Wells bust headed home

A copper bust sculpture of late University President and Chancellor Herman B Wells will be unveiled Friday in the lobby of the main library that bears his name.\nThe ceremony is part of Celebrate IU Week and will feature speeches by President Michael McRobbie, among others. The 100-pound bust, bolted to a several-hundred-pound marble pedestal, will then be unveiled near the library’s entrance. The ceremony will run from 2:30 to 3 p.m. and is open to the public.\nEric Bartheld, director of communications for IUB Libraries, said having the bust in the library’s lobby makes sense because of Wells’ strong association with the library. \nHe said the statue will keep Wells’ presence on campus.\n“Many remember Wells fondly,” Bartheld said. “But today’s students don’t know him all that much. This statue will introduce his great spirit to today’s students, and he will welcome them, as well as visitors to the library he loved so much.” \nPatricia Steele, the Ruth Lilly interim dean for IUB Libraries, said the bust helps cement Wells’ involvement with the library during his career.\n“It gives picture and substance to a name that’s over the door. We also hope to add more representations of him in the lobby, from pictures to artifacts from his desk,” she said.\nThe statue was sculpted by Marc Mellon, a Connecticut-based artist and one of America’s foremost representational sculptors. He has sculpted many prominent figures, including Pope John Paul II and the Maurice Podoloff Trophy, given annually to the Most Valuable Player of the NBA.\nHe said he is excited about coming to Bloomington for the unveiling ceremony. \n“(IU) is such an extraordinarily beautiful campus,” Mellon said. “I’m proud to have another sculpture at IU.”\nMellon said he already has several works on campus, including a statue of former IU President Bill Armstrong and a work displayed in the Hillel Center.\nHe said he was first contacted about sculpting Wells about a year ago when the campus’ main library was renamed after Wells. The bust took many months to prepare, he said, and was then specialty-shipped to IU.\nChoosing a personality for the Wells’ bust was easy, Mellon said.\n“(Wells) was such a larger-than-life-person. He had such a strong energy and warmth and always had a big smile on his face,” he said. “It just made sense to sculpt him that way and have him welcoming students to the library.”\nMellon said he studied Wells’ likeness primarily from his cameo in the 1979 film “Breaking Away,” which is based on the Little 500. He also consulted photographs and existing works of art based on Wells. \nMellon said it was an honor to be chosen to make a bust of Wells. \n“He is one of the most important figures in the University’s history,” Mellon said. “He is the seminal chancellor in IU’s history. Under his watch, the University was constantly planning improvements and growing.”\nSteele said the unveiling ceremony is an appropriate end to Celebrate IU Week.\n“It is fitting, with the inauguration of a new president and other celebrations, to come full circle by the end of the week and remind ourselves of the classic values and vision represented by Dr. Wells,” she said.\nThe Wells bust is a gift from the IU Foundation and IUB Libraries. The Wells Library lobby will be the bust’s permanent home.