Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | fall 2004

FALL 2004
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Cover Story:
Surviving Stroke

Feature:
37 things to do on an ISU football weekend

Feature:
>>A new tradition

125th Anniversary Celebration:
A letter from Kristi Kielhorn
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A NEW TRADITION:
THE UNIVERSITY MACE

The Official University Mace

• Total height: 5 feet

• Height of the head piece: 9 inches

• Width of the head piece: 6 inches

• Weight: 14 pounds

• Created of bronze, silver, and tiger maple
• Number of bands encircling the staff: 14 (for the number of ISU presidents)

• Length of the bronze “foot:” 6 inches

• Artist: Jeanne Stevens-Sollman, Bellefonte, Pa.

• Cost: $12,500

• Funded by: The ISU Alumni Association’s Circle of former presidents, chairs and executive directors; the Stanton Carillon Foundation; and University Museums

• First used: Spring commencement ceremonies, May 7-8, 2004

• First carried by: Richard Horton, ISU professor of electrical and computer engineering and chief faculty marshal for the commencement ceremonies

• Officially part of the university’s per- manent art collection on Oct. 8, 2004

• Currently housed: President’s Office, Beardshear Hall

• Future home: Iowa State University Alumni Center

Sometimes, the stars align.
That’s how University Museums director Lynette Pohlman describes the serendipitous series of events that resulted in the creation of a new campus work of art: the “Official University Mace.”

The first star twinkled distantly, without Pohlman even knowing it was there. Three or four years ago, she was visiting Barbara Palmer (’46 FCS and a strong supporter of public art efforts on the ISU campus as well as many other ISU initiatives), in University Park, Pa., and they stopped by the Palmer Art Museum at Penn State. Poking through the artwork for sale at the gift shop, Pohlman was struck by pieces of bronze sculpture and pottery by Jeanne Stevens-Sollman, a Pennsylvania artist. Pohlman remembers thinking, “Wow, this is great. The bronze designs were beautifully done, like a very fine cast medallion, and bronze just isn’t a contemporary medium you see very often.” As it turned out, Stevens-Sollman was
a good friend of Barbara Palmer’s.

A couple of years later, the second star appeared. Again, Pohlman was visiting Barbara Palmer in University Park, Pa., this time accompanied by ISU President Greg Geoffroy. Over dinner, Geoffroy
mentioned some new traditions that he and Jeff Johnson, ISU Alumni Association president, wanted to develop at Iowa State. One of them was the addition of a presidential mace to be carried at commencement ceremonies.

“Dr. Geoffroy was very eloquent,” Pohlman said. “I remember sitting there and getting goosebumps as he talked about the responsibility and the role of the presidency, the faculty, and the institution on these thousands of young lives.

He explained how commencement was a terribly important rite of passage and it needed to be dignified. It was very heartfelt and inspiring.”

Meanwhile, another star was shining back in Ames. Jeff Johnson was hard at work on campus, conducting research on the creation of a university mace to bring a higher level of ceremonial pomp and circumstance to Iowa State’s commencement ceremonies. His ideas for strengthening commencement caught on with The Circle – the Alumni Association’s council of former Board of Directors presidents, chairs, and Association executive directors. Johnson and Circle chair Glen Mente (’61 animal science, M.S. ’63) began to raise the necessary funds to purchase a university mace.

When Pohlman returned to campus, she was approached by Carole Custer, director of University Marketing, who had been talking to Johnson about the creation of a ceremonial mace. What thoughts did Pohlman have? Well, Pohlman initially didn’t have any, but then she began to wonder. And that’s when the stars really sparkled. What if Iowa State pursued the mace not as an off-the-shelf ceremonial staff but as a unique work of art? What if that artist from Pennsylvania whose work Pohlman had admired would accept a commission from Iowa State to create a one-of-a-kind symbol that would add a higher level of pageantry to ISU’s commencement ceremonies?

“It was a leap of faith,” said Pohlman. “Jeanne had never done a mace before, but I looked at her bronze medallions and said, ‘This is the person who could do this.’ Jeanne was thrilled by the challenge. You could tell she was terribly engaged in the project. She got to be quite passionate about it.”

Members of The Circle, the ISU Stanton Carillon Foundation, and University Museums donated enough funds to commission the artwork. The finished piece reflects many of Iowa State’s most cherished symbols: the Campanile, Christian Petersen’s Fountain of the Four Seasons, the university seal, the names of Iowa State’s 14 presidents, and the words “science with practice.”

On May 7-8, 2004, the Official University Mace was unveiled at spring commencement ceremonies. The stars were finally aligned, and a new tradition was born.

About the Artist: Jeanne Stevens-Sollman

• Studio sculptor and medallic artist from Bellefonte, Pa.

• Education: Art education and ceramics, Rhode Island College; MFA in ceramics, Penn State University; post-graduate study in medallic art, Penn State

• Independent artist, exhibiting her work throughout the United States as well as abroad

• Her work is in many private collections as well as many art museums, including The Smithsonian

• Former art teacher

• Advisor and past president of the American Medallic Sculpture Society

• Stevens-Sollman has never visited the Iowa State campus

The Creative Process

In the words of sculptor and medallic artist Jeanne Stevens-Sollman:

• “The first challenge that was given to me was to create something that would be meaningful to everyone at Iowa State, and not being an alumna of Iowa State, it was a little difficult. I assumed that
Iowa State had something that everyone loved, and so I did some research and looked at photographs of campus, and the one thing that kept coming back was the Campanile. The other element of campus that seemed to be important was the reflecting pool with the Christian Petersen sculpture around it.”

• “In my initial enthusiasm, I wanted to put a lot of Christian Petersen’s symbols into the mace somewhere but it just got so complicated,
so we tried to trim it down. I wanted to be sure we didn’t have 50 pounds of bronze going down the aisle at graduation.”

• “I took some artistic license and moved the clock up into the tower, which became the place where the presidential seal could be… and added the disc which to me became the reflecting pool even though they’re not adjacent to each other. So now I had the Campanile sort of sitting on a disc which, in my non-Iowa State mind, became a base for the Campanile top, and then I thought I could use it as a reflective device. I was a little concerned, but Lynette Pohlman delightfully and happily told me that that was why she hired an artist – so we didn’t have an exact replica of the Campanile but truly an interpretation of it. I wasn’t bound by any rules.”

• “As I began really working on the design, I discovered architectural elements that I didn’t see at first. I did a little bit of research, and that
helped me to understand exactly what the architect was saying. I got to understand really what this was all about. The architect was trying to employ cathedral-like elements in his tower: tall spires, elaborate pinnacles, window dressing with cross decorations and tracery, and especially the wonderful decorative ridge caps.

• “We put a bronze foot on the staff to protect the wood. I wanted to have something organic and historically reflective of the Campanile. We decided to use the leaves of the corn stalk for holding the staff.”

• “On the reverse of the presidential name bands, I put a little laurel leaf because that to me signifies praise and high authority.”

• “I carved the university seal so many times backwards that I can do it in my sleep. All the lettering was done by hand, carved backwards in plaster, so we could have raised letters. I find raised lettering gives a higher quality to a piece, so I had to do that all by hand, which I enjoy doing. Writing backwards in plaster to get the raised letters is very difficult. There aren’t too many people who do what I do. Most lettering today is done by machine. I’m interested in calligraphy as an art form, so that translates into what I do in my work. I think that’s what makes it different and special. ”

• “I think this was the most challenging project I’ve ever done.”

The technical process

Bronze sculpture is a labor-intensive process. To create the bronze and silver portions of Iowa State’s original mace, artist Jeanne Stevens-Sollman followed these steps:

• Research the project.

• Prepare pencil sketches on paper.

• Gather feedback from university officials on
the design.

• Sculpt lettering – in reverse – in plaster.

• Sculpt the headpiece and other bronze and silver elements in clay.

• Send wood samples and clay samples of the
lettering to Iowa State officials for review.

• Receive final approval of the design from university officials.

• From the positive clay sculpture, make a silicon
rubber mold to form the negative image, from which wax casts will be drawn.

• From the negative mold, make a positive plaster cast.

• Make a silicon rubber mold from the positive plaster cast, from which a wax image will be taken; finish the wax model with fine details.

• Take the wax model to the foundry.

• The foundry makes an investment cast around
the outside of the wax model.

• This entire form is placed into a kiln to cure the
investment and burn out the wax. This is called the burnout.

• The wax melts out of the investment, leaving a
cavity into which the molten metal (bronze or silver) is poured. This process is called lost wax casting.

• When the metal cools, the investment is broken away from the cast bronze.

• The metal work is then ready for finishing. It is sandblasted, chased, and filed to create a smooth surface ready for the patina.

In addition to the metal elements of the Official University Mace, the artist worked with her husband, craftsman/designer Philip Sollman, who turned the staff and disc from tiger maple, a material indigenous to Iowa. The elements were then assembled and shipped – very carefully – to Ames

Why a mace?

Like the ancient Roman standard-bearer, a mace leads a ceremony with tradition and grandeur.
Dating back to ancient Egypt, the first maces were weapons – wooden clubs with stone heads. In the Middle Ages, the mace featured an armor-piercing spiked head on a chain.

The mace began to evolve from a weapon to an ornamental symbol of power when it was carried by the royal sergeants-at-arms and stamped with the royal arms. The mace was also used during medieval religious processions to clear a path through throngs of people gathered inside cathedrals.

As time passed, the mace began to be carried at academic processional and recession during commencement, inaugural, and at other key ceremonies. The mace symbolizes the academic authority of Iowa State University and is a common symbol among colleges and universities.

“The mace signifies the dignity and special nature of the official commencement ceremony,” said ISU President Gregory L. Geoffroy. “Commencement is a very special time in the life of an individual, a transition point when they leave behind the life of a student and enter their chosen professions.”

According to Jeff Johnson, ISU Alumni Association president, the mace is the first in a series of academic symbols to be introduced at Iowa State. Johnson hopes to commission a presidential necklace or “chain of office” and an official presidential gown to be worn at important university ceremonies.

About the Writer | Carole Gieseke is the editor of VISIONS magazine.