Digging Deep to Create an Ecological Sculpture
Students in Professor Danne Rhaesa’s Mysteries of the Mississippi class relish getting more than a bit dirty as they dig deep into learning about the communities that lived and still thrive along the Mississippi River near Elsah. Delving as far back as Hopewellian culture (300 BC), they’re exploring the role that objects—and the artists and designers who created them—play in society.
This First Year Experience (FYE) class—one of eight choices for freshmen—encompasses 3D art, archeology, and sustainability. So far this semester, the group has heard from regional experts, hiked to burial mounds, washed prehistoric artifacts recovered from an archeological dig, and canoed a portion of the Mississippi River.
Recently, the students constructed a large-scale ecological sculpture from driftwood they had collected along the Great River Road—four truckloads in all. “Each of us sketched 10 designs, and we voted for the one we ultimately built,” explains Gavin Austin. “Our building day happened to be a rainy one—so we worked in the rain!”
Gravity Is the Only “Glue”
The pieces of driftwood are interlaced to create arcs, and gravity is the only “glue” in the sculpture. For Ian Armesy, the structural aspect of the design was as compelling as the artistic elements: “We dug holes for posts to support the structure, and the group effort was crucial in the process.” “We thought we’d need to attach fishing line we’d found, but it actually held together just fine,” Samantha Frank adds. For Tabitha Kemnitz, the sculpture provided an opportunity to reflect on Principia’s metaphysical theme for the year: “. . . freely ye have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8). “We feel we gave back to the community by building this piece,” she says. “There’s a lot of love in it.” The sculpture will remain intact for a month and then be upcycled into fuel for firing of the students’ reproduction pottery, using traditional firing methods.
Professor Rhaesa, a member of the art faculty, designed the FYE class to help students gain an understanding of the importance of place as it relates to each individual. “In a globalized world, we’re often pushed to think so big that we neglect the importance of exploring and understanding our locales, of becoming attuned to what they can offer us and we them,” she says. “Wherever students live, I hope they’ll remember to investigate the richness of their regional surroundings and find ways to support local needs.”
Professor Danne Rhaesa Recognized with Sculpture Award
Creating a sculpture from driftwood was a natural choice for Rhaesa, who works with all natural materials herself, incorporating their shapes and textures into her finished pieces. This summer, Rhaesa was awarded second place at the 26th Cedarhurst Biennial Art Competition in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, for her found stone and rammed earth sculpture entitled Force. Her work is also featured along the sculpture walk at Southern Illinois University–Edwardsville. And through October, you can see her exhibit “Resilience: Nature’s Expression of Form” in the Maybeck Gallery in Radford on the College campus.
What’s next for the FYE? They’re working in teams to design and build cardboard canoes for the College's annual regatta taking place on October 3 at Piasa Harbor in Elsah.