy existing art and place it on campus as if one were decorating a living room , but rather seeks out artists willing to create site-specific works . Artist Kiki Smith contributed the statue Standing in 1998 , and Beebe e references a quote from the artist as key to defining the Collection .
“[ Smith ] said , ‘ It ’ s really important to have something inexplicable every day in your life .’ So that ’ s what the art is — it ’ s the possibility of the inexplicable , which I think is especially good in an educational environment ,” says Beebe . Indeed , part of the Collection ’ s purpose is to make people ask questions like , What is art ? or What makes that art ?
“ We are trying to provide memorable experiences es that are there for people to think about ,” says Beebe e . “ People will say to me about Robert Irwin ’ s Two Running Violet V Forms , ‘ Oh , it ’ s the most poetic , romantic , beautiful thing .’ But then someone else will say about another work , ‘ How can you put a bear out there ?’ I say , Well , why not ? It ’ s an astounding bear . It is permission to wonder , in a way .”
26 TRITON | SPRING 2016