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Life-size Mellencamp sculpture to be unveiled Friday at IU
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Life-size Mellencamp sculpture to be unveiled Friday at IU

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This story was updated on October 17, 2024 to correct an inaccuracy.

John Mellencamp is expected to be on hand Friday to attend the unveiling of a life-size bronze statue of him that will be installed on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington.

The 73-year-old rock musician comes from the small town of Seymour in southern Indiana, but has lived near Bloomington on Lake Monroe for years. It was not announced whether the sculpture subject would speak or perform at the dedication, but a press release announced that he would be there.

The unveiling begins at 1 p.m. in the IU Auditorium North Garden on Seventh Street. Bloomington native and IU alumnus Michael McAuley made the clay-cast bronze sculpture.

Is this the first life-size bronze sculpture of a famous person on the IU Bloomington campus?

No, it's not that. The statue joins a series of six other bronze sculptures of IU members and women who have made significant contributions to the university and Bloomington.

So who are the other notable IU figures depicted in bronze sculptures around campus?

Hoagy Carmichael

Mellencamp's likeness is not far removed from a bronze statue of a musician from another era. In the plaza in front of the auditorium near the entrance to the IU Cinema, you'll find a bronze replica of Hoagy Carmichael sitting at a Steinway grand piano.

Installed in 2008 and also created by McAuley, the sculpture is intended to make passersby feel as if Carmichael is serenading them with “Stardust” or “Georgia on My Mind” as they exit and exit the theater.

Herman B. Wells

Not long after the death of longtime IU Chancellor and President Herman B. Wells in 2000, Indiana artist Harold “Tuck” Langland created a bronze statue that was placed in the outdoor pavilion near the Rose Well House. It is located within the Sample Gates in the so-called Old Crescent area. Wells served as president of IU from 1937 to 1962 and is credited with giving the university an international presence. His likeness is animated and extends a hand.

Ernie Pyle

In October 2014, a bronze sculpture of Pulitzer Prize-winning World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle sitting on an ammunition box at his typewriter was placed outside Franklin Hall, home to IU's media school.

Langland also created this piece. Pyle was editor of the Indiana Daily Student newspaper in the 1920s, but dropped out of IU to work as a newspaper reporter. During World War II he enlisted as a correspondent and was killed by enemy gunfire in 1945.

George Taliaferro

The first African-American player drafted by the NFL was George Taliaferro of IU, who later settled in Bloomington. Just outside the North End Zone building at IU's Memorial Stadium stands a bronze statue of him in uniform with a football in his hand. Taliaferro was 91 when he died in 2018. The memorial statue was erected in 2019. Brian Hanlon was the artist.

Elinor Ostrom

Elinor Ostrom, the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in economics, was an IU professor in the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. She died in 2012, three years after receiving the award. She represented the idea that people can create successful societies without government supervision. In the 100 block of East Seventh Street behind Woodburn Hall is a bronze statue of Ostrom smiling on a bench. McAuley, who created the Mellencamp and Carmichael statues, was also the artist of this statue. It was installed in 2020.

Alfred Kinsey

In the 100 block of Woodlawn Avenue, east of Lindley Hall, stands a bronze statue of Alfred Kinsey, who researched human sexuality and founded the Kinsey Institute in 1947. His groundbreaking research is still controversial today. Installed in 2022, the sculpture depicts Kinsey sitting in a chair with a clipboard in hand, facing an empty chair. IU sculptor Melanie Cooper Pennington and her students created the sculpture. Kinsey died in 1956.

Reach Laura Lane at [email protected].

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