Bill Barrett: Sculpture Installed
Bill Barrett’s (B.S. /1958, M.S.in Design/1959, M.F.A./1960) sculpture, “Lexeme VIII”, created in response to 9/11, was installed on Purdue North Central’s campus in Westville, Indiana on September 11, 2014. In an article on the dedication, written by Stefan Barkow for Purdue North Central, Central, Purdue’s Chancellor, James Dworkin stated “This is a beautiful reminder of an event we must never allow ourselves to forget. We gratefully accept this gift, and the responsibility of stewardship that comes with a sculpture such as this.
Lexeme VIII spent a few years on display in Zell, Germany, where it was so loved that they asked if they could keep the piece. “I had to tell them no,”Barrett said. “I told them I had to take it back to my home country, that it needed to be in the United States.”
And now at last, with the financial assistance of the Lawyer family, the support of Purdue North Central and the work of Bill and Debora Barrett, Lexeme VIII has come to stay in the place it was meant to be, to keep alive the memory of all those who died in the hearts of all those who lived.