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Sculpture found in Hwy. 14 ditch was placed there by former MSU student

A recent MSU graduate erected a sculpture along Hwy. 14 for the enjoyment -- and bemusement -- of local drivers.

2006-04-09
By Robb Murray, Free Press Staff Writer [published in The Free Press, Mankato, MN, 6/26/2005]

MANKATO — He's already long gone by now, off to sunny, free-spirited California and out of this place forever, the ink barely dry on his Minnesota State University diploma.

This sculpture was pulled out of a ditch off Highway 14. It was created by a former Minnesota State University art student who left for California not long after graduating last month.

But if artist Jesse Rasmussen were here, we'd ask him this: "Why'd you leave that sculpture in the ditch off Highway 14?"

"His work was adventurous," MSU art instructor Jim Johnson said. "But kids who are learning to make things that large don't often have the money or space to put it somewhere."

So, without knowing for sure why Rasmussen left it for the local Minnesota Department of Transportation guys to deal with, there can only be speculation.

Johnson's speculation is artfully simple. There's not much room at MSU for storage of student work. So when they're done, and their work is big like this one, they have few choices.

Some students convince other students to hang onto the work. Some pawn it off on parents. And some find other ways, non-MSU-endorsed ways, of getting rid of it.

Highway workers a few weeks ago noticed the sculpture in the right of way off Highway 14 on the way to Eagle Lake. It was perched near a man-made lake. Of course, putting it there is illegal, but not the kind of illegal that prompts the authorities to hunt you down. They just take it down.

Jason Jesperson, who studied art at both Bethany Lutheran College and MSU and is wrapping up two weeks of teaching Bethany's Art Camp, said the idea of anonymous art is intriguing to many artists.

"It denies that idea that the artist has to have credit," Jesperson said. "It's more about the art."

Jesperson said while at MSU several years ago, he finished up his degree in December and had a bunch of sculptures he didn't know what to do with. So he buried them in the snow deep enough so that it would take several months for the spring thaw to reveal them.

He said it was among the most exciting things he's ever done as an artist, and he can appreciate the inspiration behind leaving a sculpture in a ditch.

"It takes a little bit of bravery," Jesperson said. "There probably is a thrill to it, the same as carrying spray-paint cans in your backpack and tagging, seeing if you can get away with it."

Johnson said that this particular piece was meant to be indoors - "That piece should have never been allowed to be left alone outside," he said. But when a piece such as this moves from inside to outside, the effect that has on perspective can be attractive to an artist.

"When surrounded by other objects, it looks big," Johnson said. "Then take it outside, it begins to look really small. It's an enormous transformation ... (Rasmussen) also was very interested in nature, and in achieving some kind of quality in his work that expressed that love of natural form."

Jesperson said the artist's choice to put it roadside was an intriguing one. He likened the effect to that achieved every day by billboard advertising. Advertisers know they have a captive audience, and they bombard that audience with commerce.

Was Rasmussen trying to bombard that same audience with art? You'll have to go to California and ask him.

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