Jane Blaffer Owen commissioned Pennsylvania-based arts educator and sculptor Ted Prescott to create a fountain for the outdoor RLB Foundation-owned courtyard at the Red Geranium Restaurant, in 2002. The fountain was designed to commemorate New Harmony’s role in developing the discipline of geology.

Geologist David Dale Owen revolutionized the practice of geological surveys and collected samples that became the basis of the Smithsonian Museum’s geological collection. He was the great uncle of Jane’s husband, Kenneth Owen.

The Crucible consists of a large steel basin filled with stones of various sizes, and a central water feature. The granite surrounding the basin incorporates four geological samples collected by David Dale Owen inlaid at the quadrants of the compass. The small gray-green stones came from New Hampshire streams, and the two central glacial boulders were sourced in northern Wisconsin. A large primary boulder with a triangular depression serves as a bubbler, moving water continuously over the rocks.

Ted Prescott wrote, “The modernist in me wants to emphasize the fountain’s proximity to the Paul Tillich Park, as though his stature as a theologian might lend my work more import.”

Donate now!