Students and faculty pass by them everyday, but no one seems to notice TCU’s art collection throughout campus.
“People are very impressed by what TCU has,” Art history professor Mark Thistlethwaite said. “Very few people are aware that TCU actually has a permanent art collection.”
Although some of the collection is in storage, most of it is on display around campus for anyone to see.
In Thistlethwaite’s Art Museum seminar, art history graduate students Cathryn Bidal, Lola Clairmont, Alexa Ibarguen and Anna Kern were assigned to look around campus for works of art they wanted to display in an exhibit.
Some of those include portraits of George and Martha Washington, portraits of Annie Oakley and Sitting Bull, and presidential caricatures.
The presidential caricatures of Richard Nixon and Lyndon B. Johnson entered the collection in 1966 as gifts from the artist Bill Mauldin, according to the exhibit catalog. When they are not on display in the exhibit, the caricatures can be found in storage in Moudy Building North.
The Andy Warhol Foundation donated the Annie Oakley and Sitting Bull portraits. These portraits can usually be found in a conference room in the Bailey Building when not on display in the exhibit.
The George and Martha Washington portraits, painted by artist Jane Stuart, were gifts in 1977 and have been on display in the Mary Couts Burnett Library.
June Koelker, dean of the Mary Couts Burnett Library, said she allowed the students to take down the Washington portraits for the exhibit. The portraits are usually hung up all year.
Megan Stellini, a junior entrepreneurial management major, said she has never noticed the Washington portraits while in the library before.
“Most people are focused on what they are doing and not really what is around them,” Stellini said. “I think it is really cool that our campus holds these kind of treasures. We are really lucky to go to a school that has that kind of intrinsic value around us.”
What is hung up on the walls is not the only art TCU has either. TCU has a selection of statues and monuments for those to see while walking on campus.
These works include Horned Frog statues, cubes, Froghenge and the “Teaching to Change the World” statue.
The “Teaching to Change the World” statue is located in front of the Bailey building. A native Texan, Angela de la Vega, designed the bronze sculpture.
The cubes are located in front of Rees-Jones Hall and were crafted by artist, Marton Varo.
Froghenge, which is located in front of the Bailey building, was the university’s response to the New Stone Age. The university wants students and faculty to use it as an outdoor classroom.
There are many Horned Frog statues around campus. The Horned Frog statue, located in front of the Amon G. Carter Stadium, came to TCU in 2013 and is approximately eight-feet tall.
Anna Kern, art history graduate student, was made permanent collection assistant. Kern is in charge of tracking all the works around campus.
“We really wanted people to be more aware of the permanent art collection, so we are on the cusp of sort of actually developing it and having inventory for it,” Kern said. “This is a way for students and for also Fort Worth and other areas to be aware that there is this great artwork that exists on campus.”
The is the first time that some of the TCU art collection has been highlighted for students, faculty and the community to see all in one location.
“We wanted to do this as an inaugural exhibition, but ideally we would like it to be an annual exhibition of the TCU permanent collection,” said Lola Clairmont, art history graduate student.
The exhibit will be on display in the Moudy Gallery until Feb. 19.
The graduate students said that even after the exhibit is taken down, they want a greater awareness for the art TCU has displayed across campus.