Wheaton News

Artist Eric Snowden’s kinetic metal sculpture is a gift from family of Lisbeth Sprinz Stern ’54

Wheaton College’s long-established appreciation for the arts is easily recognized when visitors stroll the picturesque grounds of its 400-acre campus. Many innovative creators have donated their works to the institution’s Public Art at Wheaton collection, adding to the richness of the campus environment while inspiring others to think and dream.

The latest gift to the collection is a kinetic metal sculpture from the family of Lisbeth Sprinz Stern, a member of the Class of 1954 who passed away in 2023. An English major at Wheaton, Stern was a teacher, an advocate for arts education and a sculptor in her later years. Throughout her lifetime, she was a great supporter of both Wheaton and the Katonah Museum of Art in New York, where she served as a board member and was active for decades.

She often contributed to Wheaton College Friends of Art and to arts and cultural learning at Wheaton. Stern’s family donated the sculpture in honor of her. See gallery of installation photos.

“Our mother’s connection with the college, her lifelong interest in the arts and education, and Wheaton’s vibrant public art program made donating the sculpture to Wheaton a no-brainer,” said Patti Stern Winkel, Stern’s daughter. 

“Wheaton meant so much to our mom in so many ways,” said Winkel. “She forged lifelong friendships there, and spoke to her college roommate and other best friends from Wheaton almost every day.” 

The sculpture—titled Dogon Yaro by its artist, Eric Snowden—has been in the backyard of Stern’s parents’ Connecticut home since the 1980s, when she and her late husband, Frank, purchased it.

Snowden, who has worked for various groups in the music industry, including Warner Music Group and Atlantic Records, makes welded steel sculptures and is based in the New Paltz, N.Y., area. The sculptor spent a year as a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger, where he was introduced to African art and learned some Hausa, according to Leah Neiderstadt, associate professor of museum studies and history of art and the curator of Wheaton’s Permanent Collection. Dogon Yaro translates from Hausa into English as “Long Boy.”

Winkel and her siblings, Lisa Stern Taylor and Andrew Stern, received a warm welcome when they inquired about donating the sculpture. Kelly Goff, associate professor of visual art, and Niederstadt facilitated Dogon Yaro’s arrival, storage, restoration and installation on campus. Gracie Beach ’24, a sociology and public health major, who worked in Wheaton’s sculpture studio, repainted the sculpture. Mieke Buterbaugh ’26 took installation photos. 

The Stern family also made a generous gift to Public Art at Wheaton, to provide ongoing care for the campus-wide collection. 

In March 2024, the sculpture was installed outside the back corner of the Diana Davis Spencer Discovery Center Dedicated to Free Speech and Innovation, across from Haas Athletic Center. It joins more than a dozen other sculptures, all of which are either on loan to or accessioned into Wheaton’s Permanent Collection.

Made of mild steel, Dogon Yaro’s royal-blue upright column is 10 feet tall. A royal-blue arm attached at the top of the column extends out about three feet on opposite sides of the column. A red “sail” is attached on one end of the arm and three yellow wands are attached to the other. Bearings at the top and on the attachments enable the sculpture to move with the wind.

“This is the perfect way to honor our mom because this piece is so significant to us,” said Winkel. “Their five grandchildren, now all grown, have vivid memories of playing in the backyard, watching the sculpture’s red sail and yellow fingers dance in the gentle breeze against the backdrop of the changing seasons. They named it Ketchup and French Fries one day way back when and the name stuck. For us, the piece represents our parents’ love of art, nature and family, and we have beautiful memories of many family gatherings. We’re excited for the piece to create new memories now, for everyone in the Wheaton community.”

(Installation photos by Mieke Buterbaugh ’26)