Photos by Ralph Freso / Slideshow
When Taylin Phillips saw Grand Canyon University’s “Grace Tree” glinting in the winter sun for the first time, she thought of her mom.
“Mom! Look what we get to have on campus!” the marketing/advertising sophomore said excitedly at Monday’s dedication of the 15 ½- x 11-foot tree-of-life sculpture.
Her mom is “a big believer of the fruit of the Spirit,” she said, one of the many Christian themes embodied in the work by Surprise, Arizona-based botanical artist Joe Tyler, who gifted the metal work to the University.
The unveiling of the piece, at the heart of the campus between Prescott Field and the Lope Shop, launches a year of celebratory events in honor of GCU’s 75th anniversary and follows the publication of the 75th anniversary commemorative book, “75 Years of Purpose: 15 Years of Transformation.”
“What a great reminder it is,” Phillips said of “Grace Tree” and how it reflects “the University’s sense of purpose by celebrating the joy of Christianity and the fruits of the Spirit,” as its plaque states. “Sometimes we forget, and it’s a cool thing to be able to walk by and remind ourselves that these are the things we should be rooted in and remember, especially because it is in the Bible. … This is what God asks of us.”
Tyler, a horticulturalist who owned his own tree farm and nursery before life as a sculptor took over, found himself trying to find a way to “stay sane during COVID,” he said, and so created the artwork on his tree- and sculpture-peppered rural foothills property that would become the inspiration for “Grace Tree.”
The latest campus sculpture, whose trunk and branches form a cross, is twice the size of the original inspiration piece and is embellished with 2,000 black metal leaves, fabricated by Eric Bolze of E2 Innovations. It also includes 14 copper-colored pomegranates, seven on each side, that represent the seven fruits of the Spirit. Each pomegranate is emblazoned with the words representing those fruits, such as “patience,” “joy” and “kindness.” A red heart, depicting the Rose of Sharon and encircle by a wreath of tiny gold leaves, sits in the middle of the work.
Above the heart is the simple word that inspired the work's name: “grace.” It is the 73-year-old artist’s favorite word, he said. It says it all about how we’re saved.
The 4-foot-4-inch-tall pedestal on which the 11-foot tree sits includes a base on which are emblazoned “Christian Camaraderie,” “Extracurricular Excellence,” “Wellness and Well-Being” and “Academic Advancement.”
The artwork is the campus’ third sculpture, following two near Global Credit Union Arena, one of sports entrepreneur Jerry Colangelo by Gary Tillery and Omri Amrany of Rotblatt-Amrany and another of three crosses, placed as a senior project in 2020, the class that exited campus during the pandemic.
President Brian Mueller said at the dedication that Tyler approached the University after being connected to GCU through Bolze, whose daughter, Alexis, is an alumna and worked for GCU. The artist, Mueller said, “wanted to work hard for six months to produce a piece of art that could become central to our campus to remind us on a daily basis of the grace that we’ve been given by our God, through His son, Jesus, and the salvation that we will experience as a result of that.”
Student body president Jagaar Halverson, who also spoke at the event, said the artwork represents the essence of the University.
“I can’t help but think, at the bottom of it, where it says ‘Christian Camaraderie,’ that is the epitome of what GCU is,” said Associated Students of GCU’s Halverson. “ … It’s a missional University, where we can seek out the Lord, and this tree is a perfect example of seeking out the Lord.”
Joy, peace, kindness, added Halverson, is everything we want to embody at GCU.
“I can’t say enough when I come back here in five, 10, 15 years, about how much this still is going to mean as we kick off the 75th anniversary," Halverson added.
The dedication also featured a performance of "Amazing Grace" by GCU vocal ensemble Critical Mass and guest alumni vocalists representing the University through the decades.
“It (the sculpture) is gorgeous,” said one of those alumni vocalists, Philip Carr, class of 1983, who heard about the installation from Claude Pensis, theatre director/professor. “It’s so significant not only in its beauty but in its statement that it makes in terms of the Christ-centered focus of the sculpture.”
Another alumni vocalist, Mike Baird, who graduated from GCU in 1971, marks the University’s years with his own. He was born in July 1949, just a couple of months before GCU celebrated its opening on Sept. 13, 1949, in Prescott, Arizona, as Grand Canyon College (it would make the move in fall 1951 to a rural patch of west Phoenix that has since grown into the urban stretch it is today). Ninety-five students were then enrolled, compared to the more than 25,000 ground students and more than 90,000 online students today.
Baird, who returned to GCU to teach in 1979 and continues to teach a couple of classes even after his retirement in 2015, remembers how small the campus was in the late 1960s, when he was a student.
He recalls, too, how the campus started to change “quite radically” after 2004, when the school was on the verge of closing. The University's phenomenal, transformative growth began in earnest in 2008, after a small group of investors took the University to the public markets and hired Mueller as its president.
“The school really does have a good sense of the history of what the University is,” said Baird, who soaked in the Christian symbolism of the "Grace Tree.”
Tyler said of his artwork and its installation, “This isn’t about me and the work I do – that’s the gift God gave me, and that’s what I do for a living. Everybody out here has talents that they will be doing for a living, and all I can say is, do it with joy and give God the credit for any success you have.”
He credited everyone involved with the effort to bring the sculpture to campus, including Bolze and GCU builder Butch Glispie, owner of Pono Construction, and his crew, who prepared the artwork’s foundation.
“I just hope you enjoy it,” Tyler said of the “Grace Tree.” “It’s just here to put a smile on your face, make you think about what’s important and keep you grounded.”
GCU Manager of Internal Communications Lana Sweeten-Shults can be reached at [email protected] or at 602-639-7901.
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GCU News/Magazine: GCU launches celebration of landmark 75th year
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GCU News: Colangelo sculpture unveiled on GCU campus
GCU News: 75th anniversary book showcases GCU’s unique history
