Artist Statement

Artist Statement: Outdoor Art Sanctuary What you see before you is an art sanctuary for young, imaginative, creative, and exploratory minds to blossom into budding artists. Or, in an educational setting, a place where students are welcomed to create art during free hours of their day. The sanctuary is to act as an outdoor extension of the classroom in which students will be able to create art while surrounded by a combination of the natural world, and a large-scale dose of color. What you are looking at right now consists of twenty-four large-scale sculpted wood color pencils inspired by artist Claes Oldenburg. The pencils have been cut, sculpted, painted, and sealed for the outdoor weather. The pencils line (and beautify) the metal fence that divides the art garden from our iLab outdoor space. Adjacent to the fence of color pencils, one would feel as if the bushes are watching you as over two hundred mirrors and one hundred painted wood scraps ornamentally adorn the bushes.  The mirrors allow the viewer to reflect, and be aware of, his or her own self-presence within the art sanctuary. Running about fifteen feet parallel to the color pencil fence, you will see two colorfully decorated benches in which students, parents, faculty, and visitors are welcome to sit, enjoy, and reflect on the arts. The three foot high rainbow fence was not installed to keep anyone out of the garden, but instead to welcome students to an area where they can feel supported, and open-minded to new ideas. Although the rainbow rocks, pencils, benches, and bushes will entice the viewer to the art sanctuary, the most unique experience is as one turns the corner into the quiet corridor—surprise (and respite) to many when a visitor stumbles for the first time to lay eyes on the multi-mural piece. The walls consist of three major pieces that highlight the founder of the school, the complexity of the student, and the mascot of the school.  Although each piece ties into the school, each and every one of them are unique and completed in a very different style—as our art should be. The walls are not meant to remain the same, they are meant to evolve, to change, and to inspire young aspiring artists. I think a lot of the pieces that I have made recently have been trying to inspire students to enjoy and create a wave of art outside of the classroom. I found that in today’s world, art is often cast aside as some ill-conceived budget-cut measure. This outdoor installation piece is meant to educate, and inspire students and adults alike to think about, and fall back in love with, art---as adults, we are models for the future generation.