Skip to main content

About

The site-specific sculptures that comprise the Stuart Collection each have a unique story to tell. The collection, created in 1981, is designed to enrich the cultural, intellectual and scholarly life of the campus and community.

Learn more

Support

The Stuart Collection is completely self-sustaining, relying on the generosity of donors to fund new projects. Please consider making a contribution to the Mary Beebe Legacy Endowment to help us continue to grow and maintain our collection.

Give now

Sun God sculpture by Niki de Saint Phallle

The Artists

The Stuart Collection commissions work by noted contemporary artists from around the globe who think in interesting ways.  When an artist is identified, they are invited to the university to explore the campus and imagine where their work could come to life. Many of the individuals who have designed works for the collection are associated with movements or attitudes that are seldom represented in public sculpture collections, from Robert Irwin to Kiki Smith and Mark Bradford.

Learn about the artists

KAHNOP · TO TELL A STORY

The Stuart Collection’s newest addition has been likened to an “ocean of words.” The 800-foot-long pathway created by Ann Hamilton features 1,300 quotes from an estimated 300 sources connected to UC San Diego. Some words are raised like a rubber stamp, while others are engraved into the basalt stones. The work also includes a feminist poem called "Yeechesh Cha’alk" ("A Woman’s Heart"), written by two of the university’s scholars, Dr. Alexandria Hunter and Eva Trujillo, to honor the regional history of the Kumeyaay Nation.

Explore KAHNOP · TO TELL A STORY

Portrait of Ann Hamilton at the pathway she created

Visit

There are more than 20 sculptures in the Stuart Collection, located throughout the 1,200-acre UC San Diego campus. Visitors are invited to take a free, self-guided tour, perfect for families and art aficionados alike. As an alternative, a virtual tour is also available that includes accounts of how each work was made and the ways that they are uniquely integrated into the landscape and architecture of the university.

Take a virtual tour