Jeff Boshart, Eastern art professor, encouraged people to sit on his sculptures outside the Tarble Arts Center Sunday afternoon.

“I want to give people a place to sit while they’re waiting outside the center,” Boshart said.

Mattoon resident Madonna Maxey said she thought these pieces were benches before reading that they were part of the outdoor exhibit.

“I wouldn’t have thought they were sculptures,” Maxey said. “I would’ve thought it was a bench.”

“Landspan East” and “Landspan West” are the two new bench-like sculptures dedicated to the Tarble Arts Center as a part of its 25th anniversary celebration.

After the dedication ceremony, Boshart said the practical aspect of the sculptures was the main reason he donated them.

“They could serve double-duty,” he said. “They can be artistic and practical.”

He also said he donated the pieces as a kind of birthday present for the Tarble Arts Center’s 25th birthday.

“A bench is the perfect gift for a building,” Boshart said.

He said even though he donated the pieces, it was still an honor to have the center accept the gifts and agree to feature them outside the building.

Boshart hopes to have more artistically focused pieces featured by the center and said he is honored to have his work featured in such a public forum.

“It makes every artist happy to have their art displayed in a public place,” he said.

Boshart has been featured in several other art forums across the nation, but said he is especially appreciative that his art is shown in a place where people know him.

Michael Watts, director of the Tarble Arts Center, said many professors from the art department are featured in faculty exhibits throughout the year, but Boshart is one of the few teachers to be featured permanently in the outdoor sculpture collection.

“We think it’s a great honor we can give to the teachers here,” Watts said.

Watts said Boshart is the third professor from Eastern to be featured in the outdoor sculpture collection at the center.

James Johnson, dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, had one of the first sculptures to be featured outside the center.

Johnson said he wanted the piece to be featured because he thought it would be good for the public to see the sculpture constructed and featured in such an open area near the center.

“I thought it would be good for the public to come out and see how a sculpture is constructed,” Johnson said.

He built his sculpture about 25 years ago, near the time the center opened.

Johnson said he feels the same measure of honor and pride at having his work featured near the center.

“As a visual artist, you want to have your work out where people can see and interact with it,” he said.

Sunday’s dedication ceremony was only one part of the Tarble Arts Center’s celebration.

Watts said he hopes to have the director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. come to the center and speak April 22, but has yet to confirm.

Jeffery Boshart sits on the sculpture that he donated to the Tarbe Arts Center while talking to Taylor Gadus, 8, Sunday afternoon. Boshart hopes that his artwork will add to the creativity on campus. Karla Browning/The Daily Eastern News

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