By Kelli Urry
There?s a lot of love at BYU, seen through affectionate couples, countless seminars on romantic relationships and even in art around campus.
LOVE, the red, aluminum sculpture by Robert Indiana embodies the valentine atmosphere in Provo.
The art piece has a strong history on campus but has been hidden in storage since 1998. This year the Museum of Art restored LOVE for its comeback appearance at the ?American Dreams? exhibit, now on display.
Indiana designed the sculpture in 1964, a year after President Kennedy was assassinated and racial tensions began to rise. At that time, the country embraced the symbol and meaning of the artwork.
Cast in 1973 and purchased by BYU in 1976, it has witnessed many scenes of love around campus.
People used to take engagement pictures with the sculpture. Gene and Sheri Libutti, BYU students in the ?70s, were part of the generation of couples who posed by the famous work. Sheri said they were wandering through the Harris Fine Arts Center taking different shots and decided to include the LOVE in their photos.
Carri Jenkins, university spokeswoman, said she remembers the sculpture as a student in the ?80s. She said by that time it was tucked away in the HFAC and used as a prop to set books or backpacks on while studying. She recently viewed the sculpture in its refurbished form.
?I?m glad to see it so prominently displayed,? Jenkins said.
In the ?90s the sculpture was moved to the Museum of Art garden, and students lost some affection for the work as it weathered abuse during its time outside. John Adams, of the museum?s fabrication department, helped in restoring the art for an exhibit featuring the sculpture in 1998.
?People thought that it was OK to climb on, so it had a lot of paint damage around the edges and some scratching down to the aluminum base,? Adams said. ?Also it had a fair amount of hard water deposits due to the watering of the grass.?
Adams said about 20 to 30 gallons of water were drained from inside the sculpture from condensation collected over the years.
After the exhibit in 1998 it was again put in storage. Once it was selected for this year?s exhibit, great detail was put into the second restoration, down to finding the paint used in the LOVE from the first cast in the ?70s. The sculpture was disassembled and re-painted by the BYU Auto Body shop.
Like any relationship, the LOVE has been through some rocky, unstable periods, but it?s back to its original glory and it can be seen in the ?American Dreams: Envisioning America? exhibit at the Museum of Art.