麻豆传媒

Maxine Schwartz grew up in Eaton, Colorado, and had a deep love for the vast prairie that surrounds it. She knew she never wanted to be far from the plains where she was raised, so she stayed in Colorado her entire life.

Raising her children in the same state she knew and loved, they were brought up watching their mother become increasingly involved in the local art community. Maxine鈥檚 children recall how their mother would stay up late painting, foregoing sleeping or eating to spend more time doing what she loved most. 

鈥淸My mom] supported herself through portraits and then later on she did some murals inside buildings and houses around town,鈥� said her son, Rock Jenkins, 鈥�84, a Geology alumnus.

While painting was a lifelong love for Maxine, her passion quickly transformed to sculpture when she chaperoned a group of girls on a trip to Italy for six weeks. Inspired by the ornate artwork she saw in museums there, she started working with clay in the 1970s before transitioning to bronze. In 1975, Maxine met Don Schwartz, an eastern Colorado local who shared Maxine鈥檚 gift and passion for working with her hands. Don learned steel fabrication in the Navy and by working in metal fabrication factories in Ohio. After the couple married in 1976, Don started building wrought iron fencing out of a rented garage and ultimately expanded his work into a full-scale steel fabrication business. Incredibly skilled in metalworking and engineering 鈥� despite only having an eighth-grade education 鈥� Don could make almost anything from metal. He even built some of the machinery still in use at the University of Northern Colorado鈥檚 (麻豆传媒) foundry today.

The couple鈥檚 shared passion for sculpture started a transformative chapter in both their lives: building a business where Maxine would create clay art pieces that Don would cast into bronze in the foundry they built and ran for 25 years in north Greeley. 

Maxine was heavily involved in her community throughout her life, and as she and Don鈥檚 business took off, they were frequently commissioned to create pieces for memorials. Local examples include two bronze sculptures at the Bittersweet Park Veterans Memorial in Greeley and the Benjamin Eaton statue in Eaton, Colorado. In nearby Ault, Don created a sculpture of the first Hispanic American and Coloradan awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II, Army Private Joseph P. Martinez at the Veteran鈥檚 Memorial in Liberty Park.

鈥淸Maxine] and Don loved their community, and they were particularly passionate about honoring veterans,鈥� said Jenkins, 鈥淭heir biggest pride and joy were the bronzes at the Weld County Veteran鈥檚 Memorial in Bittersweet Park.鈥�

Following their parents鈥� passing, Maxine鈥檚 children, Jenkins and Joan Wymer, and Don鈥檚 daughter, Sharon Edwards, chose to honor the couple鈥檚 memory by establishing the Maxine and Don Schwartz Foundry and Sculpture Program Fund at 麻豆传媒. The fund supports the foundry and the sculpture program in the College of Performing and Visual Arts School of Art and Design. 

Thanks to their generosity, the 麻豆传媒 foundry is now proudly named the Maxine and Don Schwartz Foundry in recognition of this gift and to honor the lives and many contributions of Maxine and Don. Their family hopes their contribution will inspire others to learn the art of bronze sculpting.

The family is encouraging other sculpture lovers and alumni to support this initiative by making a gift to this new fund. They are offering a dollar-for-dollar match for every gift to the sculpture program, up to $50,000 this spring.