The OCU Art Club is creating an interactive installation for the Myriad Botanical Gardens Pumpkinville festival this fall.
“The theme this year is fairy tales, and we’ve been asked to do the three little pigs,” said Avery Hanson, studio art senior and Art Club president. “We’re building the three houses that kids can play in and walk through, and we’ll also have some themed crafts for them.”
The Art Club submitted a proposal earlier this year to create a public art installation for the festival.
“They’re going to be kind of a whimsical version of the three little pigs’ houses,” said Mike Wimmer, artist in residence and gallery director for Norick Art Center. “Madelyn Parker designed the houses and paint scheme. The students will be building and painting them under my supervision. The houses will be built in a way that they can be easily assembled and easily taken down. That way they can be used again next year.”
Construction of the houses, which will be made of painted plywood, began Sept. 20. The installation will take place at the beginning of October.
The students involved in the Myriad Gardens installation are Parker, English/studio art sophomore; Kyla Bruegel, film production/studio art sophomore; Leondre Lattimore, studio art freshman, and Hanson, Yourong Zhao, Emily Baker, studio art seniors. All of the students are involved in the Art Club.
The Art Club will be paid $1,500 for the installation, about $300 of which will be used for supplies for the project. The remaining money will be divided among the participating students, so each student will make about $200.
Pumpkinville will open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 7-23. It will be the largest project the Art Club has done off campus.
“We really try to be involved in projects off campus,” Hanson said. “Some of our members have done murals in the past, and we’re hoping to do more art installations in the future.”
Art Club members, as well as art students, are also involved on campus.
“The Walker Center has asked us to display artwork in the student lounge upstairs,” Hanson said. “We’re gathering artwork from students to display there.”
Artwork of current students and graduates will be displayed in the student lounge.
“One of our graduates, who now lives in Malaysia, has a piece hanging in the student lounge,” Wimmer said. “We really wanted to choose pieces that represented everything the school has to offer.”
The Art Club is made up of art majors and students from other schools within the university.
“Art Club is open to anyone, not just art majors,” Hanson said. “We love having new members and getting to know more people.”
Art Club meets once a month. There are several events besides Art Club in which students can be involved.
“We have a monthly art social in Norick,” Hanson said. “Acting students model costumes from the costuming department and music students are paid to play music. We have free pizza and drinks, and students can come hang out and create art.”
The next art social is from 6:30-8 p.m. Oct. 24. Students must bring their own supplies, but easels are provided.
There also are several art shows throughout the semester, including the current Katherine Liontus-Warren, A Journey of Discovery gallery. Later in the semester, the art school will host a 2D High School Exhibition Competition as well as a capstone show for one of the art students graduating in December.
Leave a Reply