Visualizing Beneficence

In our course text Writing: A Guide for College and Beyond, Lester Faigley points out that we live in a highly visual world that tries to influence us every day. "We are bombarded by images...They compete for our attention, urge us to buy things, and guide us on our way home from work" (272). This influence, however, is not often something of which we are aware. That's why, Faigley says, writing a visual analysis can help us consider not only the visuals, but what they are trying to get us to think, feel and/or do.

In Project 2, I ask that you pick a visual in one of the many communities in which you interact and analyze what's going on in its design. In a way, you are critically "reading" the image just as you critically read a printed article (remember that fun assignment from last semester?) You are looking for the choices that the designer, photographer, video editor, architect or artist made. These clues will help you answer the question: What values are being expressed in this visual? What is the creator saying is important? How is the artist trying to influence us to see the community that the image represents?

One of the images that people connected to Ball State see constantly is Beneficence. The sculpture sits at the south central part of campus, facing University Avenue. There are lots of photos of "Benny" on the BSU website, but it's worth the trip to see her in person. The sculpture stands in a lovely promenade with a series of columns surrounding Benny. The plaza is filled with flowers in spring and summer.

The history of Beneficence, and the struggle behind the construction and funding of the plaza is described in an article on the Bracken Library's archives and special collections web site. Benny's sculptor, Daniel Chester French, also created the 19-foot-high statue of a seated Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial. French was commissioned by the Muncie Chamber of Commerce to create a sculpture to honor the Ball brothers, who founded Ball State University. He studied the Balls to come up with a concept that embodied their dedication to education and charity. (The word "beneficence" is related to the terms "beneficial" and "benefit," as in doing acts of kindness and charity, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary online.)

This visual representation of the values of education and philanthropy was eventually incorporated into the BSU logo. Art scholars can probably better explain the artistic influences and merits of Benny, but as an instructor and student, I see her first as a giver and receiver of knowledge. Certainly, her outstretched right hand can be seen as someone who is willing to take money (like the BSU Foundation or Alumni Association) but I sometimes worry that universities stress the need for financial support too much. So I will stick with the intentions of the sculptor: that Benny's outstretched hand represents our responsibilities to learn and to create new knowledge. I see it as a hand outstretched to help others by sharing our knowledge. This hand is empty, not because it wants something, but because it is inviting us to join Benny in her quest for understanding.

The decorated chest in her left hand does not contain all the knowledge, but all that is known so far. Beneficence invites us to be a part of filling that chest up. Her right foot is raised as if walking forward...moving forward to make more meaning and to share what we already know. Her wings, while perhaps part of the historic representation of knowledge, also can be reminders that the search for knowledge can take us far. Benny may have been standing in that same spot for almost seventy-three years, but the students and faculty she's seen have traveled widely and come from around the world.

These are the values that I believe Daniel Chester French tried to embody in Benny, and the ones that I think should drive almost everything we do at Ball State.

Works Cited

Logo. Ball State U. Web. 11 Feb. 2010.

Beneficence. "Campus Map." Ball State U. Web. 11 Feb. 2010.

"Beneficence." Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary. Web. 11 Feb. 2010.

Benny.  Ball State U. Bracken Library Archives and Special Collections Research Center. 2003. Web. 11 Feb. 2010.

"Benny's Story: A History of Beneficence." Ball State U. Bracken Library Archives and Special Collections Research Center. 2003. Web. 11 Feb. 2010.

"Designing the Lincoln Memorial: Daniel Chester French and Henry Bacon." National Gallery of Art. 2010. Web. 12 Feb. 2010.

Faigley, Lester. Writing: A Guide for College and Beyond. 2nd brief ed. New York: Pearson, 2010.