Wall Gazing Gallery

Richard Turner, 1983-88

This cedar and corrugated steel sculpture is located in the Central courtyard in the Visual Arts Center. It was originally a temporary installation for Main Art Gallery exhibition. It is a permanent installation funded by National Endowment for the Arts and the Art in Public Places Program. The title of this environmental sculpture is derived from a Buddhist story about the legendary saint Bodhidharma, who is said to have meditated for seven years, gazing unblinkingly at the wall of a cave. Five wooden steps rise from the surface of the courtyard; then six steps descend into the water of the reflecting pool. The viewer thus climbs up then down to enter the optimal viewing space. The parallel and concave channels of the corrugated metal roof are used to funnel water so that it falls down like rain into the geometrically shaped pool. Viewers are encouraged to sit in the enclosure and to look out through the falling water at the wall beyond—a quiet meditation.

Richard Turner (1943–) spent his early school years in Vietnam and Taiwan. He earned his degree from the University of Michigan. One year in was spent in India on a Fulbright Scholarship and the next five years traveling in Burma, Thailand and China. Another of his outside pieces can be seen in Los Angeles in McArthur Park. He currently teaches at Chapman College.