The pieces – Dumna by Ursula von Rydingsvard and an untitled work by Joel Shapiro – were recently gifted to UT  Southwestern by Nobel Laureate Dr. Joseph L. Goldstein, Chairman of the Department of Molecular Genetics.

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Transcript

- [Rody] I think it adds a bit of luster to the campus to have these two beautiful artworks displayed on the Plaza. It looks in some ways like a section of a large tree, but on closer examination, one can appreciate the aesthetics of it.

- [Courtney] The work at the top of the plaza is by Joel Shapiro. It is an untitled piece. The work here on the berm is called Dumna, D-U-M-N-A, by Ursula von Rydingsvard. To have these pieces in our collection really elevates everything.

- [Janelle] 'Cause the artist has to think about the proportions and the angles and how everything comes together and balances together, and I think that's very common in science 'cause we have to put the pieces together to solve problems and answer questions. So it's just kind of finding a balance between what you wanna achieve and the materials that you have and making something great.

- [Frank] 'Cause I work over here in this area, and to see this new art, I mean, it looks different. It makes the campus look real nice and all that. When they were putting it in, I said, "Man, people are gonna be stopping "and just taking pictures every day "when they coming to work."

- [Shannon] To me, it would represent, we're all striving for something better and something higher, but that the road is not always gonna be straight, and it's not always gonna be perfect.

- [Igor] They just pop, I mean, I've never seen something like this before in my life, so it's kind of cool to have this at my job. Like a balanced stick figure maybe, one that is trying to balance itself.

- [Brenda] It adds a flair of artistic flavor to the UT  Southwestern Campus. They're so new, you kind of try to figure them out and what they're really look like or what they are. It's interesting.

- [Johnny] There's a plethora of different colors. It's not just the kind of light brown that you see from a distance. It's reds, blues, browns, greens, a lot of different earthly tones, all blended together to make a great picture. It's always nice to have symbols of art and culture here on our front lawn. It's such a symbol of health care that we do here. It's nice to have these things here.