Kaikoo H. XI

Betty Gold, 1985

Painted steel sculpture located in the South side of the Science Laboratory Center. It was donated by Charles Elliott. The Art Alliance funded the foundation for the structure. The idea for this sculpture was conceived when the artist was visiting Hawaii. “Kaikoo” is a Hawaiian word for high tide and the “H” in the title is an abbreviation (for the artist) of the concept of holistic. The main concept of the sculpture is that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, as actually the sculpture is actually composed of shapes cut from a rectangle and re-connected to create the three-dimensional form. The viewer can enjoy the interrelation of the visual shapes. The color is arbitrary so as to be seen only for the intrinsic value of red as red.

Betty Gold (1935– ) attended the University of Texas and now maintains a studio in Venice, California. Her creative work has included sculpture, painting, tapestry, photography and jewelry. The artist usually develops a number of ideas around a common theme, building a maquette for each of the series, and then has the full scale sculpture fabricated at a local steel mill.