“Ascensione” Installed

“Ascensione,” a much anticipated addition to the museum’s permanent collection, descended on a snowy Performing and Visual Arts Complex quad on Thursday, Jan. 13. The site-specific work was created by world-renowned American sculptor Beverly Pepper and is on display for the first time this week during the museum’s reopening. The presence of the sculpture at the museum links Athens to Assisi, the peaceful Umbrian town where Pepper installed a larger version of the sculpture, in Piazza di San Pietro, which, like GMOA, sits atop a high hill, in 2008.

In addition to this massive sculpture, the museum reopened its doors on Jan. 31 with “Stone and Steel: Small Works by Beverly Pepper.” The exhibition features approximately 20 small-scale works in stone and such materials as onyx, porphyry, granite and marble.

“Each stone has its own life and demands,” Pepper wrote in 2010. “Though I use many different kinds, each is a part of one cognate category with many different forms.” A model of “Ascensione” will also be on display as a part of this exhibition.

Pepper studied at Pratt Institute and the Art Students League in New York. She currently works in Todi, Italy, and New York City. In honor of the museum’s reopening, Pepper will give a special lecture on Wednesday, February 2, at 6 p.m. in Ramsey Hall of the Performing Arts Center.

For a sneak peak at the installation of “Ascensione,” check out these photos on our flickr page.