TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY
Free Spirit
Donated in 2002
SNELL JOHNSON (AMERICAN)
Bronze
Animal & Food Sciences Building, West Courtyard
A bronze of a rearing male horse stands in the courtyard west
of the Animal & Food Sciences Building, between the facility
and the Gordon W. Davis Meat Science Laboratory. Over nine
feet tall, this piece depicts a nearly life-sized wild mustang.
It was donated by the late Ann Lee Harris in honor of her
late husband and rancher, Jack Harris. The couple owned and
operated the Harris Ranch in Coalinga, California, one of the
state’s largest cattle feeding operations. Ann, who grew up
on the High Plains of Texas, was a former Broadway actress
and later became a restaurateur. The statue, Free Spirit, was
initially located at the front entrance of her restaurant in
Phoenix, Arizona before being donated and moved to campus.
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Bulls
1995
PETER WOYTUK (AMERICAN)
Bronze
Animal & Food Sciences Building
Woytuk creates playful and satirical animal sculptures that exude
personality and challenge our interpretation of animal form.
Although Woytuk animates his subjects’ character, these bulls are
freed from any conventional portrayal or romanticized themes
that one often associates with this animal in Western art. Instead,
the simplified organic forms are subject to artistic invention. The
artist considers the bull grouping to be “one unified sculpture
that the viewer is able to walk around and within.”
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