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 Nakashima Peace Altar is dedicatedColumbia College Today Fall 1995 This article contains 402 words. A wooden altar designed by the late George Nakashima, celebrating peace and commemorating alumni who have died in war, was consecrated in St. Paul's Chapel on October 18.
Also speaking was Mira Nakashima Yarnall, the sculptor's daughter. "George Nakashima believed in the 'Soul of a Tree'—that each tree had a message for mankind which needed to be expressed and understood," she said. "He believed in saving trees from being cut up for small and trivial purposes... [and in] preserving the natural forms with all their 'imperfections' while making them into useful objects which enrich men's lives." The Nakashima Peace Altar is on permanent display near the south wall of St. Paul's which is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday , 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. on Friday, and noon to 1 a.m. on Saturday. The undertaking is being subsidized by a campaign of free will contributions, but committee members anticipate the most difficult phase will be the collating of the names of the deceased from Defense Department and University Registrar's records. Alumni of wartime classes are urged to supplement this research by sending their recollections of fallen classmates to James Lennon '43 at 631 Wayne Avenue, Haddonfield, N.J. 08033.
www.nakashimafoundation.org a 501C3 non-profit organization 1847 Aquetong Road New Hope, PA 18938 E-Mail The Nakashima Foundation Contact the webmaster |
The nine-foot structure is the gift of Special Service Professor Wm. Theodore Professor Wm. Theodore de Bary '41 and his wife Fanny, both close friends of Mr. Nakashima, the noted woodworker, architect and designer, who also designed and furnished Kent Hall Student and Faculty Lounge and the Heyman Center at East Campus. Carved from a massive black walnut log, the altar notable for its use of clamps that bridge the wood's natural fractures, representing the tenuous unity of a world split asunder.
Speakers at the ceremony included Mr. de Bary, University President George Rupp, Provost Jonathan Cole '64, and form Trustee Edward Costikyan '47. Mr. Costikyan conveyed the greetings of Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, who paid tribute not on to those killed in war, but also to "those, like George Nakashima, who experienced a different challenge to freedom—internment camps of World War II—but who did not become bitter nor turn away from America as they might have been expected to do—and who went on to give this nation the best of their visions."
Speakers at the ceremony noted that the altar dedication coincides with a newly launched effort to publicly acknowledge Columbia's war dead; the process is expected to culminate next year when plaques bearing the names of alumni who lost their lives in the 20th century's major conflicts are dedicated on campus. An informal committee is at work on the project; participants include Arthur Weinstock '41, Joseph Coffee '41, Mr. Costikyan, Professor of History James Shenton '49, and Jack Arbolino '42, the educator and decorated World War II Marine veteran, whose Lion's Den column in the Spring 1995 issue of CCT helped inspire the current drive.
