Meadows plans ‘mouse-warming’

“Geometric Mouse II,” a sculpture formerly in frontof the Meadows School of the Arts at SMU, will be moved to theMeadows Museum as part of a modern sculpture exhibit and forsecurity reasons.

The museum will unveil a modern sculpture exhibit on the plazanext Thursday that will include “Geometric Mouse II,” astatue of Mickey Mouse’s head. Officials say the statue isalso being moved because of vandalism that occured over thesummer.

Some students are unhappy about the decision to move thesculpture.

“At Meadows Museum, it’s not going to get theexposure to the students that it would where it was previouslylocated,” Meadows student senator Michael Dorff said.

“The students at [Southern Methodist University]appreciate having artwork on campus, for more than what’sjust inside the museum,” he said.

Other sculptures were moved to the museum from the Meadowsschool in 2001. These included Aristide Maillol’s “TheThree Graces,” a lead sculpture of three females in the nude,and Jacques Lipchitz’s “La Joie de Vivre,” an11-foot-tall bronze depiction of two dancing figures.

Brown said “Geometric Mouse II” was not moved atthat time because there was no good location for it at the museum.The director said that when the other sculptures were moved in2001, there were no complaints by students.

“And so I’m a little surprised at the reaction byjust this one piece,” he said.

Another reason for the move was due to two acts of vandalism,according to Brown.

The director said the vandalism was so severe that the sculpturehad to be moved to a conservatory for restoration.

Brown said that when the sculpture was in front of the Meadowsschool there was no security around the building.

He also said that when the sculpture is on display on the plaza,it will be monitored 24 hours a day by closed-circuit camera,making the museum a safer place for the sculpture.

Brown said another reason for including “Geometric MouseII” in the exhibit was the opportunity to include SMU in theDallas art scene, which includes a special exhibit by the DallasMuseum of Art and the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas’ ArtsDistrict.

“We can be a part of this city-wide celebration ofsculpture,” he said.

Jo Szymanski, associate director of Meadows Museum said the Oct.16 reception exhibiting the new location of “Geometric MouseII” will bring more attention to the statues.

“[The reception is] sort of a reinstallation. …[The sculpture] can be in a more prominent location and moreexposure to more people … the public, the students, foreveryone,” she said.

The reception will be exclusively for members of the museum andspecial guests. The sculpture exhibit is titled “Masterpiecesof Modern Sculpture: Rodin to Oldenburg — The MeadowsCollection.” This exhibit will include Algur H.Meadows’s collection of modern sculpture, spanning over acentury. Immediately after the reception, the sculpture exhibit onthe plaza will be open to the public at any time.

According to the Meadows Museum Newsletter for Fall/Winter 2003,Claes Oldenburg sculpted “Geometric Mouse II” in honorof Walt Disney’s character Mickey Mouse. Due to thepopularity of “Geometric Mouse I,” “GeometricMouse II” was commissioned by the Meadows Foundation in 1970.”Geometric Mouse I” is currently on display at theGovernor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza in Albany,N.Y.

Brown said that so far there have been no discussions aboutreplacing the statue with a different piece of artwork.