by Jackie Todd, Office of Media Relations
Did you ever want to be a part of history? Faculty, staff, students and alumni are invited to propose names for the artwork that will adorn the walls of the university’s Life Sciences facility. The dedication of the artwork is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. April 25.
The initiative is part of Atelier InSite, a Creative Inquiry program that focuses on the implementation of public artwork at Clemson University. This student-driven program encourages cross-disciplinary collaboration and provides hands-on opportunities for students to conduct research on the nature of public art, investigate the design build process, conduct site analysis and identify site locations for artwork.
“It goes to the whole nature of the process which speaks to collaboration and engagement,” said Dave Detrich, art professor and advisor to the Atelier InSite program. When people are engaged in an art project, it makes them feel like they are part of the process and helps them connect to the artwork.”
Spanning three floors of the Life Sciences facility, the artwork project features 600 circular petri dish paintings. Ablaze with color, each
dish boasts unique patterns and offers 600 opportunities for your suggestions to become a permanent part of the project.
dish boasts unique patterns and offers 600 opportunities for your suggestions to become a permanent part of the project.
The project artist, San Francisco-based Klari Reis, was selected from among 200 applicants to create and install the artwork. Reis set up a blog through which the Clemson community can submit their naming suggestions by clicking on the artwork featured on the page and entering the proposed name in the Comments section. Suggestions will be taken through April 21 and those selected will appear on a corresponding map next to the artwork display.
“Atelier InSite is uniquely Clemson because we’re engaging students as the primary generator of this project,” said Detrich. “You see a lot of top-20 schools with similar programs, but those are not student driven. We want to establish a precedent for student engagement in similar programs.”
