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DEBORAH BUTTERFIELD SCULPTURE ADDED TO THE UNIVERSITY PUBLIC ART COLLECTION
Texas Tech has added an important new bronze
sculpture by Deborah Butterfield to the
University Public Art Collection.  The artwork
is featured in front of the west entrance to the
new Murray Residence Hall.  Titled "Wind River,"
the sculpture depicts a life-size horse, which
the artist has assembled from a selection of
bent and twisted branches and then cast in
bronze. 

Deborah Butterfield is known widely for her
lyrical sculptures of horses.  The artist’s
horses, which have been her sustained focus for
more than 20 years, often depict a range of
naturalistic attitudes, curves, and movements of
the animal, but they are never simply
narrative.  Instead, the artist’s horses are
poised between literal representation and
abstraction.  Created from various materials,
including wood, metal, and plant fibers,
Butterfield’s sculpture can resemble textured
line drawings that have risen from the paper to
assume a weighty, expressive, three-dimensional
form. 

In the history of sculpture, the horse is
commonly depicted in a public monument in
tribute to the warrior or hero.  This heroic
tradition may be observed on Texas Tech’s campus
in the bronze sculptures of Will Rogers and the
Masked Rider.  The newly installed Butterfield
sculpture invites viewers to look at the horse—
full of symbolic and cultural significance—in a
new way. 

Deborah Butterfield is one of America’s leading
artists.  Her sculpture is held in more than 75
public and private art collections throughout
the U.S., including the Art Institute of
Chicago, Dallas Museum of Art, Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New York, and the Museum of
Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.  Texas Tech is
now one of 20 American universities that feature
Butterfield’s sculpture.

Texas Tech seeks to enrich the cultural and
intellectual life of its campuses by building
and maintaining a diverse collection of public
art created by leading artists of our time.
Posted:
8/31/2005

Originator:
Cecilia Browne

Email:
cecilia.carter@ttu.edu

Department:
FACILITY PLAN & CONSTRUCT


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