Students Create Art on Ferris State's
Campus
Ferris State University Artist-in-Residence Robert Barnum presented
two fine art workshops for students from Reed City, Chippewa Hills,
Big Rapids, Morley and Evart high schools. The two workshops introduced
the process of creating sculpture out of steel.
Nine
area students each designed, constructed and finished a steel sculpture.
The construction process included the operation and use of a plasma
cutter, wire welder and acetylene torch. The workshops were held in
the Creative Art Center on the Ferris State campus.
It
was the first time the students used steel to create works of art.
“They
were a very high-energy and ambitious group,” said Barnum. “It’s
an invigorating teaching experience to take highly creative young people
and put them into a new environment. Cutting, bending and welding quarter-inch-thick
steel brings a new level of the dramatic to art-making. It’s not
often a student has the opportunity to sense the sheer strength and
power of a piece of art.”
These
workshops were part of an “Art Academy” sponsored by ArtWorks
of Big Rapids as part of a month-long “Art Attack” emphasizing
student art work.
