Lying between the north end of Cudahy Science Hall and the south entrance to Dumbach Hall, a large spotted white disc sits atop a bronze pedestal. Students on their way to and from class pay little attention as they pass by this tall stone structure.
There’s no nameplate or inscription on the pedestal, and even the tour guides, leading groups of prospective students and their parents on their way toward Damen Student Center, don’t mention it as they walk along. Unbeknownst to them, they’re passing by one billion year old onyx carved into its current form by “Britain’s foremost living stone sculptor,” according to Christie’s.
Lunar Disc I is a slightly over 6 foot tall disc sculpted out of onyx, a banded stone with thin parallel layers. The sculpture sits atop a rusted metal stand and was first sculpted in 2004 by renowned British sculptor Emily Young.
It’s only been in Loyola’s care since 2010, having previously been on display at the Salisbury Cathedral in England.
The highest price a Young sculpture has fetched at auction was her piece “Time Boy” which sold at a whopping £478,000 GBP or almost $650,000 USD in 2023. So how did Loyola manage to get their own when Young’s art comes with such a high price tag? The secret: You’ve got to know a guy.
Father Michael Garanzini, SJ, is currently a consultant for the International Association of Jesuit Universities, but for 14 years from 2001 to 2015, he was President of Loyola. During his tenure as president, the university underwent numerous campus changes including — but not limited to — the addition of Cuneo Hall, Baumhart Hall, the East and West Quads, LUREC, LUMA and the Quinlan Life Sciences building.
“A friend of mine, he’s an art collector, he told me he’d been following this woman Emily Young,” Garanzini said. “And he believed, this was like 15-20 years ago, he believed she was going to amount to something, and he showed me a bunch of her art. He had already collected some of these sculptures, and he showed me her stuff and I said, ‘I think you’re right.’”
Coincidentally, Lunar Disc I happens to be not the only Young sculpture at Loyola. In fact, there are seven others scattered around the campuses.
“I ask the stone what they want to be and where they think I should start, and they let me know,” Young said. “God knows what language they’re speaking, but I can understand it.”
