PEORIA
Barry Tinsley
American (born 1942)
Delos, 1983
painted aluminum
Museum purchase with support from the Illinois
Arts Council 1985.16.2
RIVERFRONT
MUSEUM
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SCULPTURE
GARDEN GUIDE
Chicago-based artist Barry Tinsley is concerned with shape and
space. He creates sculptures that are spontaneous and whose volume appears to be irrational. In walking around them, the viewer
sees space transformed and the relationships among the internal
forms constantly changing. Delos balances numerous geometric
shapes against one another, creating an interrelationship of forms
that unifies the sculpture.
Delos is characteristic of Tinsley’s earlier works that appear to be
cut from thick sheets of metal, twisted into dynamic shapes and
balanced on long legs. It is small in comparison with many of Tinsley’s works, which can be as long as 50’ and as tall as 14’.
Welcome to the Sculpture Garden
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Harrison Gibbs
American (1908-1944)
Fountain Group, designed 1937-38, cast 2013
bronze
Gift of Ramona H. Gibbs in memory of her parents, T. Harrison
and Maurine Montgomery Gibbs, with the support of Dr. William
H. and Nancy Marshall 2013.31
Gibbs, son of an artist and author, received a classical training in
Philadelphia and Rome. He created the plaster model for this fountain as a Prix de Rome Fellow, but died on a battlefield in France
before it could be cast. He created an impressive body of work in his
short career.
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The classical symbols of water life that comprise the fountain are
presented in a modern, dynamic composition that invites the viewer
to examine the work from every perspective. The sound of the water
adds yet another dimension to the piece.
The Museum’s collections extend
beyond the boundaries of the building
itself with sculptures sited on the
plaza shared with the Caterpillar
Visitors Center and in the Water Street
level Outdoor Sculpture Garden. The
artworks – most by Illinois artists – are
integrated into the native plantings
that complement the buildings. They
enliven the museum grounds and offer
an opportunity for the appreciation of
art by the casual passerby and devoted
art lover alike.
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Antoine Poncet
Swiss (born 1928)
Embryonoire, Nero Atlantide
marble
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LIBERTY STREET
Poncet comes from a family of artists, including his grandfather, painter Maurice Denis. He was heavily
influenced by Jean Arp, who explored abstract organic forms in his art and was a founder of the Dada
and Surrealist movements in France. Poncet was the only student Arp ever accepted.
Curving, asymmetrically balanced shapes, sometimes with clefts or holes cut into them, characterize
Poncet’s style. He maintains studios in Paris and in Carrara, Italy. His sculptures are in a number of
corporate and public art museum collections. Embroyonoire, Nero Atlantide was one of 18 sculptures
commissioned from Poncet by the Sara Lee Corporation in Chicago.
Richard Hunt
American (born 1935)
Active Hybrid, 1984
welded bronze
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Given in memory of Inette Goldstein, a loyal museum supporter,
by her friends with a matching grant from the Illinois Art Council
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1984.35
Based in Chicago, Hunt is considered one of the most gifted contemporary artists working directly with metal anywhere in the
world. He studied at School of the Art Institute (Chicago), as well
as in Europe.
Hunt specializes in outdoor public sculptures. His works are comprised of angular and curved volumes that suggest movement
and emotion while creating a relationship with the landscape in
which they are situated. They are organic and abstract yet seem
to suggest certain natural forms and references. Active Hybrid
suggests a sense of growth and vitality with its emerging forms.
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Gift of Sara Lee Corporation 1989.9
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WATER STREET
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222 SW Washington St
Peoria, IL 61602
www.RiverfrontMuseum.org
WASHINGTON STREET
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John Raimondi
American (born 1948)
Dian, 1985
stainless steel
Gift of Mel and Roz Regal 2007.48
Thomas Henderson
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American (born 1936)
Champayne #4, 1967
Cor-Ten steel
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Lester Knorr 1971.10
Raimondi studied at the Massachusetts College of Art and has
produced more than 75 monumental works of art, displayed
throughout the world. An ardent conservationist, Raimondi often finds inspiration for his work in nature. Dian is a tribute to
American zoologist Dian Fosse (1932-1985), who spent many
years studying eight gorilla groups in Rwanda. The arc behind
the twisting upright figure represents the moon, a reference to
the mythological goddess Diana, goddess of the hunt and moon.
The highly reflective surface gives the sculpture an ever-changing
relationship with its setting.
Nita Sunderland
American (born 1927)
Recumbent Knight, 1979
Indiana limestone
Bequest of William S. Block 2014.5
An example of a meandering biomorphic shape, this work was
formerly located at Glen Oak Park Conservatory. Henderson was
on the University of Illinois faculty from 1965 to 1967. He retired
from teaching sculpture at Mount Allison University in News
Brunswick.
This work is made of Cor-Ten steel, a material developed in the
20th century to obviate the need for painting because it formed a
stable rust-like appearance when exposed to weather. It has been
used by many sculptors and by architects for building exteriors.
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Sunderland was Professor of Art at Bradley University and for some years has owned a sculpture
restoration business. Although committed to her
role as a teacher, Sunderland’s passion has been to
convey her experience of life through stone, metal
and wood.
Gary Slater
American (born 1948)
Dorado VII, circa 1975
stainless steel, copper
Gift of Mel and Roz Regal 2007.49
A native of Minnesota, Slater moved to Arizona in 1971, where
he earned his MFA from Arizona State University. Working with
stainless steel, copper, bronze and combinations of metals and
finishes, he has created more than 500 sculptures in his career.
Sunderland studied at Bradley University. She began her career in the 1950s when females generally were excluded from the field of sculpture, in part
because they were not considered strong enough
to wield the heavy materials and tools used by
stone and metal workers. Sunderland always was
involved fully with the creation of her works from
conception to installation.
Slater’s interest in combining geometric stainless steel shapes
with free-formed hand-textured copper is evident in Dorado VII.
The term “dorado” (dolphin fish in Spanish), refers to a constellation in the Southern Hemisphere, notable for containing the Large
Magellanic Cloud.
Barry Tinsley
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American (born 1942)
Peoria Portal, 1989
granite, stainless steel, bronze
Gift of Harriett and Eugene Swager
Nita Sunderland
American (born 1927)
Ruins I, 1995
limestone and bronze
Gift to the Museum by Dr. and Mrs. George Kottemann 1997.44
1989.10.1
In this work the artist combines elements of
classical and modern architectural motifs using
a natural material—granite—with a man-made
one—steel. The relationship between architecture
and the environment is important to Tinsley, as
is establishing a relationship between his works
and the space around them. Mrs. Swager and
her daughters commissioned Peoria Portal as
a birthday surprise for her husband, an active
architect at the time Tinsley created the sculpture,
always intending to dedicate it to the Peoria
community by donating it to the museum.
Human forms suggestive of ancient and medieval figures dominate Sunderland’s works. Ruins I is part of a series combining broken stone columns with dark, bronze figures in an architectural
environment, creating a serene tableau of classical ruins.
Her love of animals led Sunderland to create a number of lyrical
forms In the 1970s based on both reality and fantasy, and dragons
dominate this group. Her best-known work on public view is the
whimsical Cedric the Dragon (1975), a large bronze work situated
in the grassy lawn of the Civic Center near Peoria’s historic City
Hall, just two blocks north of the museum on Fulton Street.
Eric Shaw
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American (1965-1996)
Sphere One, 1986
bronze
Given in memory of the artist by his parents, Blossom
and Jay Shaw 2003.12
Shaw was a sculptor and photographer. He drew inspiration
almost entirely from nature, celebrating the plants and animals
that share the planet with humans as well as the “endless
structural and architectural aspects of our world.” Sphere One is
an example of the latter. The dual tetrahedron inside a sphere
composed of patterned bars within a larger sphere opened up
with “cut outs” was cast as a single piece of brass within a handcarved mold made of very fine sand hardened with epoxy.
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Bruce White
American (born 1933)
Pop Up, 1985
painted aluminum
Gift of Mrs. Adelaide Cooley
1987.12
White’s work has been described as an elegant union of ancient symbolism and
contemporary science. He works predominantly in stainless steel and aluminum,
although he also uses bronze and granite. White starts each work by manipulating paper or a thin sheet of metal to generate a “surprise” solution that can only
be fully realized in three dimensions; he then pursues the idea on a larger scale.
This sculpture lives up to its title, Pop Up, with the brightly colored projection
rising above its green curved pattern.