The twin lion's paws guarding the front of the Palmer Museum of Art are two of the most recognizable sculptures on the University Park campus.

Yet not many people are aware of how they found their home on the steps of the museum.

Charles W. Moore was the internationally renowned architect with the plan to place two lion paws welcoming visitors as they walk into the building.

This was in 1992, and the director of the museum was Kahren Arbitman.

She said Moore built two giant sculpture foundations in front of the museum, and she asked him what would go there.

The two had been teasing one another about the Nittany Lion, and after much thought, he said, "paws" and put up his hands like paws.

She was then determined to make the paws a reality.

Arbitman enlisted Pittsburgh sculptor Paul Bowden because she was familiar with his work.

"I knew he could do realistic paws. Not many Pennsylvania artists were doing realistic work," she said.

Bowden was known best at the time for his portrait statue of Pittsburgh Steeler Joe Greene, which was located in Three Rivers Stadium.

"I presented the museum with four or five models of different studies of the lion's paw in different positions," Bowden said. "They chose the one they liked best."

Once the paws were selected, funding was necessary to make the plans a reality.

Members of the Lion's Paw Senior Society and the Lion's Paw Alumni Association were asked to help raise the necessary funds.

Ben Bronstein, former president of the Alumni Association, said that they were asked simply because of the name of their organization.

"They had the idea to put these lion's paws, not even knowing that an organization existed by that name," he said.

Bill Jaffe, former president of the Alumni Association, was the campaign chair and oversaw fund raising for the project.

He said the association agreed to fund raise simply because of the similar nature of their name and because they wanted to establish something that would become a Penn State tradition.

Jaffe said the association raised nearly $35,000 in about six months.

On Oct. 9, 1993, the paws were formally dedicated on the steps of the museum. Moore died two months later, making the addition to the museum his last completed project, Arbitman said.

The paws have been popular, as students are often seen in front of Palmer drawing them or posing with them for pictures.

Theresa Olivo (senior-advertising/public relations) is a security guard at the museum, and she said students often come in and ask about them.

"I think they make it feel more like Penn State," Olivo said, "and they attract people into the museum."

Arbitman said that when people heard paws were going to placed on the foundations, they came up to her and said, "You're kidding about the paws, right?"

"I was absolutely determined to get the paws," she said.

"I said one day we'd see people sitting on them and being photographed with them, and everyone laughed, but now who got the last laugh?"