Earth-bound by Jan Praet (detail). Photo Joaquina You are likely to pass at least one of the many art pieces on Wageningen campus. What is it? Who made it? What does it convey? Student editor and amateur artist Maurice Schoo discusses striking works of art with WUR’s Art and Heritage conservator Joke Webbink.
Who or what is this figure near the entrance to the Leeuwenborch? The two-and-a-half-meter high bronze sculpture with a robe, mitre, and lance looks like a fantasy film character. Or perhaps a witch who has just cast a spell? Or someone looking at a miracle in the sky? Even Joke Webbink does not know. ‘The sculpture was given various names through time: the Witch, the Stilt-Walker, and the teacher. The Stilt-Waker refers to the long bronze tubes that keep it secured in the ground, which look like stilts. And Teacher probably results from a miniature of the sculpture being used for the Teacher of the Year Award.’ The official name of this work of art is Earth-Bound. It was designed by Belgian sculptor Jan Praet (1955) in 1996. When a WUR employee saw a sketch of the model in a gallery in Cadier en Keer, the sculpture was commissioned from Praet.
The sculpture was revealed in 1996 by Thieu Meulenberg on the occasion of his departure as professor of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour.
