the world is out to get me

art in the garden

Kat Riley
Pollywog
Wax and oil paint


This piece is an attempt to make a series of foreign objects that harmonize with the pre-object world. Before there were telephones, skyscrapers, power lines or roads, the world had only rocks, grass, hills, and desert in it. It has been our job, as humans, to add all the objects.
With this in mind, What is the difference between an architect and an artist, a tailor and a factory worker? It makes which objects we make seem almost trivial, as does our place in our society being determined by it. But which objects we make, however, do matter—because what we make is what we fill our world with. Each object has a relationship—direct or indirect—to all the objects that came before, as well as a relationship to the rocks and grass that preceded those.



Kat Riley
Pink Flamingo
Fabric and wood



I deliver pizzas for a large, corporate pizza chain about four days a week. (It’s a living, as they say…) One thing I’ve noticed, in doing this, is the ornamentation on the lawns of all the comfortable, middle-class homes I deliver to. It seems the more money a family has, the more money they’ll “invest” in lawn ornaments, such as pink flamingoes, garden gnomes, etc. So I began a series of lawn ornaments, perhaps critiquing what I was convinced were a symbol of Middle America. However, after a bit of research, I discovered while pink flamingoes are of American origin, garden gnomes had an intensely German beginning. Interesting for me, essentially being a second-generation German-American.

Kat Riley
ela-man
fabric, wood, helmet
about 7 feet tall
this piece was my attempt to make my puppets come to life. i wanted to show the creature in an every day human environment. the photos took on a life of their own showing the creature in a new light,and creating a story between the creature and the front of the house. as the photos went on they became more abstract and mysterious making the creature become more like hoax big foot picture. i think this project will continue on with the costume being worn in many different places.

Ashley Main
Vine 3
Plastic bottles, spraypaint, trash bags and wire
$ 100



I’ve recently been working in the form of a vine as a metaphor. In this metaphor of the vine, humanity is the parasitic vine. I make these vines out of synthetic every day materials such as duct tape and saran wrap in order to comment on the synthetic takeover of the natural world as well as our society’s willingness to so easily discard usable material. In this project I wanted my material to be used plastic bottles and plastic trash bags as a way of looking specifically at contemporary human consumption and recycling in honor of Earth Day.

Vine

Art in the Garden - Untitled

Benjamin Lenoir
Medium - Branches, Aluminum Foil, Spray Foam
2009

During the construction of this project I was thinking about many things. Mainly how we treat our environment and are slowly turning it into a synthetic organism. We genetically alter plants for our benefit by selective breeding processes, infecting plants with retroviruses, and many other means. This is my take on how plant life may end in the future and a snapshot of what I think is to come of our world as we keep expanding and overpopulating.

It's all Falkor's fault

Erica Leoncavallo

It’s all Falkor’s fault

wood, metal, twine, glue

This piece was inspired by a traumatic, reoccurring, childhood nightmare that immediately took place after seeing the film, “The NeverEnding Story II.” I was four and Falkor, the flying, dog headed dragon was terrifying. While no images from the film were present in the dream, the stress caused from this ordeal of a movie created the feeling of suffocation, portrayed by simple black lines closing in on me. While attempting to recreate the dream, the lines took on an interesting, beautiful and playful quality, which is much more representative of the memory of my childhood. The reoccurrence of this dream is mimicked in the repetitive grouping of blocks. I chose to present these blocks in a semi-enclosed structure, which viewers are encouraged to enter and view the different perspectives created by the lines. 

Video for Process Piece...

Here's the video I'd created for my sculpture piece. It's obviously evolved since I showed the first attempt in class last semester. Thanks for the input from all. It still requires some work, but better to put the time into the sculpture itself than fiddling on the computer. Currently the piece is set to be an installation work, though that could change at any time (especially given the number of transformations it has already undergone). Thanks for watching and good luck to all who are getting ready to put up their BFA show!

Ava

The Hidden Impossible Triangle

The Hidden Impossible Triangle.
Wood, steel
James Denver 09

This piece works on the Gestalt effect as in the mind, the recognition of a whole image does not have to be perceived being made up of the parts that exist within it already. Basically the principle of the piece is that it was made to serve as an optical illusion. The impossible triangle can only be seen within a very particular line of site. The Hidden Impossible Triangle is meant to have the full visual/mental attention of the viewer because if the viewer is able to create the triangle in their plain of sight, the piece will shift from three 3-D pieces into one 2-D whole.

Rhythm

Stephanie Bell

Rhythm

Steel Pieces and String

This piece was inspired by the movement of my friends and their hula hoops.  The steel alone wasnt taking up enough space and looked like a weird coathanger so thus the string was added to build up a "body" so to say.  An architectural feel developed down the bottom, making it feel more stable.  The bike tire represents the spinning hula hoop around the persons neck.  I added the fabric to pick up wind so the tire would spin, but unfortunately it feels and looks too heavy so it was a mistake.  

From Here to Nowhere

Esteban M. Pilonieta Vera

Aluminum, paint, ERW pipes, screws and bolts

Dimensions vary

A collection of 10 signs direct the public in an incoherent path with no definite end. The color and direction of the arrows intend to create a personal image of the nonexistent object or place that one searches after. In this space in particular, as one interacts with the piece, walking around trying to follow the signs, one might almost ignore or forget about the garden where they reside; this way commenting on the things we miss or ignore in our everyday lives while we try to reach an ultimate goal.

PN 01/PN 02

Sean Doll

PN Series, 2009
wood, stamped text, paint, bolts
approximately 16" x 16" x 4"

My inspiration for this work comes from modelling kits that can be purchased and put together. These sets come with pre-cut wood pieces and usually a small bottle of glue. By following detailed directions and diagrams, you can make your own dinosaur, car, etc.

I am interested in this idea of piecing things together to build something greater. I printed the "directions" directly onto the pieces. Upon examination, many of these directions make little to no sense or have no relevance being printed on the piece (ie. "rear piece" and "top layer").

Life from the Sun

This project was done from a original painting that I received awhile ago. I was trying to break into thinking about sculpture through sculpting a painting, since by trade I would be considered a painter. I tried to represent every aspect of the painting as accurately as I could using acrylic paint and styrofoam. Each piece was hand carved and painted.

Esteban Pilonieta

Scribles 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7
Mixed media
Dimensions Vary



In this series of pieces I intended to focus myself more in process rather that outcome. Named "scribbles" for the spontaneity and uncertainty of the steps taken to reach completion, each piece is made primarily from recycled wooden palettes. Their similarity or reference to anything was neither predicted or planned.

8X40 R

Encased

Erica Leoncavallo

Encased

2009

Contractor Paper, Wax, Wood, Metal Wire

My initial goal here was to fold a large-scale paper crane out of paper. When this was actually successful, I decided to use wax to try and change the surface and texture of the paper. I achieved this by brushing on melted wax, which was then reheated with a heat gun so the wax soaked into the paper, dramatically changing its appearance. Afterwards, more wax was dripped all over the form. This helped the form become more brittle, which added some support to the structure. The use of wax gives new meaning to the paper crane and gives it a feeling of being frozen in time. 

2-D to 3-D