2014 Day Trip: Urbana / UIUC / Alma Mater

Alma Mater – by Lorado Taft

Unveiled on Alumni Day, June 11, 1929.

Location: UIUC Campus, Altgeld Hall corner of W Green St. and S Wright St.

UIUC is University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

Alma Mater – by Lorado Taft

The sculpture “Alma Mater” was created by Illinois alumnus Lorado Taft. The 13-foot sculpture was unveiled on Alumni Day, June 11, 1929. It was paid for by the alumni fund and classes of 1923-29. Originally placed south of Foellinger Auditorium, it was moved to its present location at Wright and Green Streets in 1962.

The bronze sculpture has four main elements: Alma Mater, “Our Mother,” a woman with outstretched arms welcoming her children; “Labor,” an iron worker wearing a leather apron; “Learning,” a modification of a Greek statue of the goddess Athena; and the klismos (throne) behind Alma Mater.

It incorporates the UI motto “Learning and Labor.”

At the base of the sculpture is the quote.. “To thy happy children of the future, those of the past send greetings.”

From the website.. University of Illinois, Virtual Campus Tour.. The statue depicts “a benign and majestic woman in scholastic robes, who rises from her throne and advances a step with outstretched arms, a gesture of generously greeting her children”. Behind her stand the twin figures of Labor and Learning, joining hands in a bronze incarnation of the University’s motto .. Learning and Lobor.

Alma Mater – by Lorado Taft

CONSERVATION / REFURBISHMENT

In August 2012, Alma Mater was shipped to the Conservation of Sculpture & Objects Studio in Forest Park to repair decades of water damage and corrosion. Lead conservator Andrzej Dajnowski and his team took much of the sculpture apart in order to replace nearly 1,000 bolts used to hold the sculpture together. That included removing the heads of the three figures: Alma, Learning and Labor. The blue-green patina was removed with lasers, and the metal sealed with a wax compound. The true color is actually a bronze-brown. The estimated cost of reburbishment more than tripled, from just under $100,000 to $360,000. In April 2014, the refurbished Alma mater was returned to the university campus. Images can be found in Chicago Tribune article.. “Alma Mater return to the University of Chicago”.. click here..