Prairie Fire
Object NameSculpture
Artist / Maker
Thomas Stancliffe
((American, b. 1955))
Date1994
MediumPatinated steel and bronze
Dimensions61 1/4 x 12 x 12 in. (155.6 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineGift of the artist. In the permanent collection, Brunnier Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
Object numberU2005.8
Status
Not on viewLabel TextLabel #1:
The fragile soil of the Loess Hills was held in place by the deep roots of native prairie plants. Until European settlement in the mid-19th century, wild prairies covered the Loess Hills in western Iowa. After the 1850s prairie fires were a source of fear and extinguished as quickly as possible so as not to ruin seed crops and harm domesticated animals.
Stancliffe's sculpture refers to the Loess Hills and the prairie fires that nurtured this native land of over 9,000 plants and animal species--some unique only to this geographical area.
Label #2: From "Subject to Change" exhibit.
Thomas Stancliffe (American, b. 1955)
Prairie Fire, 1994
Patinated steel and bronze
Gift of the artist. In the permanent collection, Brunnier Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
U2005.8
This sculpture makes reference to the Loess Hills and the Missouri River. A line near the top of the bronze sculpture acts as a geological baseline denoting limestone strata with the loess soil and hills atop. For thousands of years, prairie fires sustained the abundant and lush tall grass landscape of the hills. This sculpture references spikes of fire as well as the spires of the hills.
Locations
- (not entered) Iowa State University, Brunnier Main Storage
Object Name: Sculpture Base for "Megaplanet"
Thomas Stancliffe
2001
Object number: UM2000.141
