[Hannah Preston | Banner] Kristi Lippire (right), assistant professor of visual art, guides students Amy Schwarz (middle), senior visual arts major, and Stacy Hernandez, junior visual arts major, in gluing shards of plastic in unique patterns and shapes to complete their Festival of Lights “winter-esque” sculpture.
Students in Art 300: Advanced Art at California Baptist University have used their talents to spread holiday cheer.
With a team of 10 students, including the help of Kristi Lippire, assistant professor of visual art and adviser for the Art Club, the mission to create a winter-themed sculpture that would be debuted at the Festival of Lights began.
“We did a lot of brainstorming about lighting, what we wanted it to look like and finally came upon lantern-type forms and stacking in an asymmetrical way,” Lippire said. “(The students) each drew different ideas and began narrowing it down. We wanted to keep it more about winter.”
Along with other individual class assignments, the sculpture took around two months to complete. This group of students has also been at work on a mural for a local school’s playground.
Brooke Villegas, junior visual arts major, said she has remained heavily invested in the team’s sculpture, and through the entire process has been challenged and able to improve as an artist.
“There is a big emphasis that has group and collaborative effort,” Villegas said. “You have deadlines and you have to meet them, but you have to do it as a group. You can’t just rely on what you know you can do. It is definitely a good skill to push what you are working with, to push your mindset and to push what is commonly done and what is not commonly done.”
The sculpture will be on display to the public from Nov. 25 to Jan. 7 in front of the Riverside Art Museum.
Todd Wingate, curator of exhibitions and collections at the museum, has the role of collecting works for the Luminaries Project, of which CBU had the opportunity to be a part.
“We very much appreciate the chance to showcase the great work from CBU to the hundreds of thousands of visitors that come to see the lights downtown,” Wingate said. “[Lippire] and the team were really great to work with. As a community-based encyclopedic art museum, we take our role of sharing the best of our community very seriously and our collaboration with CBU is an excellent example.”
