Published: October 01, 2009 10:14 am      

Orus Eash’s work focus of GC exhibit

The designer of nine Goshen College structures, Orus Eash (1915-2008) will be remembered in a memorial exhibit in the college’s Good Library Gallery from Friday to Oct. 17, with a reception during the college’s Homecoming weekend Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m.

Orus’ son, John Eash of Sacramento, Calif., has selected designs and renderings to share from his father’s 500-plus building designs collection.

According to Goshen College professor emeritus of art Abner Hershberger, Orus Eash “learned at (Goshen College) that his interests in engineering and art could be brought together in the discipline of architecture. He then enrolled at the University of Michigan and followed his dream (and graduated in 1939).”

Eash, a 1938 Goshen College alumnus, was influenced by international schools of architecture including Marcel Breuer, Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Kahn and others.

The exhibit will provide a comprehensive view of his work and will include photos of his architectural works. Included in the exhibit will be designs for nine GC structures done by Eash. He was the architect of College Mennonite Church, along with the Union Building, Newcomer Center, Wyse Hall, and Kratz, Miller and Yoder residence halls. He also developed a campus master plan.

Through many conversations with Eash, Hershberger “realized how seriously he took his involvement with GC buildings,” said Hershberger, who helped prepare the exhibit. “He seemed to consider the Goshen College campus as extended family and revealed an ongoing concern for what happened there.”

Eash also designed large office buildings, commercial buildings, private residences as well as churches. He designed more than 500 buildings, covering 26 different categories of architecture. He practiced architecture in Fort Wayne; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Traverse City, Mich.; Sarasota, Fla.; and Sacramento, Calif.

“I do not believe Orus was ever fully understood as the artist he was, nor appreciated for his vast architectural knowledge and unusual insights,” Hershberger said.

Linda Keane, a professor of architecture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, will discuss her mentor’s work at the opening reception.

This exhibit is sponsored by the Goshen College Art Department and the Harold and Wilma Good Library and is free and open to the public.

Library Gallery

The Library Gallery, located on the lower level of the Harold and Wilma Good Library on the campus of Goshen College, is open from 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 11 p.m. Sunday.