Mike Baur Sculpture

College of DuPage donates sculpture to Glen Ellyn

Glen Ellyn public works crew members moved a two-ton sculpture off College of DuPage's campus Friday morning, a change village president Mark Pfefferman called a "symbol of the positive direction the relationship the college and the village is now taking."

"Conduit 15," an 11-and-a-half-foot tall outdoor sculpture of steel and concrete by West Chicago artist Mike Baur will be permanently affixed in Glen Ellyn's Panfish Park by mid-May, said public works director Julius Hansen. Pfefferman said an anonymous donor has paid for the concrete pad that will hold the statute in the park.

"Once the artwork is put in its public place, it will be interesting to hear the comments of those who will see the sculpture for the first time," Pfefferman said.

The artwork was acquired in 1991 by the college, said College of DuPage Art Gallery Curator Barbara Wiesen.

Wiesen said the piece is based "in modernist thinking of form and function. It's sort of playful... where it looks like it's about to collapse on itself. It's kind of theatrical in a way."

While it's unclear why the college is donating the piece, Wiesen said it could have to do with renovations underway at the campus.

Pfefferman lauded the move as a positive step for the two entities. In February, the college and the village reached an agreement after a lengthy legal battle and attempts by the college to deannex from the village. In the agreement, regulatory control and authority over the college campus was transferred from the village to DuPage County, while the college will continue to pay village taxes.

On Friday morning, a five-man crew from the village's public works crew spent about two hours loading and moving the sculpture.

"We don't usually get to do things out of the ordinary like this," Hansen said. "A little more excitement than normal."