The Kelly Family Gates
The Kelly Family Gates, 2003, Metal
Mark Lueders (American)
#2003.0002.0001
A juried competition was held to decide who would design the Charles Addams Fine Arts Hall gates. Mark Lueders—a Graduate School of Fine Arts alumni and sculptor on Penn’s fine arts faculty—won. The gates are adorned with hands that are meant to personify the creative spirit at Penn. The finely crafted bronze hands are shown using a variety of tools relating to the arts, including paintbrushes, pencils, a camera, and scissors. The design reflects the quirky spirit of the cartoonist Charles Addams, for whom the fine arts building is named. Addams attended Penn and later created the characters in the famous Addams Family. It is famously rumored that Addams’ design for the Addams Family mansion was inspired by College Hall. The hands on the Kelly Gates, apart from representing creativity, are also a nod to the Addams Family’s Thing character (a disembodied hand). The gates bear the name of the Kelly family, who funded their creation and installation.
[metaslider id=1080]Location: Addams Hall Courtyard, Philadelphia PA
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