The twisted metal on the lawn of Life Science III may look like a car wreck now, but as soon as weather permits, it will turn into a 17-foot-tall welded bronze sculpture with a golden sheen.

Allen Haake, chief architect of SIUC, said Vigorae, one of two sculptures designed for Life Science III, will consist of three blade-like stalks that resemble a wild plant, but it will not look like that until the weather warms up a little bit.

We’re waiting for some decent weather to put up the concrete base, Haake said. Then we will put up the rest of the design.

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Rob Lorenson, the sculptor of Vigorae and a graduate student at Loyola University, said the late Gene Horvath worked at least two years on the piece, but he died in April 1995 before finishing.

Another sculpture artist and myself made the structural details after Gene passed away, Lorenson said. Vigorae’ was Horvath’s last piece, and I will make sure the sculpture will be designed the way he intended it to be. Once the piece is put together, it will be an accurate reflection of what Gene Horvath really intended.

Lorenson said one unique characteristic about Vigorae is that over the years, the sculpture’s color will shift from gold to lichen green.

Vigorae was not the only sculpture designed for Life Science III. There is another sculpture on the other side of the building that was constructed last summer and brought to its location in November. However, it still needs to be put on its concrete base as soon as the snow melts, Christiane Martens, designer of the Molecular Reflection and professor of art at University of Illinois, said.

She said the sculpture is an emblem of modern molecular biology and a visual metaphor for the molecular complexity to fit the physical world, but it does not represent a biological structure.

She said it represents circular forms that evoke the energy of molecules in action.

It was a team effort for Horvath, Haake and herself to make sure the two sculptures were designed correctly, she said.

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It took several people to put the sculptures together, Martens said. Our work was inspired by science.

Mike Dunbar, coordinator of art and architecture of the Capital Development Board, said the board, an agency responsible for all state-funded construction, chose these two sculpture artists to add the final touches for Life Science III.

He said the state sets aside 0.5 percent of a state building’s construction costs to acquire artwork. With this in mind, the Board put out a state-sponsored competition called The Sculpture for the Third Millennium.

The competition is unusual because it focuses on the artists who live in the state, Dunbar said. When we commission an artist, they must live in the state of Illinois and they have to spend the state money in Illinois. The significance of the program is the money is automatically returned to the community once the architecture or artwork is completed.

Dunbar said the program keeps artists in Illinois.

We’ve noticed people are moving to Illinois to be an artist as opposed to being an artist in New York.

Lorenson said the program gives the artists an opportunity to make their name well-known.

This program seems to jump-start a lot of careers for people, Lorenson said. I think that’s why Illinois is blessed with sculptures.