Bighorn

Object NameSculpture

Artist / Maker Gwynn Murrill (American, b. 1942)

Date2008-2011

MediumBronze

Dimensions48 × 56 × 24 in. (121.9 × 142.2 × 61 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineGift of the Artist. In the Art on Campus Collection, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object numberU2016.555

Status

On view

Collections

CultureAmerican

Edition2/6

Label TextFrom the University Museums Collections Handbook, vol. 2, 2025: Gwynn Murrill’s installation Bighorn is installed at the eastern entryway to the Anderson Sculpture Garden. Sited on a pillar of stacked limestone, the male sheep looms over passers-by and connects Morrill Hall visually to the surrounding sculpture garden. Like many of Murrill’s animal sculptures, the detail and texture of the ram are smoothed away, with only slight ridges on the horns, markings for the eyes, and few other defining details. Murrill works in bronze, ceramic, marble and stone, but typically begins by carving sculptures in wood, then refining the block down to a simplified, recognizable shape. The forms of the animals are streamlined, losing all but the bare representational necessities, while still remaining recognizable in play and in motion. Murrill has additional sculpture outside of the Small Animal Clinic, College of Veterinary Medicine. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gwynn Murrill’s "Bighorn" was originally created as part of the public art component for a mixed-use condominium complex in Pasadena, CA, called The Montana. The original sculpture is installed on columns of rough limestone similar to the installation of this second edition, here at Iowa State University. The original installation also incorporates an environmentally friendly water feature - water is conserved, a small amount runs down the surface of the columns. The fountain was developed as a communal area, a meeting place, for both residents and public; it is the focal point of a paseo joining the old city hall and Colorado Blvd. The bighorn imagery draws a connection between the San Gabriel Mountains surrounding Pasadena, where the bighorn can still be found, and the Rocky Mountains of Montana.

Locations