Posted on June 18, 2024 at 7:15 AM by Alisha Abner
Elizabeth Brookhart Anderson passed away peacefully at the age of 92 at her Florida home last year on May 24, 2023. She graduated from Iowa State where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in dietetics and fell in love with her future husband, Byron Richard Anderson. In memory of her beloved husband, who passed in 2004, Elizabeth funded the Elizabeth and Byron Anderson Sculpture Garden at Iowa State University in 2008. A celebration of Elizabeth's life was held on June 8, 2024 in Colorado.
The Anderson Sculpture Garden embodies both Byron’s interest in gardening and Elizabeth’s love of sculpture and is sited outside Morrill Hall, the campus location where the young couple would often meet to begin their social engagements. While at Iowa State in the 1950s, Elizabeth took a class taught by Christian Petersen, the nation’s first permanent campus artist-in-residence. Elizabeth treasured Petersen’s guidance, and her interest in art continued throughout her life. To honor the Petersen legacy and memory of her father, United States Senator Smith Wildman Brookhart from Iowa, Elizabeth funded the 2007 inaugural exhibition at the Christian Petersen Art Museum, Christian Petersen: Urban Artist, 1900-1934. After inquiring about future University Museums goals and projects, Elizabeth graciously funded the sculpture garden.
Today, the Anderson Sculpture Garden is located on ISU's central campus around Morrill Hall, 603 Morrill Road, where the Christian Petersen Art Museum is located. The sculpture garden is open to the public with free admission all hours every day and serves as a meeting place for new generations of Iowa State students.
Read More:
Blog about Sculpture Garden (2020)
Images:
Elizabeth Anderson at the opening of the Christian Petersen Art Museum in 2007.
Photo of the Anderson Sculpture Garden through some flowers and showing the bronze casts of sculptures Cornhusker and 4-H Calf, both by Christian Petersen.
Categories: Behind the Scenes, Donors