The Ulrich Museum of Art’s world-class Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection boasts 89 works spread across the 330-acre Wichita State University campus.
The Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art was established in 1974 to enhance and support Wichita State University's educational and service missions. Then-president Clark Ahlberg believed that a superior university should remain closely connected to the thriving city surrounding it. In 1977, he articulated this belief: “We have an obligation to reach as many people as possible and to do it with the highest standards—in this case, the highest artistic standards—if we are to properly serve this urban area.” Under the leadership of the Museum’s first director, Dr. Martin H. Bush, the Ulrich Museum flourished in its first two decades, becoming deeply woven into both university and community life. One of Wichita’s most significant cultural attractions, the Outdoor Sculpture Collection is always free and open to the public.
Established in 1972, the Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection is a nationally recognized and invaluable collection of world-class artworks. It shapes the daily campus experience, creating a powerful and enriching environment for WSU students, faculty, staff, and the community. Comprised of 89 works, the collection is an extension of the Ulrich Museum’s permanent holdings, it features works by Joan Miró, Henry Moore, Louise Nevelson, Fernando Botero, Auguste Rodin, Alice Aycock, Robert Indiana, Andy Goldsworthy, George Rickey, Deborah Butterfield, Luis Jiménez, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Claes Oldenburg and many others. Defining the WSU campus with beauty and distinction, the collection is a source of immense pride for the University, the City of Wichita, the State of Kansas, and the region.
Between 1972 and 2008, the Museum received support from the WSU Student Government Association (SGA) for the commission of 22 sculptures. This Student Fee Funding has profoundly shaped and transformed both the collection and the campus, for which we are grateful.
The 89th addition to the Martin H. Bush Sculpture collection was installed on April 17, 2025, and commissioned for the Wichita State University campus as part of the Ulrich Museum’s 50th anniversary celebration. Bianca Beck’s Untitled is a striking 13-foot-tall burst of color, now standing just north of the museum in visual dialogue with Tom Otterness’s Shockers waving from across the walkway.
The biomorphic abstraction stretches skyward toward the surrounding canopy of trees in a transformative gesture, as line, shape, and color rhythmically merge into a fluid form alive with potential and possibility. Beck’s practice reflects on what it means to be human, embracing the lived experience in all its complexity and joy, and contemplates the ever-changing, unfixed nature of things.
According to their artist statement, they are an artist whose work begins with the body—from the imagined internal spaces of veins and organs to the dynamics of identity and expression.
Born in 1979 in Columbus, Ohio, Beck holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University (2001) and an MFA from the Yale School of Art (2008). Their work is held in the collection of the Dallas Museum of Art. She has exhibited widely in commercial galleries and at such venues as Art Omi Sculpture Park, Ghent, NY; deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA; and White Columns in New York City. They are represented by the Rachel Uffner Gallery in New York City.
Visitors are encouraged to come by and have their photo taken with this beautiful sculpture. If you post your photos on social media, be sure to tag the museum (@ulrichmuseum) and use the hashtag #ulrichmuseum.
