SYMBOLIC TIMEPIECE

Meshing the Arts and religion at Notre Dame University.

SHOP OWNER: Fred Schock

LOCATION: Upperco, MD

The lobby of The DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts at Notre Dame University, Indiana, displays a very colorful, multi-patterned rug throughout.

Before it opened, I had the opportunity to take a tour of the complex to take pictures for a commission to commemorate its opening. The only directive was for the piece to represent the arts.

Because art and religion have been co-joined for centuries, I decided to combine a clock within a bass clef placed on columns above the inlaid pattern taken from the rug. The clock signals that the arts have been and will be with us for time eternal. Musics bass clef represents all of the arts, and the cruciform, derived from the rug pattern, represents the religious aspect of this independent national Catholic university.

The clock now sits on a glass-top table by the entrance to the Director's Office on campus. The table and pictures above it nicely enhance the displayed piece, which can be seen upon entering the outer office.