Bison herd to leave campus soon
Three life-sized bison that were part of the “Herd about the Prairie” art stampede will be heading out of NDSU Sept. 9 with an open house and auction.
Martha Keeler Olson, director for the Lake Agassiz Arts Council that sponsored the public art work, said this is a way for the people to see all the bison together and to thank those who have been involved with the project.
Each work of art is unique and reflects the artists who made them. The three bison on campus were no exception.
One of the bison, Mica Star Boy, stood just outside the Rieneke Fine Arts building. This was fittingly appropriate because of the inspiration for the project.
Artist Julie Johnson-Danielson of Moorhead got the idea to use colors and designs from cave paintings in Lascaux, France.
Star Boy was painted to resemble the limestone or sandstone walls found in the cave paintings.
The mica used in mosaic form is one of the strongest materials still in use.
One of the artists is a familiar face around campus. “One Foot in the Past, An Eye to the Future” is the work of professor Dan Larew of the NDSU art department.
Larew was interested in this project because NDSU was one of the main patrons in “Herd about the Prairie.”
Larew teamed up with theatre art department to create a bison representing both the past and the future.
“ I wanted it to represent where we were and where we are now and also have fun with it too,” he said.
The Newman Outdoor Field also housed one of the bison.
Bob was created by the team of Ann Leclerc and Sheila Sornsin.
Leclerc and Sornsin took a creative yet hard route with their bison. They adhered glass tiles to the Bison along with some other touches. Sornsin said Bob took about 500 hours over three months to make.
“ We were fortunate to have a mosaic community of friends to make it a most enjoyable process,” Sornsin said.
Anyone interested in saying goodbye to the three Bison can come to the open house and auction at the Fargodome on Sept. 9.
The open house will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the auction starts at 7 p.m.
The event is free and tickets for the auction are $40.
Tickets can be purchased at the box office or through Ticketmaster.