PNC to Dedicate Sculpture at 9/11 Memorial Service

PNCPurdue University North Central has received the gift of a large marble sculpture commemorating the 9/11 attacks. The piece will become part of the university’s permanent collection.

The sculpture, will be unveiled and dedicated during a brief ceremony as part of PNC’s 9/11 memorial service. The service will be held on September 11th, marking the 13th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11th, 2001. The public is invited to attend.

The service will begin promptly at 7:30 a.m. Schwarz Hall. A moment of silence will be observed at 8:03 am—signifying the time the second plane struck the South Tower of the World Trade Center. The event will end at 8:30 a.m.

Light refreshments will be served.

“This is a moving reminder of an event we must never allow ourselves to forget,” said PNC Chancellor James B. Dworkin. “We gratefully accept this gift, and the responsibility to remember that comes with this piece of art.”

Lexeme VIII is a gift of internationally-acclaimed artist Bill Barrett and his wife Debora. The Barretts will be attending the memorial service and dedication. Judy Jacobi, PNC assistant vice chancellor of Marketing and Campus Relations, contacted the Barretts in June of this year about hosting one of Bill’s pieces as part of PNC’s Odyssey sculpture collection.

The Barretts instead generously offered Lexeme VIII as a gift. A Purdue alumnus Thomas Lawyer, and his family, co-sponsored the transportation of the piece from Carrara, Italy.

Bill Barrett, born in 1934 in California, attended high school in South Bend, Indiana. Across the decades, Barrett made a name for himself through his abilities shaping aluminum and bronze into his expressive abstract sculptures which can now be found in collections around the world.

Barrett has a studio in New York City just 10 blocks from what is now known as Ground Zero. In the aftermath of the attacks, Barrett began a series of work he called “Lexeme,” which grew to 15 pieces in total.

“The title is a word defined as: ‘a meaningful unit in a language.’ I’m referring here to the language of sculpture; I’m using art to record history,” he explains. “After 9/11 I began making models in wax and eventually I came to understand that the expression of my emotion in response to the event was to record history by artistic expression.”

The sculpture is made of marble. It measures 11 feet high, 8 feet wide and 6 feet deep.

To the artist, the imagery of the sculpture is that of a book. “The geometric shapes are the pages as well as iconic images representing the World Trade Center, while the organic shapes are in motion,” Barrett said.

PNC will keep the sculpture on permanent display outdoors on its campus. The public may visit any time the campus is open.

Parking is free on the PNC campus, but guests are asked to please not park in the “A” or reserved spaces.

Further information may be obtained by contacting Jacobi at 785-5200, ext. 5593. Persons with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Jacobi.