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Making Art is a Walk in the Park for 3D Design Students

12/17/2015 by Nick Thomas Leave a Comment

This fall a group of 3D design students, led by Professor Lisa Nappa, cruised out to Turnbull, EWU’s neighboring National Wildlife Refuge. The students’ goal: to make art with just their imagination and the raw materials found in Mother Nature.

Before venturing out of the studio they watched excerpts from “Rivers and Tides,” the documentary about Andy Goldsworthy, who is a guru of ephemeral sculptures made strictly from elements of nature. They also had a brief practice session across the street at Sutton Park, where they quickly learned that sketching ideas ahead of time wouldn’t help.

“You have to play with the materials long enough to know what you can and can’t do with them,” said Monica Hoblin, a senior majoring in Visual Communications.

Students Hoblin and Al Abdul Karem at work (Lisa Nappa photo)
Students Hoblin and Al Abdul Karem at work (Lisa Nappa photo)

Arriving at Turnbull Wildlife Refuge, Hoblin paired up with Aziz Al Abdul Karem, a studio art major from Saudi Arabia, to arch long sticks over a small boulder, forming a cage-like canopy. The result is that your eye focuses not just on the cage but on the rock underneath, an object you wouldn’t notice otherwise.

Other students sewed leaves together with thorns, or filled the cracks of a fallen log with moss, implementing basic design principles such as line-form and contrast.

One student wreathed a boulder with bunchgrass, creating what looked like an eye peering out of the dry grass.

Nystrom's collage adorns a birch tree (artist photo)
Nystrom’s collage adorns a birch tree (artist photo)

“It was fun to get outside,” said Linnea Nystrom, a junior Occupational Therapy major from Olympia. She said the exercise made her pay closer attention to the colors of the particular season. “The fall colors contrasted with the grey mud and the white birch bark.”  Though not an art major, she took Nappa’s 3D Design class as an elective, or as she put it, “for fun!”

Working directly with nature to sculpt works of art, the students knew nothing they made would last more than a day or two.

“You have to let it go,” says Hoblin. “It can’t be precious.”

She wove together fiery leaves, sticks and trumpet blossoms into a collage that adorned a birch tree trunk.

And yep: U.S. Park Rangers granted permission for this student project. It’s just one of the great parts of the strong relationship between EWU and the wildlife refuge.

Filed Under: Academics, Location Tagged With: art, class, Design, elective, Graphic design, major, nature, project, research, Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge

The art scene in Spokane: Terrain 8

11/02/2015 by Nick Thomas Leave a Comment

For the past 8 years, the nonprofit Terrain organization has hosted their hugely popular interactive art events in funky locations around Spokane. This October was the biggest yet: over 8,000 people visited throughout the single night event. And as you might expect, EWU students and faculty could be found nearly everywhere.

terrain1
Spokane Poetry Slam organizer Isaac Grambo stokes the crowd

Chris Leja

Terrain showcased 300 works of art by more than 150 regional artists. The event also featured live music, a poetry slam, author readings and artwork of all types. The event took place in the beautifully refurbished 120-year-old Washington Cracker Co. warehouse near EWU’s downtown Spokane campus.

Nearly every artwork boasted an orange “sold” sticker, and the event brought in over $10,000 in sales for local artists. Many of these artists are EWU students, alumni and faculty. One of them is Monica Hoblin, a senior in EWU’s highly respected graphic design program. You can see some of her projects on Behance.

Around the corner from Terrain, EWU professors Lisa Nappa, Roger Ralston and colleagues had installed a sprawling video projected onto the street level windows of the historic Ridpath Hotel. The project combined technology and design to transform the empty windows of a normally quiet city street into revolving fields of color.

terrrain2
Apollo astronaut spaces out on abstract art

Terrain was held on an already busy First Friday, which is the monthly art celebration in Spokane. The city’s galleries, restaurants, and cafes fill with crowds of all ages enjoying artwork and live music.

Access to a major city’s nightlife and art scene is just one of the key benefits of life as an EWU student, and it helps explain how EWU’s poets, artists, filmmakers, and designers are able to build dynamic portfolios even before they graduate from EWU

Filed Under: Community, Location, Student Life Tagged With: art, eagles, EWU, ewu alumni, ewu art, ewu spokane, first friday, Spokane, spokane art, spokane poetry slam, terrain

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