---
title: Whatever Happened to … the ‘Night and Day’ Sculpture?
date: 2024-10-16T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/whatever-happened-to-the-night-and-day-sculpture"
section: Articles
---
# Whatever Happened to … the ‘Night and Day’ Sculpture?

*October 16, 2024* — by [Sala Levin ’10](/author/sala-levin-10)


> Iconic Artwork by UMD Professor Had a Decades-Long Life on Campus

*Students Night Day 03152006 17 1920x1080 — “Night and Day,” a sculpture by late artist and UMD professor Kenneth Campbell, stood just off McKeldin Mall for 43 years, prompting students, faculty, staff and visitors to wonder about the abstract piece’s meaning and offering a convenient meeting spot on campus.*

For 43 years, University of Maryland students, faculty and staff had an easy shorthand for one of the best-known rendezvous points on campus. “Meet me by that sculpture off the Mall,” a Terp could say, and that could mean only the towering, Stonehenge-like artwork called “Night and Day” that stood in the clearing between H.J. Patterson Hall and what was then Holzapfel Hall.

What was it, exactly? “Like most abstract sculpture, the artist makes it, and they hope the viewer brings their own narrative to it,” said Claudia DeMonte, an artist and professor emerita of art who was a faculty member at UMD for 33 years, including during the time of the roughly 20-foot sculpture’s installation in 1972. “It was only form, shape and texture—and people’s response to it.”


*“Night and Day” sculptures on campus — File photo*



**Sidebar note:**

This story is part of the “Whatever Happened to…” series, which scopes out the histories and fates of aspects of the UMD campus and experience that no longer exist. Have an idea for a future subject? Email writer Sala Levin at snlevin@umd.edu.





**Topics:** [Campus & Community](https://today.umd.edu/tags/campus-community)


**Tags:** [Visual Arts](https://today.umd.edu/topic/visual-arts), [Whatever Happened to](https://today.umd.edu/topic/whatever-happened-to), [Arts](https://today.umd.edu/topic/arts)


**Units:** [College of Arts and Humanities](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-arts-and-humanities)