Mark and Julie Phillips Sculpture Garden | Mariana H. Qubein Arboretum & Botanical Gardens

Take a winding path under the shade of a mature canopy of southern red oak (Quercus falcata), sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), and tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) and discover works of art nestled among rare and beautiful plants.

The resident sculptures are made by NC artists and HPU students and professors. Each year, a new sculpture by a local artist visits the garden as part of the Andrea Wheless Visiting Sculptor Program, which was created by HPU faculty to honor a colleague who helped create the HPU School of Art and Design. The garden continues to expand and evolve with permanent and rotating exhibits.

Location: Between Blessing Hall and Millis Gym, with pieces continuing throughout the hillside.

View Plant List View On Campus Map

As designers, observation is paramount in everything we do, and what we do on campus is to get our students to think.

Adrian Boggs

HPU Instructor of Art

You have to take the time to smell the flowers. An opportunity to do that is found in the sculpture garden. You'll feel the breeze and hear the sound of water, and you're surrounded by nature and the majesty of those sculptures. You can't create that on the printed page

Mark Phillips

Donor

The art department exists because of Andrea. She was such a great mentor to everyone in the department, and we all wanted her to be remembered and to have a legacy. She was passionate and fiery about the arts, and she had way too much energy to be forgotten.

Dr. John Turpin

Dean of the School of Art and Design, Arboretum Committee Member

Featured sculptures:

1) Portal To Knowledge, installed 2011, concrete. Artists: Sculpture class of 2011

2) Knowledge Takes Flight, installed 2012, concrete. Artists: Andrea Wheless (faculty), Janis Dougherty (faculty), Bill Donnan (visiting artist), Amanda Holcomb (student), Alexis Pennacchio (student), Alexis Goldman (student).

3) Cascade of the Hill, installed 2013, steel and aluminum. Artist: Jeff Keifer. This sculpture was purchased by the School of Art and Design. Cascade of the Hill is based on the organic slope and curvature that nature creates on the landscape around us. The natural rust finish connects the piece to its earthly surroundings making it blend with the environment.

4) Artifact, installed 2014, concrete and steel. Artists: Adrian Boggs (faculty), Peter Dezzi (student), Christopher Doyle, Jenna Myer, Jordan Skyler (student), David Vidri (student). The figures illustrate the overlap of civilizations through time and discuss the nature and inevitability of change in society.