Marriage Ring

Three toddlers, approximately life-size, sitting at the edge of a pool. Designed for grounds of College of Home Economics, MacKay Hall. Figures moved indoors inside MacKay Hall after being conserved in 1991. 1994 outdoor reproduction of reinforced concrete by Mayda Jensen,…

Model for sculpture and fountain.

Studies of children playing at Iowa State’s Child Development Lab.

This series shows the progression of ideas for shapes of the reflecting pool, themes for figures, and orientation with the south facade of MacKay Hall.

Study of three rectangular pools with figures.

Study of three nude children standing at the edge of a rectangular reflecting pool.

Study depicting woman and children seated and standing around a pool basin.

Studies of four figures, kneeling and holding a plant, lying down, and sitting and holding a plant.

Seven studies of children playing. When Petersen was mulling over ideas for the Home Economics fountain sculpture, his wife Charlotte suggested he observe children playing at the child development lab nursery school. He later used those ideas for the fountain proposal.

Study of three figures, central woman flanked by a teen boy and girl.

Study of a fountain and MacKay Hall.

Study of a fountain with children.

Detailed study of one of many preliminary concepts. Depicts round and rectangular pools.

Study of fountain with children. Central boy figure pulling a fish from the pool.

Top image of a cluster of children along a wall, below image a of a rectangular pool and a site plan for Home Economics Building.

Study depicting rectangular and circular pools with small children, MacKay Hall in the background.

Study of two children at play on a circular pool.

Preliminary study of MacKay Hall and fountain.

Study of proposed fountain.

Forty-two reproductions of the 1943 original were made by Foster Willey of Minneapolis, Minnesota. One was purchased for the Brunnier Art Museum, one for University Museums education program, and forty were presented as gifts to donors, Family and Consumer Sciences…

Concrete reproduction of children from the 1942 original. Concrete pigmented to terra cotta color. Casting commissioned by University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. Casting done by Mayda Jensen Conservation, Omaha, Nebraska.