Tin Man

This is a very common object seen around the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus. This is the sculpture named "Tin Man." "Tin Man" is a 35-foot tall, 6,000 pound piece of art standing outside of Lind Hall and the Mechanical Engineering Building. The creator Andrew Leicester is a famous Minneapolis sculptor. When creating the monster Andrew spent a lot of time asking opinions from faculty, staff and students so everyone would be happy with the piece.

The piece has a very triumphant position. Whether it is seen bending the steel pipe it holds in a feat of strength or if it is simply holding it up as a trophy is not necessarily important; rather its pose simply lifts people up and gives out a feeling of pride the way the Statue of Liberty might. Unfortunately though the name of the "Tin Man" has been tarnished because there is now superstition tied to it. It is said that if one walks underneath the sculpture that they will fail their next exam.

The "Tin Man" has a handful of signs it throws my way when I walk past it to class. The first day I was in awe of the sheer size of the creation and the reflectivity the stainless steel had in the early morning sunlight. These elements along with my already in awe freshman self left me thinking "have I actually started college?" The signifier that I received was the immense size of the sculpture immediately signified the vast size of the University of Minnesota itself and I was made to feel very small at that point.

Later I heard the tale of how anyone who walks under it will fail their next exam. This social construction put around the "Tin Man" cast him in totally different light. He was no longer the triumph or the correlation to size I made earlier, rather he had become something of evil. Now walking past him I give myself ample room to keep his bad vibes away from me.