April 07, 2014 | Vol. 20 No. 30

 

 

There's a new Horned Frog on campus
Published: 4/2/2012

bronzefrog

The statue, created by artist Joe Spear, formerly lived outside a Santa Fe art gallery.

By Kathryn Hopper

The TCU Magazine

The campus entered a new bronze age last week as students helped install a bronze horned frog sculpture in Reed Plaza, between Reed and Scharbauer halls.

 

Now students are being challenged to name the sculpture, with the winner being recognized on a plaque at its base. Students have until April 6 to submit names.

 

Ann Louden (Chancellor’s associate for external relations) says she has received two name suggestions, but would like many more. “So far, we have Frogzilla and Spike, but we could do better than that,” she says.

 

The sculpture joins the older bronze horned frog statue to the south of Reed installed in 1984, which has reportedly provided good luck to generations of students who rub its nose before tests.

 

The new bronze frog was created by artist Joe Spear and initially sat outside the Jane Sauer Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Frog aficionados including John O. Lumpkin, director of the Schieffer School of Journalism, enjoyed it. Lumpkin sent a picture of the frog to Chancellor Victor J. Boschini Jr. who liked what he saw.

 

The only problem was the sculpture was a bit too sharp in the horns. Boschini was worried that children who would want to climb on the frog could get hurt. “We had him dulled down,” adds Louden.

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