By Rebecca Olsen
A human figure lifts in the air with its head facing upward as if looking, reaching or feeling heaven above. The body is covered with material that is slowly unraveling. There is a calm and confident expression on the half-covered face.
'Resurrection,' a sculpture by Franz Mark Johansen, is displayed in the Museum of Art''s Day Ord Sculpture Garden. The sculpture is a cast of the original and is part of the artist''s 'Resurrection Series,' which includes seven or eight paintings and a group of 11 sculptures that each explores various components of the resurrection.
'This is actually my favorite one in the garden,' said Michelle Eging, a freshman from Newton, N.J., majoring in pre-acting. 'It''s hard to explain why it is. ... It reminds me of Lazarus.'
The artist creates a feeling of release with the soft graceful curves in the peaceful movement of the burial wraps falling to the ground.
'I think it is interesting in the way he is able to get the feeling of the wrapped cloth across the body,' said Brian Bird, a designer at the Museum of Art, who graduated from BYU in sculpting. 'It reminds me in a way of an old Greek sculpture and how they would make the cloth look wet, how it clings to the figure. It looks like cloth as opposed to just sculpted shapes.'
Bird knows the artist in two ways: as a teacher and mentor, and as a church leader.
'It makes a difference knowing his history and seeing other works he has done,' Bird said. 'It has an uplifting theme and has inspired me to think about pieces of that kind, not so much with resurrection, but transformation.'
Students who study or pass by the sculpture, which is located in the southeast part of the garden, draw inspiration and make individual interpretations.
'It''s vulnerable, humble and being subjected. It is overcoming,' said Rachel Baird, a freshman from Garden Grove, Calif., majoring in pre-acting.
When looked at closely, inscriptions are seen in the bronze. There are scriptures that talk of the resurrection, and even a leaf and a flower.
With winter approaching, students have a few more weeks to view the garden in warmer weather. Twelve sculptures make up the garden with trees, flowers and shrubs as their background. The MOA offers a self-guided walking tour for visitors and a pamphlet can be obtained at the front desk. Other sculptures include abstract pieces such as 'Juno and Maxine,' a sculpture of a woman sleepwalking and one titled 'Paul Revere.'
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Sculpture 'Resurrection'Where: Day Ord Sculpture Garden, southeast end of Museum of Art (outside)