Evansville Central Library

200 SE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Evansville, IN 47713

Article by Lauren Braun

The artwork in the Evansville Central Library has a theme of knowledge and enlightenment and offers many different pieces for their viewers. The following explains three out of six of the pieces featured in Central Library. For more information; contact the front desk for a brochure on all the art or visit their website.

Reading Rainbow

Lenny Dowhie, Ceramic, 2005

The books in this ceramic sculpture resemble presents waiting to be opened and explored. With colors and patterns of animal prints, flowers, clouds, bright blues, reds and yellows, Dowhie’s sculpture attracts children to the fun and excitement books can provide. Two halves of an arch, one inside and one outside, rise from the floor/ground towards the window where they appear to travel through the glass to complete the full arch of a rainbow.

Tree of Knowledge

John McNaughton, Suspended Wood Sculpture

Hanging upside down like a chandelier from the second story, the tree trunk sprouts books and pencils. This gravity-defying Tree of Knowledge is visible to anyone on the first and second floor. The sculpture consists of a hollow trunk with actual bark, open and closed books and enormous pencils which pull the sculpture together visually and structurally. The books expand into two forms from the trunk with smaller books cascading around larger ones. McNaughton carved 15 types of wood that were once common to Southern Indiana to create this 14x14 foot sculpture. The artist accomplishes his goal of putting a smile on the viewer’s face.

Knowledge, Learning, and Progress

David Huebner, Sculpture

Hanging from the arms of this oversized mobile are Chinese characters and a neuron to symbolize knowledge, Greek characters and a double helix to represent learning, and Arabic characters and a circuit board to show progress. The wind gently moves these elements around the body of the piece, showing every possible angle to the viewers, making it pleasant for them to sit outside the café and reflect on how the sculpture communicates the opportunities the library provides. Huebner assembled the sculpture entirely out of leftover material from the construction of the library