The university boasts more than 30 sculptures on its campus, one of the largest collections of outdoor sculptures in the area. Most of the works have been acquired through the generosity of the Berman Foundation.

*Click here for Map of ESU's Sculpture!

On March 26, 2009

The Art Department at East Stroudsburg University will present a sculpture symposium at 2 p.m. Thursday to mark the university's acquisition of three sculptures from the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation.

Visitors who wish to tour the campus to view the sculptures prior to the symposium at 2 p.m. may pick up maps in the Riebman Administration Building on Normal Street.

The three works, by artists Richard Gottlieb, Stephen Porter and Glenn Zweygardt, are being conserved and will not be installed at the time of the symposium. The artists will each give presentations accompanied by images of their work, artistic vision and professional lives in the Smith McFarland Theater in the Fine and Performing Arts Building on the ESU campus.

Following the artists' presentations, a panel discussion with the artists, Jan Heffern of the Berman Foundation, Laura Goss of PoconoArts Council and moderated by Dominque Nahas, an independent curator and critic based in Manhattan, N.Y., will take place at 4 p.m. The theme of the discussion is "Art as Participation and Anticipation."

Gottlieb owns Rock and Snow, a rock and ice climbing equipment supply in New Paltz, N.Y. He is active creatively, planning works in new directions. His work is in collections at Lehigh University, Ursinus College, Wake Forest University, The City of Baltimore, The Prudential Insurance Company and many others.

Porter, formerly professor of art at the School of Visual Arts, Penn State University, lives and works in Searsmont, Maine. "Outdoor Construction #5," demonstrates the artist's concern with the harmony and beauty created by the relationships within formal structures using a balanced configuration of geometric shapes. His work can be seen at The Storm King Art Center, Lehigh, Lafayette and Penn State universities, Albuquerque Museum of Art and the Worcester Art Museum, as well as in numerous other collections.

ESU has one of Zweygardt's sculptures, a steel and stone piece, and will soon acquire "Kiva Keepers," a smaller steel construction that expresses the artist's desire to tell stories and comment on collective life experience and his perception of a collective consciousness. Zweygardt recently retired as professor of sculpture from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and maintains a studio in Alfred Station, N.Y. In addition to the work on ESU's campus, his work is represented in the permanent collections of The Grounds for Sculpture, Lehigh and Lafayette universities, Muhlenberg, Moravian and Cedar Crest colleges, University of Scranton, Temple University, Notre Dame University, Nelson Rockefeller collection, Heubey Fine Arts Academy in Wuhan, China, and many others.

The discussion will be followed by a reception for the artists and participants in the Madelon Powers Art Gallery from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public. For information, call (570) 422-3695 or 422-3216.