Start to Finish, by artist George Greenamyer, is one of the many examples on Iowa State’s campus of public art meant to represent the research done within its “home” department.
As part of University Museums’ Art on Campus Collection, this sculpture was commissioned as a result of a public art committee, and it was designed specifically with the Applied Sciences Center, home to the Center for Nondestructive Evaluation (CNDE) location in mind.
The artist even used photographs of scientists who worked within the building to design the figures at the top of the sculpture.
The sculpture, created in 1990, was in need of conservation work, rust removal, and repainting. Over time, the paint had dulled and faded from its original bright hues.
Due to a partnership with the Center for Nondestructive Evaluation, University Museums coordinated the conservation of this large sculpture. The conservation was undertaken by the University of Northern Iowa’s Public Art Incubator, who have conserved many of the objects in the Art on Campus Collection.
Conservators sandblasted the original paint, removed rust from within the columns, and carefully repainted the sculpture.
The records of the artist were consulted to exactly match the paint to the artist’s original intent. To view the other public art on campus, view our map here.
