Located across from the Stanford University post office is a small plaza containing a plaque mounted on one of the plaza walls that reads:
After doing some research online, I located a couple of articles from the campus newspaper that highlight this plaza. Interestingly, from reading one of the articles, the plaza is made up of a memorial fountain that is located about 120 feet north of the plaque. The first article highlights the dedication of the plaza and reads:
The Stanford Daily, Volume 145, Issue 63, 22 May 1964
White Plaza Dedication
White Memorial Plaza and fountain will be dedicated at a half-hour-ceremony starting at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow. The Raymond B. Whites of Kansas City, Mo., who donated the plaza in memory of their sons, John Barber White II and William Nicholas White, will be guests of honor. White will press a button to turn on the spraying waters of the ornamental fountain sculpture.
Dedicatory remarks on behalf of The University will be made by Acting President Frederick E. Terman and by Richard E. Guggenhime of San Francisco for the Stanford Board of Trustees.
Ronald Bishop of Pacific Palisades, an intimate friend of Jack White, and William Bauman of Los Angeles, Bill While's roommate in his freshman year, will speak briefly of their association with the brothers, who were both members of the class of 1949. Bill was killed in a training plane accident at Randolph Field, Texas, in 1948, and Jack in a surfing accident off San Onofre Beach, California.
The Stanford Daily, Volume 187, Issue 19, 1 March 1985
Artist says the Claw is a celebration of life
By Lee Cline
Anyone who is familiar with the Stanford campus has seen White Memorial Fountain, affectionately dubbed "the Claw." Annually used as a spear on which to impale an effigy of Cal's Golden Bear, it is actually a distinguished work of art by prominent Bay Area artist Aristides Demetrios.
Built of bronze on copper with about 80 separate water jets, the sculpture stands 16 feet above a pool of water that spans 35 feet.
White Memorial Fountain, installed in the summer of 1963, was funded by Raymond White and his wife to honor their sons, John Barber White II and William Nicholas White, who both died a few years after their studies here at Stanford, in a plane crash and a surfing accident, respectively. Demetrios was chosen to create a centerpiece for White Plaza after a search that reached as far as Europe.
"The shape of the arms could make a sphere, and they could make an upward spiral. The water complements the sculpture form," Demetrios said of the sculpture. He claimed his inspiration came directly from the White brothers: "The death of young people is a very tragic thing." The expression of the sculpture is intended as a general celebration of life, he said.
Other factors also influenced the design of the sculpture. "I built it to complement the surroundings. I took into account the fact that the plaza would often be filled with people, so I designed it taller than six feet. I took into account the trees in the area — the shape of the boughs is important. The trees still are not fully grown. When they grow around it, the sculpture will work even better."
Demetrios said he spends about two months working on each of his
sculptures. The initial idea is developed into a scale model, ranging in height from a few inches to a foot. The height of the final piece can be anywhere from a few feet to ninety feet, the size of one of his tallest works. The model is very precise, and the artist spends a significant amount of time ensuring that the proportions in the final work are correct. Most of the welding of the various metals is done in his shop with the aid of a few other workers and, frequently, his daughter Lisa.
Demetrios works on the sculpture until it is nearly done: it is then taken out to the site, where he makes final decisions on the proportion in accordance with the surroundings. "If you want to honor the site, you've got to examine it closely and consider the position of the sun at every time during the day and year, the winds, the leaf canopy, the branches and, of course, the surrounding architecture," Demetrios explained.
He said he designs about one fountain a year: "I like to use water. I used to play in a brook all the time when I was a kid."
Demetrios grew up in an "artists' town" in Massachusetts. Both his parents were artists, and his father ran his own sculpture school. Demetrios graduated from Harvard in 1953 with a degree in literature and history and then entered the Navy for three years.
"I've known I've been an artist all along," he said, but his initial intent was to be a painter. "I painted quite a bit in the Navy ... at first, I didn't want to be a sculptor. I didn't want to be like my father."
He said he also had architecture in mind, but eventually found himself attending his father's sculpture school for a few years following his time in the Navy. He no longer seriously paints, although he does bring into his metal works a certain element of painting — the use of color — with oxidation and the use of patina.
Demetrios is renowned in part for his treatment of wind, water and flame. However, his newer works seem to have a different emphasis that he calls "discontinuity." Rather than the fluid lyricism visible in the White Plaza sculpture, he says he has been working on sharper, more angular. "industrial" shapes in each work that interact with each other only in a minimal sense.
"This discontinuity is more a symbol for real life nowadays," Demetrios said. "Images are thrown at us that just don't fit together. Television is a prime example." He adds that a play on expression of dimension and perspective is also inherent in his more recent works.
When asked what he thought of Stanford's sculpture collection, Demetrios replied, "It's great, it's all great. (Art Prof. Albert) Elsen is fantastic. incredible. His acquisition of the Rodins is a major triumph."
He is enthusiastic and optimistic regarding the new directions art is taking. "The hard-edge stuff is getting rigid. Now we have some marvelous whimsical art trying to break this rigidity. It is a welcome return of a mixture of passion and intellect."
On being an artist, Demetrios said. "I am always questioning, constantly questioning everything. It's nerve-wracking, but it's vital. Five years ago I realized I knew nothing. I totally retrained myself.
"One thing I don't want to do is repeat myself. I could have done another 25 Claws. I had that chance and it would've been easy for me to do, but I didn't. I don't want my works to seem mass produced. . . . Each individual work is unique."
His advice to young potential artists: "Do it. Don't live life too safely. The payoff is incredible. A piece will start to pay you back in power and love."
I didn't realize the memorial fountain belonged as part of the plaza and didn't take pictures of the fountain. You can visit the artist's website and this fountain is featured here.