A. Howy Espenshade Bust
A bust of A. Howry Espenshade stands beside the doors to the Leisure Reading Room, near the Central entrance to Pattee Library. The bust and accompanying plaque were donated by The Class of 1911 to commemorate the career of one of Penn State's great early teachers.
An Addams Family Holiday
Located in the MacKinnons Student Lounge in 128 Paterno, is a large oil painting by Charles Addams, the former New Yorker cartoonist and creator of the Addams Family. The painting is a gift from Doris and Walter C. Goldstein.
Fred Lewis Pattee Bust
A bust of Fred Lewis Pattee stands beside the doors to the Leisure Reading room, near the Central entrance to Pattee Library. The bust and accompanying plaque were donated in 1956 to the Libraries by the Class of 1911, to commemorate the career of the author of Penn State's alma mater and one of Penn State's great early teachers.
Kenneth Burke Bust
A bronze bust of Kenneth Burke, donated to University Libraries in 1991 by Virginia and Don Burks and Marion and George Molnar, resides permanently in the Rare Books and Manuscript Collection, 104 Paterno Library, along with the Kenneth Burke manuscript collection.
Kimonos
Two beautifully embroidered Japanese ceremonial kimonos are
on display on the second floor of Pattee Library, are displayed in
glass cases donated by local company, C-COR.
Knowledge is Eternal
The artist, Hazel Court Taylor, donated this sculpture to University Libraries. It stands in the lobby of Paterno Library.
Moby Dick-themed Mural
Penn State School of Visual Arts 1998 alumnus Brian Kappel designed and installed this 40-foot long, “Moby Dick”-themed mural inside the Starbucks at Paterno Library. The work is a clever interpretation of the popular coffee chain’s nod to the Herman Melville classic. According to a news release unveiling the mural, Kappel’s work depicts the iconic Starbucks siren gazing at the sea where a scene from the book unfolds on the mural. It was created with laser-cut plywood layered and colored with a print of his design. The piece is anchored with an open copy of “Moby Dick" surrounded by one of the book’s quotes: “What I’ve dared, I’ve willed; and what I’ve willed, I’ll do!”
Night Messenger
This alabaster sculpture, a gift to the University Libraries from Ojibwe artist Gordon van Wert in December 2012, is displayed in the Leisure Reading Room, first floor Pattee Library, adjacent to van Wert’s sculpture “The Sentinel.”
Quartet
This terracotta relief by Sybil Barsky Grucci depicts four male musicians, three playing stringed instruments and one blowing a horn. It is displayed in the Music and Media Center, second floor West Pattee Library.
Stacks
This large-scale sculpture, created by Peter Calaboyias, is located in the Paterno Library courtyard on Curtin Road.
The Dawn of Magic
The Dawn of Magic, fiber art by Laurie dill-Kocher, is installed in the Circulation area of Pattee Library. This piece was sponsored by a gift from Michael and Cynthia Evanisko. The artist was selected from a field of ninety-four artists via a national search conducted in 2001 by the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts.
The Elms at Penn State
This large work was painted by Vincent Carducci and donated to University Libraries by Leonard S. Fiore, Inc. It hangs in the Administrative Services Center Lobby on the fifth floor of Paterno Library.
The Sentinel
Dedicated to the Penn State Class of 2012, this sculpture by Ojibwe artist Gordon van Wert was donated by Red Lake Tribal Chairman Floyd “Buck” Jourdain. In his official words of dedication Dr. Bruce Martin read in Ojibwe then translated into English a reminder to students and faculty that we have much to learn from our Ojibwe friends and neighbors. It is displayed in the Leisure Reading Room, first floor Pattee Library.
Title Search on Plastics, 2016
This reduced trial print of a 42-inch-square photograph is on display outside the Dean’s Office and Administrative Center, fifth floor Paterno Library. This work was created as part of Katrin Hornek’s artist residency in the Borland Project Space using volumes in the University Libraries’ collections. The original, in the permanent collection of the Palmer Museum of Art and purchased in part with funds provided by the University Libraries, was included in the museum’s 2018 exhibition “Plastic Entanglements: Ecology, Aesthetics, Materials.”
The Winning Team, A Portrait of Sue and Joe Paterno
This portrait of the Paternos, painted by Bill Rettig, was donated by the Paterno Family to University Libraries. It hangs in the lobby of Paterno Library near the entry to the Special Collections Library.