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Tours

1. Public Art Tour

   Explore the wide breadth of public art Boise State has to offer, including Alfred Kober's iconic The Spirit of the Broncos and Professor of the Practice Benjamin Victor’s recently completed statue of coach Lyle Smith.

   Stops

   1. Eternal Wind

      Eternal Wind, 1998, Nobuyo Okuda (Japanese)

      Buffered stainless steel

      Gift of Dr. Robert Hay

      
      Nobuyo Okuda dedicated Eternal Wind as a memorial for Janet Hay, who worked for the State Board of Education and the Idaho Legislature. Okuda, an alumna of Boise State, described the interlocking circles as an abstract representation of the relationship between teacher and student. The work sits across from Friendship Bridge and functions as an open entrance to the campus at the center of the courtyard between Albertsons Library and Riverfront Hall.

   2. The Spirit of the Broncos

      The Spirit of the Broncos, 1970, Alfred Kober (American 1937- )

      Welded steel

      Commissioned by University President John Barnes
      
      

      Created by retired art professor Alfred Kober (1968-1999), The Spirit of the Broncos stands as one of the most iconic art pieces on campus. Since its inception, the steel has rusted, creating the coloration that we now associate with the appearance of the sculpture. Kober intended this effect to emphasize the work’s relationship to the nature around it and the physical properties of the steel itself.

   3. Surf and Sea

      Surf and Sea, 1977, Harriet Johns (American 1923-2014)

      Vitrified porcelain enamel on steel

      Gift of Dr. Michael and Jackie Gibson
      
      

      Harriet Johns’ work incorporates abstract themes, intense hues, and the juxtaposition of organic lines with the industrial element of enamel on steel. This work complements the performance programming of Morrison Center for the Arts by adding a a visual relationship to Boise State's complementary school colors. 

   4. Steve Appleton

      Steve Appleton, 2014, Benjamin Victor (American 1979- )

      Bronze

      Gift of Micron Foundation

      
      

      Completed in 2014 by Ben Victor, the Steve Appleton statue resides outside of the Micron Business and Economics Building to serve as a tribute to Appleton’s support of Boise State. Victor worked closely with Appleton’s family and the campus library Special Collections and Archives to create a more photorealistic portrayal of the late Appleton.

   5. Fledgling

      Fledgling/ Fledgling Flight, 1971, Alfred Kober (American 1937- )

      Cor-Ten steel, concrete block
      
      

      At the time of the work’s creation, the campus had only recently been named Boise State College, and so the artist represented the school as emerging, about to take flight. Funds for Kober to create the piece came from a federal grant with the Higher Education Facilities Act for the Library Learning Center. Similar to the Spirit of the Bronco, this sculpture has intentional rusting to relate the natural concept of a “fledgling” with the oxidization of metal. Kober furthered the symbolism of the “fledgling” by lining up the tail of his piece with the stretch of hills where United Airlines placed their first landing strips. 

   6. Untitled

      Untitled, 1976, John Killmaster (American 1934-)

      Cor-Ten steel, sprayed enamel, and sgraffito
      
      

      John Killmaster taught in the Art Department from 1970 to 1997, and he began using porcelain enamel on metals in 1974 with funds from the Idaho Arts Commission. He created this work during his Western States Arts Foundation fellowship, and he designed the piece with the intention of locating it outside of the newly built Special Events Center to celebrate its opening. 

   7. Salute

      Salute, 2008, Kay Kirkpatrick (American 1957- )

      Hydrocut steel and basalt 

      
      

      Kay Kirkpatrick’s design for Salute won the commission from a pool of 4,000 applicants. Installed on the east side of the Student Union during renovations, the sculpture memorializes veteran contributions to our community and campus. The black, Columbia basalt columns behind the soldier’s silhouette represent each decade of Boise State’s existence, and the light colored flagstones at the base of the piece demonstrate soldiers’ origins from the ground up.  

   8. Ben Victor Sculptures

      Samson the Mighty (2002), Joseph (2009), Abel(2011), Delilah (2005), Benjamin Victor (American, 1979- )

      Bronze

      Owned by artist
      
      

      As one of the campuses Professors of the Practice, Ben Victor both teaches and actively creates art in his gallery and studio that opened in 2015. The five works outside of his building display common recurring themes in his artworks, such as the perfection of the human figure and the heroic.

   9. Lyle Smith

      Lyle Smith, 2016, Benjamin Victor (American 1979- )

      Bronze

      Funded by private donations

      
      

      Ben Victor completed and installed his statue of Lyle Smith outside of the Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016. Lyle Smith served as a Boise State football coach for 20 seasons, and Victor completed the statue just in time for Smith’s 100^th birthday.

   10. Untitled (The Bronco)

       Untitled (The Bronco), 1997, Roy Harris (American 1927-2013)

       Bronze

       Commissioned by Larry and Marianne Williams
       
       

       As a world renowned sculptor, Roy Harris has made pieces for celebrities, U.S. presidents, and the Prince of Spain. The dynamic image of the rearing bronco not only celebrates Boise State’s mascot, but serves as an emblem of the West’s untamed history.

   11. Rene Clark Memorial

       Rene Clark Memorial, 1984, Chris Knight, Rich Thompsen, and Paul Feyerabend

       Welded steel
       
       

       This work memorializes Rene Clark, a Boise State vocational technology student who drowned while trying to save 17-year old George Miles Jackson at the Veterans Memorial State Park pond. The sculptors interlocked circles of steel to where it resembles an armillary sphere, a tool historically used for measuring the longitude and latitude of celestial bodies.

   12. Tapered Columns #2-#7

       Tapered Columns #2-#7, Donated 2012, Rod Kagan (American 1940-2010)

       Bronze

       Gift from the Estate of Rod Kagan
       
       

       In 2012, Rod Kagan’s abstract columns moved from the artist’s studio in Ketchum to Boise State, and they currently reside outside of the Alumni and Friends Center. It’s interesting to note that Kagan did not make initial sketches of his works, and instead marked the sculpture’s metal with the design he envisioned.  

        

   13. 75th Anniversary Mural

       75^th Anniversary Mural, 2007, Alma Gomez-Frith (American)

       Acrylic on wood panel

       Gift of the artist

       
       

       Since 1994, Alma Gomez-Frith has contributed to Boise State as a counselor, an adjunct art professor, and a painter of multiple murals across campus. She also plays a key role in Boise State’s College Assistance Migrant Program, or CAMP, which helps migrant and farm workers gain a secondary education. Gomez-Frith painted the 75^th Anniversary Mural to commemorate and celebrate the 75 years that Boise State had been open.

   14. Transference

       Transference, 2017, Ken McCall and Leslie Dixon (American)

       Steel and Plexiglas
       In collaboration with Boise City Departments of Public Works and Arts & History 

       
       

       Transference heralds the first public art partnership between the City and Boise State. The sculpture is Ken McCall and Leslie Dixon’s interpretation of the City's unparalleled municipal geothermal system.
       
       A steel center hoop, the essence of the design, acts as a portal rooted in the earth, rising and returning, imitating the cyclical nature of the geothermal process. Cut-steel plates illustrate map locations of buildings downtown and on the Boise State campus that receive the geothermal system. The complimentary colors of the blue and orange serve as dual symbols; they represent both the hot and cold aspects of geothermal activity as well as the University’s school colors. 
       
       Boise's geothermal system extracts naturally heated water from the earth to provide reliable, clean energy to the community. Twenty feet south of Transference, an underground pipe carries geothermally heated water to the Environmental Research Building. Geothermal energy heats many locations across campus, making Boise State the City's largest partner in geothermal heating. Transference celebrates this shared commitment to continued development and research of geothermal energy.
       
       
       

   15. Rising Star

       Rising Star, 2004, Robert Kantor (American)

       Welded metal

       Donated by Robert Kantor in 2006

       
       

       Robert Kantor’s Rising Star serves to symbolize the University as a “rising star” in the academic world. Kantor specializes in compelling mobiles and stabiles painted with bright, primary colors to reflect his own positive outlook on life. The work weighs 3,000 lbs., and, unfortunately, the sculpture’s colors are currently beginning to fade from constant exposure to the sun.