New mural reflects many facets of Bethel College

By Melanie Zuercher Special to the KansanThe newest piece of public art on Bethel College’s campus represents an alumni gift on more than one level.Several years ago, representatives of Bethel’s Class of 2008 approached Sondra Bandy Koontz, Bethel vice president for advancement, about their class gift.“They specifically wanted it to be a piece of art by Conrad Snider,” Koontz said.Snider, of North Newton, is a 1984 Bethel College graduate and an internationally recognized ceramic artist. He is known especially for his larger-than-life three-dimensional pieces, including several that are part of Newton’s “Blue Sky” sculpture in Centennial Park, and his ceramic tile installations such as the one in the visitors’ center at Dyck Arboretum in Hesston.Sometime during 2009-10, when the capital campaign for renovation of the old Science Hall into the Academic Center went into high gear, Koontz began talking with Snider about the possibility of a piece of art for the repurposed building.Snider agreed to the commission. Then, he said at the dedication for the piece Oct. 12, during Fall Festival 2012, he “let things percolate for a while.”As his ideas began to take shape, he would occasionally bounce them off Koontz. As the building renovation got closer to completion, he looked at color samples for the new paint, woodwork and carpet in order to synchronize his own glaze colors with them.“As I was thinking about the piece,” Snider said at the dedication, “I wanted to tie in what the college is and what the building was and is, and will be.”The piece is located in the building’s main entry area, through the west doors. It is composed of about 180 ceramic tiles – representing about two tons of clay.Its main motif is the threshing stone, the centerpiece of Bethel’s graphic identity as well as its athletic mascot.“The threshing stone is a tool that [helped provide] nourishment for the body,” Snider said. “A school like Bethel provides nourishment for the mind and soul.”Like many of Snider’s tile installations, the one in the James A. Will Family Academic Center at Bethel (the piece is as yet unnamed) includes impressions in the clay – including the Bethel College seal as the “axle” of each threshing stone – and text etched into some of the tiles. The latter comprises Bethel’s four core values of discipleship, scholarship, service and integrity, along with other “Bethel distinctives” like cross-cultural learning and “pedagogy of inquiry.”“We’re shaped by our experience at Bethel College,” Snider said, “and we move on from here, taking those impressions with us and making an imprint on the world.”Snider began his most intensive work on the piece last summer, creating a small sketch, then transferring it to a piece of plastic the same size as the finished work and creating patterns for the tiles. Then came fabrication of the tiles (which needed about two months to dry), firing and glazing.The week before Fall Festival, Snider actually installed the piece in the Academic Center. His father, retired Bethel sociology professor Howard Snider of North Newton, assisted him, patiently “buttering” the backs of tiles with cement.“It was a pleasure to work on this as students were using the building for classes,” Conrad Snider said. “One day, a crowd of them gathered to watch, so we had a conversation and I got some reactions to the piece.“It’s been an honor,” Snider said, “to participate in the repurposing of Science Hall.”