The actual “brainchild” of Kent State Professor Emeritus Brinsley Tyrrell, the Behind the Brain Plaza, located behind Merrill Hall in the Beck Family Memorial Gardens on Kent State’s Kent Campus, was completed and dedicated in 2000.
Tyrrell was the winner of a design contest by the Ohio Arts Council with the idea of creating art to occupy this space. The plaza was funded through the Ohio Arts Council by Ohio's Percent Per Art legislation. Works of art commissioned by Kent State University related to the Percent for Art program installed at various campus locations throughout the years created the university's "Art Walk along Sculpture Mile."
The giant brain, fountain, benches and stone shelves of books were created by Tyrrell and a group of his students whose names are inscribed on some of the stone books.
One of the goals of Tyrrell’s design was to block out the sights and sounds of traffic from the nearby road and create a communal space. His plan preserved many of the trees that lived on the site.
Of the four major sculptural elements, three were carved on-site from huge blocks of Massillon Formation sandstone that was quarried in Ohio. The large brain and the block it rests on was carved from 64,000 pounds of this special building stone that is prized for its colors and patterns. A fountain flows from the top of a decorated sandstone block and another sculpture is shaped like a seed to symbolize growth.
The fountain was designed to use very little water and only require minimal maintenance.
There are several other sculptures and art installations by Tyrrell in other parts of the Kent Campus.
In the spring, flowers bloom in the surrounding gardens and the plaza is a popular place for students to study, relax, take a lunch break or even have a picnic with friends.
