"Tree of Learning"
Greg Wyatt

Gifted by
The Newington-Cropsey Foundation

THE GARDEN OF GREAT IDEAS

"The Tree of Learning" is the centerpiece of the Garden of Great Ideas. The three trunks of "The Tree of Learning" create an inner sanctum, allowing visitors to enter it. It is also internally lighted at night. The 20-foot sculpture features images of figures, faces and hands worked into the bark, and the leaves and buds of the tree are modeled after Vanderbilt's famed Bicentennial Oak. "The hands clutching candles are passing the torch of learning," said Judson Newbern, associate vice chancellor for campus planning and construction, prior to the unveiling. "Like the quest for knowledge, what initially seem barren branches require closer observation to reveal the promise of breaking buds that represent the renewing cycle universities go through in passing along knowledge."