A sculpture by a Holland native
thinking of her sister will be dedicated on the north side
of the Hope College campus near downtown on Tuesday, July
25, at 11:30 a.m.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
The sculpture, "Contemplation," by artist Billie
Houtman Clark of Austin, Texas, and Holland, will become
part of the college's van Tamelen Plaza, the landscaped area
west of the Haworth Inn and Conference Center.
Dedicated in the spring of 1997, the plaza is
named in honor of Dr. Eugene van Tamelen and Mary Houtman
van Tamelen of Los Altos Hills, Calif. Dr. Eugene van
Tamelen, who is retired from the Stanford chemistry faculty,
is a member of the college's Class of '47, and Mary van
Tamelen is a member of the college's Class of '52.
Mary van Tamelen, who is the artist's sister, and
a bench on the plaza helped inspire the sculpture. The
life-sized bronze figure depicts a seated young woman
enjoying the space and engaged in reflection as she holds a
book in her lap.
"It was my sister sitting on the bench that
started it all," Clark said. "That's why I took a seated
figure and a college theme with a book on the lap."
The project began with a 19-inch tall miniature,
or maquette. For the full-sized piece, Clark first posed an
adult model and had her covered with plaster to create a
life-sized, hollow "armature," or framework, that she next
covered with the clay that she sculpted to produce the
finished look. A series of moulds and pourings--the "lost
wax" process--ultimately yielded the final bronze work.
She made the sculpture in Texas. It traveled to
Holland in June.
Billie Houtman Clark grew up in Holland, and she
attended Hope for two-and-a-half years after graduating from
Holland High School in 1951. She went on to the School of
the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Mass., and completed a
B.F.A. in studio art at the University of Texas at Austin.
Her sculptures include a variety of figures
installed in Austin. She has had exhibitions in several
venues, including the Laguna Gloria Art Museum and the
Dougherty Art Center in Austin, the Central Public Library
in Houston and the U.T. Medical Center in San Antonio.
She and her husband have a winter home in Austin
and a summer home in Holland.
van Tamelen Plaza is located outside the main,
west entrance to the Haworth Inn and Conference Center
between Ninth and 10th Streets near College Avenue.
"Contemplation" will be installed near the east side of the
college's Admissions House. The Admissions House is at the
corner of 10th Street and College Avenue.