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Question: Why is the broken seesaw sculpture still outside Old Main? Will it ever be fixed?
Answer: To be honest, the first time I saw this piece of art, I had no clue what it was supposed to represent. Then, all of a sudden someone broke it, making the purple hunk of metal something of an eyesore. However, I recently found a deeper meaning to UA's very own piece of playground equipment.
"Its purpose is to evoke frustration or deal with the notion of adults not playing as they grow up," Laddie Pepke, the artist who created the seesaw, told the Wildcat in March.
Located north of Old Main, the sculpture took nine months to build and cost $6,200. According to the UA Fine Arts Web site, the aptly named "Grownup Seesaw" is a 31-foot-long seesaw, which looks similar to a steel bridge, made mostly of welded, laser-cut steel components. The seats at either end of the seesaw were cast from wax, which Pepke sat in to provide the impression of his behind in jeans.
Although it is designed to move only an inch or 2, conveying both "frustration and hope," the seesaw was not supposed to be used like a real piece of playground equipment. However, a few people apparently decided to give it a try and got a little too rambunctious while trying to revert back to childhood fun, because the seesaw was bent and vandalized last spring.
Pepke is the 2002 winner of the annual Marcia Grand Centennial Sculpture contest. The project, which is open to all graduate students within the fine arts department, invites students to bring their sculpture proposals to the Public Art Advisory Committee, which then selects the winning design and funds its production. Each sculpture remains in place for one year, and then the artist is allowed to take his or her creation home.
The time for "Grownup Seesaw" is almost up. It will remain on display near the Old Main fountain until January when, sadly, it will be taken down to make room for the next fun piece of art.
Do you have a burning question that keeps you up tossing and turning at night? Send it to the campus detective! E-mail her at catcalls@wildcat.arizona.edu