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The Raleigh J. Finkelstein and President Emeritus Arend "Don" Lubbers sculpture is pictured outside the Fieldhouse Arena. The building contains the wording: Raleigh J. Finkelstein Athletic Village

A monument to friendship and legacy: Sculpture of Finkelstein and Lubbers honors shared GVSU connection

BY University Communications
Image credit - Photos by Cory Morse

Sep 23, 2026

A new sculpture outside the Fieldhouse Arena honors the bond between longtime GVSU supporter Raleigh Finkelstein and President Emeritus Arend "Don" Lubbers as well as their connection to GVSU.

The multi-year process to create the sculpture started with understanding the friendship and shared vision for Grand Valley that Finkelstein and Lubbers share, and then moved on to detailed step-by-step work that kept growing in scale.

Learn more about the sculpture and see how it was created in this photo essay.

A closeup of a person working on a scale model of a sculpture.
Artist J Brett Grill works inside his Grand Rapids studio on a maquette (scale model) of the sculpture.
Two people are working on a sculpture in progress. Some parts are in styrofoam, while others are in clay. They are in an art studio.
Artist J Brett Grill, top, works with artist Isaac Dell on a “foam enlargement” of the sculpture inside Grill’s Grand Rapids studio. A 3D file was made from scanning the maquette and was used to mill a styrofoam version at full-scale. Clay was placed over the styrofoam.
Two people remove a covering to reveal a sculpture of two people sitting on a bench.
GVSU basketball athletes MacKenzie Bisballe and Shamus Thompson officially unveil the sculpture.

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