"The artist’s familiar cast of bronzed characters animals, people, kings and queens, books, letters, and coins all play a narrative role in Tornado of Ideas, com-missioned for the courtyard of the Student Union Building. At the base of the sculpture is a house splitting in two from the force of a tornado. Books flying through the spiraling storm form the bulk of the work. Titles etched on book covers reflect conflicting ideologies; symbolically, these polar ideas fuel the tornado’s energy (as in nature when hot and cold fronts clash). Seated inside the divid-ing house, and at the heart of the ascending conflict, is a plump, toothy prairie dog gorging himself on coins. Figures of a king and queen stand bare and look on at the rising storm. As with the tale of the Emperor’s New Clothes, the monarchs are unwittingly exposed. Riding high atop the funnel-shaped cloud is the artist’s rendi-tion of Texas Tech’s Masked Rider. In the spirit of Don Quixote, the rider kicks her feet in the air seemingly tri-umphant in her quixotic quest for truth."

-University Public Art Collection