Showalter Fountain

The Showalter Fountain was created in 1958 by Robert Laurent and serves as the centerpiece of the IU Fine Arts Plaza. The work depicts the Birth of Venus as she rises from her clamshell, surrounded by fish that are either dolphin, pickerel or pike, depending on who you ask. One of the sculpture's fish mysteriously turned up missing immediately following the IU men's basketball victory in the 1987 NCAA Championship. A reproduction of the fish created by sculptor G. Scott Slocum was restored to the fountain in 2009. These days, the fish are occasionally removed from the fountain as a preventative measure during high-risk events.