Frog Baby Statue, Ball State University

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

The Frog Baby Statue of Ball State University is a sculpture of a giggling young girl clasping two bullfrogs by the legs in each of her hands. The piece was cast by Edith Barretto Stevens Parsons in 1937. Campus legend suggests that students wishing to improve their chances during final exams would pay a visit to the Frog Baby statue when she resided in David Owsley Museum of Art at Ball State University and rub her nose for good luck. When Frog Baby was moved outside to a fountain north of the Bracken Library, the tradition changed to lending the statue a hat and scarf to wear when the weather got cold.

Images

Frog Baby smiling in the glow of the sun.

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

Frog Baby's sculptor, Edith Barretto Stevens Parsons, was born on July 4, 1878 and went on to study sculpting at the Art Students League of New York. In 1908, she married Howard Crosby Parsons and built a studio on the top floor of their home in order to continue her pursuits in art. The subject matter of Parsons' sculptures changed following the birth of her children, who would pose for her sculptures often holding small creatures such as ducklings, turtles, and frogs.

It is unknown how Frank C. Ball, founder of Ball State University, came to possess the Frog Baby statue, but he donated the piece to the university during its first few years when Frog Baby was first placed in the Ball State University Museum of Art, or the David Owsley Museum of Art. During the Frog Baby's stay in the university's art museum, students began a campus legend that rubbing the nose of the statue would result in passing exam scores for finals. As a result of all the good-luck rubbing, the Frog Baby's nose had worn away over time. In 1993, Frog Baby was sent to Rundell Ernstberger Associates and Oberle Construction for restoration, with Rundell Ernstberger Associates serving as the designers and Oberle Construction serving as the contractors behind the restoration.

Following the restoration and the return of Frog Baby to Ball State University's campus, the statue was placed in a fountain outside of the Bracken Library. The fountain was dedicated to the library's namesake, Alexander M. Bracken - who served on the Ball State Board of Trustees for twenty-two years and was also the son-in-law of Frank C. Ball.

As Frog Baby now resides outside and students cannot easily reach her in the fountain, new practices have risen to keep her relevant in the Ball State tradition, Students have taken to dressing Frog Baby for various seasons and occurrences on campus such as winter and spring breaks. Although most instances of the statue being dressed for holidays and events are harmless, Frog Baby has been vandalized a few times with materials like chalk and gold metallic spray paint. After extensive cleaning, Frog Baby was returned to her pond just in time for the Spring semester graduation in 2013.

Sources

Edith Barretto Stevens Parsons, Pelissier Galleries. January 1st 2013. Accessed November 6th 2020. http://www.pelissiergalleries.com/ebp/biography.php.

Frog Baby, Ball State University. Accessed November 6th 2020. https://www.bsu.edu/map/landmarks/frog-baby-pond.

Mishler, Andrew. Frog Baby to cost more than $3,000 to repair, The Daily. February 28th 2013. Accessed November 6th 2020. https://www.ballstatedaily.com/article/2013/02/frog-baby-to-cost-more-than-3000-to-repair.