Eugene Brams, Ph.D., with his most recent donation to the Medical School.

Donor creates statues to ‘humanize public spaces’

Another sculpture by Eugene Brams, Ph.D., was added to the Medical School’s collection last month. “Seabird — Reverence for Life” was installed on the second floor and is a tribute to physicians and their role in education, research, and practice. The first Brams sculpture given to the Medical School was installed on the ground floor a few years ago.

Brams, an agronomist and soil scientist who worked in the Texas A&M System for 30 years, and his family have donated more than 35 statues to the UT Health Science Center at Houston and other public service institutions in the community, from the U.S. Veterans Hospital to the Shriners Hospital and Memorial Hermann – Texas Medical Center – where a sculpture memorializes lives lost in a LifeFlight accident.

“’Reverence for Life’ comprises two birds, the larger with wings uplifted to symbolize the physicians’ highest aims in medical research and a smaller bird nurtured by the larger to reflect compassion for patients,” explained Brams, adding that the birds were based on albatross that followed his ship in the South Pacific during World War II.

A self-taught artist, Brams’ first attempt was to carve a small bird from limestone. He has since prepared an outdoor studio and orders alabaster blocks – as large as 600 pounds – for his pieces. He does not sell his pieces, only gives them away “to these institutions that have given much to the community.”

“My work,” he said, “is a lasting gift to the Houston community – to humanize public spaces, to symbolize the missions of public institutions, and most important, through the sight and touch of the pieces by viewers to elicit a pleasurable response and to evoke the universal emotions which enrich the quality of life.

“I am inspired by the various colors and patterns of the natural stone and the delightful forms of birds and sea life to communicate my messages,” Brams said.

Depending on the size and complexity of the work, it takes him three months to a year to create a piece.

Just as Brams views medicine as a science and art, he believes that his sculptures, which employ the tools and measurements of physical science, would be incomplete without incorporating human elements.

“Reverence for life is a major concern of both physicians and artists,” he said.

-Darla Brown, Director Medical School Communications

Date Posted: 07/29/2008