Metal Sculptures

Photos of Marxy

Some things never change. Decades ago, these students were enjoying the same musical headsets you can find in Marxhausen's studio today.

You can make out a door knob, an object which clearly intrigued Marxhausen.

A fascinating portrait of Marxy in his studio.

A gallery space for Marxhausen's work:

Styrofoam shapes similar to the ones he showed Letterman.

My First Visit to Marxhausen's Studio

Anne Marxhausen informed me that Reinhold often assigned his ceramic students to sculpt shoes out of clay. These are likely by his students.

This is a model for the mural in the Lincoln Community Playhouse, which I wrote about here.

[Edit: I just learned that this red pipe was constructed by Reinhold's son, Karl Marxhausen.]

John the Revelator, work by a student

Cow's Knees

Marxhausen would often take his class to a run-down barn near campus. At first glance, a lot of the objects around the area looked forlorn and ugly, but Marxhausen taught his students how to find beauty in these things.

Aesthetics…has to do with beauty. Beauty is not just necessarily things that are pretty or cute or nice.

There was a rough, metal pane the cows had rubbed their knees against every day for decades whenever they got a drink of water. When he first took a closer look, Marxy discovered those cows had created a rainbow of colors on the metal. He said an artist would be proud to achieve that subtle range of color in a painting.

This 5"x 5" piece by Marxhausen shares a similar quality: what at first looks like a rough, sickly brown object, actually has a range of vivid colors. Marchausen also talked a great deal about how different light sources can completely change how we perceive objects, so I included two views of the same object, one with a stronger light source.

- Duncan

Comment from the original site:

This is true! Beauty IS all around us. Thanks for the reminder. :)

February 8, 2010 | Amber