|
Sculpture competition announces winner |
|
|
|
Monday, 28 July 2008 |
 Site 2: Brassing Out, by Shawn Skabelund Photo by Alisha Park
|
by ALISHA PARK
Chief Photographer
While most artworks sit in a gallery, Appalachian State University is fortunate enough to host visiting sculptures that are replaced every year for the Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition and Exhibition as a part of An Appalachian Summer Festival.
This year marks the 22nd year of the project to which nine new contemporary sculptures arrived on campus representing artists competing to be the Martin and Doris Rosen Award Winner of $5,000 and a week-long residency with Appalachian’s Department of Art.
The winner is chosen by a different juror each year who, after carefully examining the make and meaning of each piece, announces the winner at the conclusion of the annual Rosen Sculpture Walk.
This year’s walk was held on Saturday, attracting a crowd of young and
old to join the approximately hour-long walk with this year’s juror,
Dr. Sarah Clark-Langager, who is the Director and Curator of the
Outdoor Sculpture Collection at Western Gallery at Western Washington
University in Bellingham, Washington.
“I judge each piece based on three things,” she said before the walk.
“The technical finesse, the craftsmanship and the contemporary meaning
of the work. I am interested in artists who deal with something on an
everyday level that relates to us and [unites the natural and urban
aspects of life together.]”
All of the nine sculptures are located on the west side of campus between Trivette Dining Hall and Walker Hall.
Exhibitions Coordinator for the Turchin Center Cassie McDowell
explained the sculptures are better displayed with plenty of space and
green by being on the west side of campus where they also are more
easily accessible for the sculpture walk which is generally the same
route every year.
This year’s winner is Shawn Skabelund of Flagstaff, Arizona with his
sculpture “Brassing Out,” a piece which is made of steel, wood, brass
and pine sap.
The sculpture represents the importance of coal mining in North
Carolina by illustrating a structure that resembles a mining shaft that
is based to the ground while holding up a grid of brass tags to
represent the men of the mines.
The artist states that his sculpture recalls the state’s worst mining
accident on May 27, 1925 in the Egypt Coal Mine in Farmville where 53
men did not “brass in.” The artist explains this was a way to keep
track of miners.
“Before heading down the shafts and into the stopes, miners were given
numbered brass tags. When their shift was complete, they would return
their tags to the brassing-in board, signifying that they had made it
out of the ground for another day,” Skabellund wrote. “I title this
sculpture Brassing Out because each day represented an act of faith for
these miners.”
Trackback(0)
 |
News 
TrackBack URI for this entry
Show/Hide comments
