The latest addition to the Rice Public Art collection — “Spirit” (1990) by Jesús Moroles — was unveiled May 3 in honor of the late university alum and ardent arts patron Raymond Brochstein ’55.
Located at Crownover Court, a lively intersection next to the Raymond and Susan Brochstein Pavilion, the newly installed work is a gift of Leslie ’69 and Brad Bucher ’65 to honor Brochstein’s thoughtful and lasting impact on the university.
“We wanted to give this in memory of Raymond and what he contributed to the public art program,” Brad Bucher said at the May 3 dedication ceremony, remarking on the deep emotional connection he and his wife felt toward the work, which the Buchers held in their personal collection before donating it to Rice.
“In addition to being a memorial to Ray’s outstanding leadership, it is a link to our past and an emblem of the Rice community,” said Leslie Bucher.
Alison Weaver, the Suzanne Deal Booth Executive Director of the Moody Center for the Arts, spoke to Brochstein’s immeasurable impact on the university throughout his life. “Raymond Brochstein was instrumental in the creation and growth of the Rice Public Art collection,” Weaver said. “It’s an honor to recognize his contributions through this dedication.”
This marks the third contribution from the Buchers to the Rice Public Art collection, following Joe Havel’s “In Play” (2014) on the Anderson-Clarke Center Great Lawn and John Henry’s “Archer” (2012) located near the Brockman Hall for Physics.
In attendance at the dedication ceremony were Raymond’s widow, Susan Brochstein, their daughter Deborah and son Benjamin, as well as former Rice President David Leebron and wife Y. Ping Sun in addition to an array of other university representatives and avid supporters of the arts at Rice.
Moroles’ “Spirit” is the third of the late sculptor’s granite creations to join Rice’s Public Art collection — “Waves Column” (2003) and “Musical Stele” (2004) are located at the Cohen House faculty club grounds and foyer, respectively. Both works are gifts of alumnus Ricky Ray Behrend ’77.
“Spirit” is the latest work acquired by the Rice Public Art committee and the Moody, who have brought a staggering 50-plus new works to the university since 2017. The scope and diversity of Rice’s public art collection have been praised in “Art & Object,” and the collection was also highlighted in a recent issue of “Sculpture” magazine.
A native Texan from Corpus Christi, Moroles devoted his career to granite, creating large-scale sculptures from the versatile stone across the world. Along the way, he won numerous awards for his groundbreaking work, including a 2008 National Medal of the Arts, before his death in 2015.
All three Moroles sculptures now housed on Rice’s campus were inspired by the notion of waves, and the manner in which they move and reflect light. “As soon as you touch stone with a chisel, you’ve actually killed the quartz in it and it doesn’t reflect light anymore,” Moroles once said of his work. “Just like when you tear paper, it shows the fiber. That’s what I’m doing, I’m tearing it to show the inside of the stone and all the facets that reflect light.