By Mallory Sherwood, Features Editor

Jack Maxwell’s dream balances in his office on a miniature pedestal beside a model of an architectural garden and among other sculptures he has designed, waiting for completion.

Maxwell, chair of the Art and Design Department, has been busy designing and constructing a sculpture and a garden-like surrounding area based on the Genesis 28 account of Jacob’s dream at Bethel. So far, he has made a miniature six-foot model.

Administrators approached Maxwell in 2003 about designing a piece of art that would remember the legacy of people who have served and contributed to the university, said Jim Holmans, executive assistant to the president.

Since then, Maxwell has created a dream but not just for himself.

“I liked the idea of Jacob’s dream and of his ladder,” Maxwell said. “It was a dream image, but I thought that ‘dream’ could mean a lot of different things. It is a dream for me to have a monumental thing of a spiritual nature on campus.”

Maxwell said the idea came to him after the university received a donation of more than $26 million from the estate of Grace Woodward, an alumna of ACU.

“It was a dream of this woman who gave the money, Grace Woodward, to be able to support higher education in a Christian context,” Maxwell said.

Holmans said the estimated cost would be $500,000. Once begun, he estimated it should take about a year to complete.

The main focus of Maxwell’s art form is a 33-foot sculpture of several bronze angels ascending and descending on a sideless ladder to heaven. Maxwell said each angel will stand about eight-and-a-half feet when completed, and the entire ladder sculpture will stand 22 feet tall.

The sculpture will be mounted 11 feet into the air and surrounded by one of the most beautiful places on campus, Maxwell said.

He said the general shape of the space is three circles with a much larger circle in the middle to suggest the trinity. One of the spaces will have a pool with water that is only about two inches deep. It will bubble like a spring, and scripture will be below the water carved in stone.

Another circle will include plants and trees that are mentioned in the Bible, such as fig trees and exotic flowers, Maxwell said.

The larger circle-where the statue will stand-will project out. A large boulder will look like it comes right out of the ground, Maxwell said .

“It is designed so that you can teach from that place, and so you can also lay down there at night like Jacob did with the stone as a pillow and reflect on God,” Maxwell said.

The space also will include broken rock slabs and boulders to give people a place to sit on and phrases incorporated into the structure from the Genesis account such as, “I am with you,” “Surely the Lord is in this place,” and “This is the gate of heaven.”

“It is just amazing what the account says,” Maxwell said. “Although, I know there is no direct connection to ACU, those words and statements apply to the university.”

Maxwell said he sees the space as a refuge for people.

He said the art form tentatively will be placed in the grassy area between the Mabee Business Building, the Onstead-Packer Biblical Studies Building and the Williams Performing Arts Center.

The project, reportedly to be finished in the spring of 2004, has not been started because of lack of funds.

“We wish it would have been done yesterday,” Holmans said. “But there is a money aspect that keeps us from accomplishing it. We are very hopeful that Jack’s dream will be translated into reality soon through contributions and donations to that purpose.”

Although the donation from the Woodward estate was originally meant to help with this project, it has gone to the university’s endowment instead.

As of right now, no money has been donated to the project.

“No one has committed to it yet, and no one has bought into it yet,” Holmans said. “But several people have seen it and like the idea.”

All Maxwell can do is wait for the go-ahead signal. He plans to have his model image of the sculpture bronzed so it can be preserved for the final one.

His goal is to have the final sculpture and area landscaped and unveiled by the end of the Centennial Celebration in the fall of 2006.

“We’re not just any university,” Maxwell said. “This sculpture will help to tell people who we are … we want it to be inspiring to walk across our campus.”