Inanna
Artist: Mark Herrington, Maine
Buchanan Alumni House Courtyard and South Garden
Inanna is the work of Mark Herrington, who speaks of the stones he works with as being “a gift of geological time.” With Inanna suggestive of the female form, a connection to the Sumerian goddess Inanna (or Istar) comes to mind. Herrington was the first artist in UMaine’s Artist-in-Residence Program sponsored by Winter Harbor’s Littlefield Gallery (see his piece Tec.ton.ic). Herrington’s 2009 Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium piece is in Franklin, Maine.
Inanna is one of four sculptures donated to the Buchanan Alumni House in honor of Nathaniel “Nat” Diamond, who — at age 43 — graduated from UMaine (’63). These approachable pieces have been carefully and thoughtfully integrated into the South Gardens of the Alumni House, allowing each work to stand on its own merits while also creating interest throughout the gardens. The pieces are of similar scale and complement one another in form and hue. Each piece was created by a sculptor based in Maine and has a plaque indicating its donor.