By Bethany Peterson/nw news editor

NW Campus is celebrating its new outdoor art gallery, the NW Sculpture Park, and the show currently in the park with the Spring Reception.

The reception will begin at 11 a.m. April 27 on the south end of WFAB toward the parking lot. Artist Talks will begin at 12:30 p.m., and the reception will wrap up on the waterfront side of WFAB.

Free food and drinks will be available.

“One of the installations is a pizza oven, and they will be cooking pizza in it,” said Frederick Spaulding, associate art professor and reception coordinator.

Four students from the University of Texas at Arlington turned the front of a truck into a pizza oven by removing the engine, Spaulding said.

Since most of the artists are instructors at art schools, Spaulding said he hoped art students would take advantage of the opportunity while they were on campus.

“Another purpose of having the artwork here is for students to connect with other faculty they might want to study under,” he said.

But Spaulding said the main purpose of the artwork is to inspire students on a daily basis.

“Give them something to wake up their perceptions,” he said.

One artist in the show was inspired the same way. John Fulton works in the NW aviation department.

“He had already made some small sculptures,” Spaulding said. “He got excited and decided to make a big one.”

Spaulding’s own sculpture in the show, “Clay-merz Skyline,” is meant to inspire and encourage participation.

“I accumulated bricks from around the country from as far away as Mexico and Connecticut,” he said. “I invited students to make pieces to contribute to the structure.”

Many ceramics students did, and their contributions were inserted into the piece.

And, no, the structure is not held together with any type of cement.

“That’s it. It’s just strapping and stacking,” Spaulding said. “It survived 60 mile-an-hour winds last week.”