By David Rojas/reporter
More often than not, the average person thinks of sculptures as big pieces of clay modeled into forms or giant blocks of stone carved into shapes.
That’s why Paul Benero, South art associate professor, said he deals with his class differently. Benero wants his students to work only with nontraditional materials to create their art.
Photo by Erik Marroquin/The Collegian
“I’m a fan of modern and funky pieces,” Benero said about what inspires his approach to his class.
In a previous semester, Benero assigned students to make furniture pieces out of reusable materials. One student made a lamp from antlers and a bow.
“I thought this was a modern piece which he could sell in a store,” Benero said.
Another student created a beer pong game made out of wood about the size of a nightstand. It featured a cup-holder.
This semester, students focused on the human form as well as a personal narrative.
For Annalaurel Tibbs’ project, she chose to create a female succubus who had been a rape victim. She called the piece “Don’t Act Like You Didn’t Want This.”
The main core of the body came from a guitar, and the limbs were made of wooden chair legs. Tibbs dressed her malignant spirit seductively but made it clear that she didn’t deserve to be a victim by putting her hands up in a defensive pose.
“I don’t want to make light of the subject,” Tibbs said.
Another student, Logan Yovanovitch, made a sculpture mainly out of papier-mache and plaster that was half-male and half-female, representing, he said, the duality of human life. The creation doesn’t yet have a title, but Yovanovitch had added chains and wires coming out of his sculpture.
“I wanted to express the eternal struggle that people have by putting it externally on the piece,” he said.
Maureen Greenwood created two sculptures of tribal belly dancers, which she chose because her daughter lives in Morocco. Her first piece, made of papier-mache with embellishments, is called “Move to the Beat of a Different Drum.”
“She is dancing on top of a doumbek, which musically you play on a nine-count as opposed to a four-count in American music,” she said.
For her second piece, Greenwood made a sculpture called “Lust” out of used metal parts, including a hanging lamp. Saw blades were also prominent in the work.
“I chose saw blades because traditionally they’re masculine and dangerous, so I like the idea of using them in a feminine way but still keeping them dangerous,” she said.
Jamal Johnson used welding equipment. Johnson said he was surprised how careful he had to be while using a plasma cutter when he discovered afterward that his sweater had burn holes.
Johnson used the plasma cutter to cut metal and a welding torch to fuse the metal together to create a large statue called “Love Is Pain.”
“It’s not a reflection of me but more about how I feel,” he explained.
Bill English made a piece out of a door, papier-mache, plaster and other objects. He said it reflected the bone disease from which he suffers. He titled it “Self.”
On the legs, he wrote, “You walk funny,” explaining that he had been ridiculed by people who told him that.
All the artworks and many others are on display in the Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition in the Carillon Gallery on South Campus.
The exhibits will be available for viewing until May 7. A closing ceremony 6 -7:30 p.m. May 7 will feature award presentations.
