In the past few weeks, Winthrop professor of fine arts Shaun Cassidy and his students have begun a beautification initiative on campus, creating a new sculpture project for the outside of McLaurin Hall.
Cassidy has enlisted some of his senior class students to create a new sculpture with him.
“We have a strong senior class that’s graduating this May. And they put up their senior show last week, so they have a block of time, like three weeks, where they’re not really doing much,” Cassidy said. “So, I thought it would be a good opportunity to utilize their creative skills and their making skills to create something for the university campus.”
For the new sculpture, Cassidy and his students decided to focus on putting their new art piece in front of McLaurin Hall.
“On the front line of McLaurin, it’s a particularly challenging site because it’s not very attractive. It has beautiful trees but not much else,” Cassidy said. “So, the students came up with a design to create a series of words that will snake through the landscape, kind of connecting. There’s a path in between to connect both sides of the path outside.”
The three–dimensional letters will be a sculpture that spells out: “Is What Brings Us Together.” The public art piece will be positioned under the trees in front of McLaurin Hall and will provide a functional seating area where students, faculty, and visitors would be able to come together and rest as well as think about what this phrase means to them.
“So, the idea is that it’s really a question. So, what does bring us together?” Cassidy said. “Is it creativity that brings us together? Does faith bring us together? Does community bring us together? Does Winthrop bring us together, or do friends bring us together? It’s really posing a question to the community.”
Cassidy and the students are hoping that this sculpture will bring joy and significance to Winthrop students and hope it attracts them to hang outside of McLaurin more often.
“We’re hoping that it will beautify that area of campus, draw people’s attention to it. We want it to be a place where people can come and sit and have a picnic, where a class can hang out,” Cassidy said. “Where individuals can hang out and reflect on their own lives and what their answer to the question is. It’s a lot of work. But I think it’s been very exciting.”
This project has also been a great learning opportunity for art students as well who have worked on this project.
“We’re really trying to connect it to the site where it’s a good learning opportunity for students,” Cassidy said. “Because they have to think about the weight of concrete, how you’re going to make the molds, how do you work within a budget, all of those kinds of things. It’s a good opportunity for them.”
Cassidy hopes to have this project up by graduation for students to see before they leave campus, especially for the graduating seniors.
“My dream, if everything goes perfect, would be having it cast and have all the mold stripped off by graduation, that Saturday graduation,” Cassidy said.
