Mid-Michigan artist Doug DeLind recently finished a 13-foot tall, more than 600-pound sculpture commissioned by Michigan State University (MSU).
The university asked DeLind to create a health-based structure on the outside of the school's IM West intramural sports facility. The bronze “Gateway to Health” sculpture represents the dozens of sports that have 
been played in the IM building over the years. One side of the sculpture includes fencing, swimming, cricket, archery and lacrosse while the other includes basketball and judo, among others.
“What I was trying to do was to make a very tall splendid figure that’s androgynous,” DeLind says of the sculpture.
After working on the model for six months, DeLind took the sculpture to a metal castor in Saginaw. DeLind brought all three parts — one weighed 600 pounds — back to East Lansing.
“I’ve always worked alone, so that was a battle for me,” he says, recalling that it was rather difficult to travel with the pieces.“ That’s not one of those things you can just fudge and say, 'I’ll just shove it in [the car]'.”
The piece went up in June, but DeLind is working on a final piece that will allow the visually impaired to enjoy the sculpture.
Source: Terry Link, MSU Office of Campus Sustainability
Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie
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