Cloke Plaza Bell Tower, UMaine

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Bell Tower at the University of Maine brings a historic bell into an unmistakably contemporary setting. Buster Simpson's stainless-steel mesh structure stands in Cloke Plaza, where pedestrian routes between engineering buildings converge. The work connects an object once associated with a nineteenth-century campus building to a modern gathering place. Its interest lies in looking at the contrast: a recognizable bell held within a light, open-looking architectural form.

The university's public sculpture tour locates it southwest of Barrows Hall. Use current visitor-parking information and approach through the campus pedestrian network. The plaza remains part of everyday university circulation, so choose a viewing position that gives people using the paths room to pass. A focused stop outside is enough to appreciate the tower; the work does not depend on entering an engineering building or arranging an interior tour.

UMaine explains that the Wingate Bell was formerly in Wingate Hall until 1943, then preserved in Fogler Library before its installation here. The university records Cloke Plaza's dedication in 2014 and identifies Paul Cloke as engineering dean from 1925 to 1950. These are useful layers of history to bring to the view. The bell, the memorial name and the contemporary structure each refer to a different part of the campus's story.

Simpson's original project statement describes the mesh column as about twenty-one feet high. He connects its shifting visual pattern with Cloke's early electrical-engineering research. That explanation offers a way to look without needing a technical demonstration: notice how the overlapping open material changes as your position changes. Compare an overall silhouette with a closer view of the surface from a permitted position. The relationship between solid-looking form and visible openings is part of the encounter.

The artist also describes Mount Waldo granite meeting the tower's concrete support. The stone bears a natural split and marks from quarrying, joining a geological material with evidence of human work. Consider how that differs from the manufactured metal above it. The tower can be read as an arrangement of different kinds of making rather than as a bell alone: quarried stone, formed support, reflective mesh and a preserved historical object occupy one setting.

A bell naturally raises the expectation of sound, but there is no need to organize a visit around hearing it ring. Let the visual composition offer its own experience. From one viewpoint the column may draw most attention; from another, the bell or the meeting with the base may become clearer. The university identifies lighting as another designed element, though a daytime look can already reveal the materials and their relationships.

For a photographic record, begin with the entire tower and enough of the plaza to convey its role as a campus intersection. Follow with a detail of the mesh or the junction of materials, keeping the sculpture untouched and routes clear. Credit Buster Simpson when sharing. Bell Tower rewards attention to continuity and change: an older campus voice preserved in a new form, within a place that people continue to cross on ordinary days.

Fun facts

1. Buster Simpson designed the contemporary bell tower.
2. The work incorporates the historic Wingate Bell.
3. Its mesh surface creates changing visual patterns.

Read the official sources →

Capture

1. Show the complete tower within the plaza before selecting details.
2. Compare reflective mesh with the meeting of stone and concrete.

Social

Cloke Plaza Bell Tower combines a historic bell with contemporary sculpture.

Buster Simpson designed the work at UMaine.

The Wingate Bell spent years preserved in Fogler Library before returning outdoors.

The plaza commemorates engineering dean Paul Cloke.

A changing viewpoint can change the appearance of the mesh.

Different materials invite different kinds of attention.

Keep campus pedestrian routes clear when stopping for photographs.

Would you notice the bell, the column or the stone first?

Hashtags

1. #Cre8Travel
2. #Maine
3. #UMaine
4. #PublicArt

Sources & visitor information

• umaine.edu
• www.bustersimpson.net
• umaine.edu