Salacia sculpture between UMMA and Tappan Hall. | Photo by Sally Bjork
“This month’s I Spy picture shows the art piece Angry Neptune, Salacia, and Strider,” writes Rudi Hauleitner. “The sculptures [are] between UMMA and Tappan Hall,” adds Joe Cialdella. Dan Romanchik specifies that the sculpture pictured is Salacia, while Shannon Kohlitz writes, “I identified the location more by the brickwork behind it but the clue certainly helped too!” Mary Adams agreed that the “voting hub clue [to the museum] was spot-on.”
“The large cast bronze trio [is] by Michele Oka Doner, [who] described them as ‘fossilized totems,’” writes Barb Tester. “When I first saw the sculpture, I thought it was a tree stump weathered by the elements,” writes David Karl.
Oka Doner is a U-M alum with a BS in design (1966), an MFA (1968), and an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts (2016). On the UMMA website, Oka Doner is quoted as explaining that “Salacia, in Roman mythology, is Neptune’s wife. According to the legend, the god Neptune wanted to marry her and she ran off and hid in the Atlantic Ocean. Neptune sent a dolphin to find her.” She created Salacia as a companion piece to Angry Neptune, “to create a pairing of opposites from the imagined underwater kingdom.”
“I had to look up who Salacia was,” writes Mary Adams. “It was a good distraction from the election results.”
Our winner from 16 correct entries is Ivana Tullett, who will enjoy her gift certificate at Zingerman’s. To enter this month’s contest, use the image and clue below and send your answer to the email address above.
Near a holiday pop-up | Photo by Sally Bjork