|
|
FARMINGTON – A new work of art has begun to sprout near the entrance to University of Maine at Farmington’s Education Center. Sculptor Christopher Fennell, nationally recognized for his colossal creations constructed from reclaimed and sustainable materials, will soon be completing his first Maine sculpture on the UMF campus.
Designed in keeping with UMF’s vision for the environmentally sustainable, LEED silver certified Education Center, Fennell’s proposed work, entitled “Lawnmower Leaves,” will depict three leaf-like blades in a graceful arch. The structure will stand approximately 24 feet tall and will be constructed from steel and approximately 1,000 recycled lawn mower blades the artist has obtained from a national lawn and garden tractor company.
According to Fennell, he wanted to take an unsustainable and graceless activity – mowing grass – and make a statement of how the repurposed blades could be used in an environmentally friendly way to create a thing of beauty.
“Sculpture is a visual language,” said Fennell. “Using recycled materials is not only a powerful image about our choices, but also connects the audience to the artwork through their own personal experiences with those materials.”
Fennell’s naturalistic sculpture will be created on the UMF site facing High Street beginning the first full week in September and is expected to be completed in 30 to 60 days. He encourages members of the campus and general public to visit him during construction.
“I’m very approachable,” Fennell said, “and enjoy responding to questions and sharing the experience of creating art with the public.”
The sculpture was commissioned in accordance with Maine’s Percent for Art Act, enacted in 1979 to provide funds for the acquisition of public artworks for newly constructed or renovated state-funded buildings.
“Chris’ sculpture will be the finishing touch to the greenest building on campus,” said Theodora J. Kalikow, UMF president. “We’re thrilled to have such a highly acclaimed contemporary artist adding to the landscape of the 21st century arts at UMF.”
Inspired by the materials that have been cast out by society, Fennell has been creating colossal architectural skeletons from discarded materials since 2000. His first sculpture – the barn ‘wave’ – was built at the University of Georgia from the boards of an old dismantled barn. Since then, he has been creating his one-of-a-kind sculptures in the shapes of waves, vessels, doorways and flora and fauna. His dynamic pieces can be found at private and public galleries and on university campuses nationwide. He holds an engineering degree from the University of Southern Florida and an MFA in Sculpture from the University of Georgia.
To see more of Fennell’s work, go to http://www.cfennell.org/
Just curious to know how much money the University is spending on this project. Did you ever consider asking that question when writing this article? Do you really think the timing is appropiate especially with the economy the way it is and so many people losing their jobs. Curious to know where they got the money to spend on this project and if that money could have been used to prevent student’s tuition from increasing this year and if they could have use it to eliminate cutting positions at the University. The school exists because of the student. The University doesn’t seem to have it’s priorities straight.
I see your point Sara. I don’t disagree with you. However, you could look at it as the employing of the artist. Was it FDR who found a way to employ artists during THE depression?
Looks like a enticing climbing post for the area youths and students. Good Luck to the campus and town police trying to keep people off of that. Who will pay if someone falls off it and gets hurt? . What will it cost to keep it looking good, paint etc . Another university case of act first think later.
I thought when I saw the digging for this project that they might be finally going to put up a sign to identify the building. I can’t for the life of me think why UMF thinks everyone is going to know what the building’s for if they don’t have the smallest identifying mark. I have heard people who think it’s the Bjorn building because of the “Bjorn Plaza” sign, but I know that’s not true. If the new thing is a sculpture, I have a feeling it’s not going to incorporate the name — how ’bout a sign, somewhere?
If you read the article, you would see that this project was funded through the Percent for Art Act, which is A) designated for art installations at new public buildings and B) doesn’t come from the schools budget. Any money spent on this project is unrelated to the University’s budget. Plus, Christopher Fennell makes his art largely out of recycled and donated materials, so I can’t imagine that this would cost more than a few thousand dollars to install: not enough to lower anyone’s tuition or pay anyone’s salary.
You would think who ever is building this could have rented scaffolding instead of a big twisted mess of 2x4s!!