Peru, Nebraska– A new statue will be unveiled on the Peru State campus as part of Peru State’s 150th Anniversary Homecoming. The statue is part of the ‘Power of Thought’ series by Victor Issa and will be installed in the lobby of the V.F. Jindra Fine Arts building.
According to Issa’s website, the Power of Thought is a “10-foot bronze sculpture depicting 25 pivotal achievements that have changed life and the world.” Beginning with the invention of the wheel, the statue shows the transitions to a steam train and then the bullet train which morphs into a DNA double helix.
Daryl and Peggy Long commissioned the statue and asked the sculptor to include Peru State in its imagery. Daryl Long taught at Peru State for fifty years, from January 1967 to January 2017.
In the new Peru State history book by Dan Sullivan, Long said, “I like it Peru State because you’re teaching students from rural America, and many of them are first-generation college students. They have a great work ethic and attitude. I enjoy being around people with those characteristics.”
Issa writes that the inspiration for this statue came from “the amazing concept that a single thought could become a world-famous concert hall, an iconic sculpture, a trip to the moon or convert a collection of ordinary materials into what we grow to completely depend upon.”
The statue dedication ceremony will be held on Friday, October 27 at 4 p.m. in the Jindra Fine Arts Lobby. The Peru State Theatre Company will present The Arsonists at 5:30 p.m. in the Jindra Fine Arts Black Box Theatre.
For more information about Peru State’s 150th Homecoming events, visit www.peru.edu/150.
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Ashley Peiman contributed to this release.