LONG BEACH — Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum
Nancy Grave’s germinal work, Sequi, 1984, was installed on the lower quad of California State University, Long Beach or CSULB campus on July 25. Originally commissioned for and installed at the Wells Fargo Center on Bunker Hill in downtown Los Angeles, the artist considered this sculpture to be one of her most important works. Gifted to Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum or the Museum in 2022, it now stands near the College of Professional and Continuing Education after several months of planning and preparation between Museum leadership, Nancy Graves Foundation, Cooke’s Crating, and Beach Building Services of CSULB.
This exceptional work is a fitting addition to the Museum’s Art Park and outdoor sculpture collection that adorns the 320-acre CSULB campus. The original outdoor sculpture collection works predate the founding of the Museum in 1973; they originate from the 1965 International Sculpture Symposium, which saw nine sculptures commissioned and installed born out of innovative collaborations between established artists and industry. Like these initial public art works, Sequi used advanced techniques in partnership with manufacturing leaders.
Using techniques originating in the ancient world and developed during the Renaissance, Graves partnered with Tallix Foundry in upstate New York to cast each element of this sculpture using upscaled molds made from actual plants. Graves then hand-painted the surface with special paint developed by NASA contractors for vehicles used to explore space. This type of multidisciplinary collaboration is a hallmark of the Museum’s collection and of Grave’s oeuvre.
Before her premature death, Graves was noted for integrating the social and natural sciences into a practice that ranges widely across media, including printmaking, drawing, painting and sculpture. The Museum holds multiple works by Nancy Graves; all demonstrate a multidisciplinary approach and a strong sense of color — a hallmark of the Museum’s collection.