U of M Bell Museum of Natural History to unveil new sculpture this morning

What: Sculpture installation
Where: Bell Museum of Natural History front plaza, 10 Church St. S.E., Minneapolis
When: 10 a.m. Monday, Dec. 12
Who: Susan Weller, Bell Museum director, and Ian Dudley, Lindstrom, Minn. sculptor

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The University of Minnesota Bell Museum of Natural History is adding a new sculpture today to enhance the educational impact of the museum’s scientific and artistic displays. The bronze piece highlights the ten bas-relief sculptures that adorn the Bell Museum’s façade. As a Late Art Deco style frieze, the originals appear near the top of the museum’s exterior and form a decorative band. The new sculpture brings the ten images together in one location for easy viewing.

The new sculpture joins the museum’s “Northwoods” plaza, which was designed by University of Minnesota landscape architecture students and installed in 1999. A favorite of museum visitors, the plaza’s focus is on a sculpted moose and wolves frozen in an epic struggle for survival in the iconic northern Minnesota landscape.

Key facts:
· The original bas-relief sculptures were created in plaster of paris in the late 1930’s by Samuel H. Bell (1910-1987), son of the museum’s namesake, James Ford Bell, and later carved in stone.
· The sculpture features images of ten iconic Minnesota animals: bear, beaver, buffalo, crane, eagle, owl, pelican, raccoon, squirrel and wolf.
· The sculpture was commissioned by the James Ford Bell Foundation and donated to the Bell Museum.
· Lindstrom, Minn. artist Ian Dudley created the sculpture as well as the moose and wolves already installed on the plaza.
· The sculpture weighs just over 200 lbs and measures approximately 65” x 36” x 2”.
· American Bronze Casting of Osceola, Wis., cast the sculpture and its pedestal was created by Linder Specialty Co. of St. Paul.


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  • Last modified on December 12, 2011