<< Previous   of   Next >> Enterprise/AMY DAYBERT  (click to enlarge) Seattle Pacific University art professor Roger Feldman points to a finished piece of a sculpture while he helps students Nicole Mulder, (left), and Amberle Vanden Boreke, (right), secure another piece of an outdoor sculpture on May 15 in Shoreline. Enterprise/AMY DAYBERT  (click to enlarge) Amberle Vanden Boreke, (right), a student at Seattle Pacific Universityt tightens screws on a piece of an outdoor sculpture while her classmate, Nicole Mulder and Shoreline resident Bruce Amundson hold the piece study. Enterprise/AMY DAYBERT  (click to enlarge) A wooden window frame hangs suspended from two trees over a wooden boardwalk above the Blue Heron Reserve on May 15 in Shoreline. The boardwalk and frame were part of a site specific art installation by Seattle Pacific University students. Enterprise/AMY DAYBERT  (click to enlarge) Seattle Pacific University senior Andrea Johnson, (right), ties string on her group's outdoor sculpture while her classmates junior Lindsey Maples and senior Katie Wakovich, (far left), assist on May 15 in Shoreline. Enterprise/AMY DAYBERT  (click to enlarge) One of three complete site specific art installations near the Blue Heron Reserve in the Innis Arden neighborhood in Shoreline. Enterprise/AMY DAYBERT  (click to enlarge) The site specific art installation done by Seattle Pacific University students on Shoreline residents Bruce and JoAnn Amundson's property sits completed in the sun on May 16 in Shoreline.

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CONTACT THE ENTERPRISE Jocelyn Robinson, News editor jrobinson@heraldnet.com

Outdoor art lessons

By Amy Daybert
Enterprise editor

The latest addition to Shoreline resident Bruce Amundson's outdoor sculpture collection is unique. Although it's only a temporary addition to his backyard in Innis Arden, the art installation was designed and completed by students from Seattle Pacific University (SPU) on May 15.

Amundson thought of the idea to host a site specific art installation for the sculpture class after he met art professor Roger Feldman last fall during a conference at the Seattle Art Museum. He asked Feldman about the possibility of doing a site-specific installation on his property as part of a class project.

Feldman liked the idea.

"Bruce became a community activist and got his neighbors involved," Feldman said. "I structured my sculpture class around this event."

At the beginning of the quarter in late March, Feldman's class of nine students visited the three sites, including Amundson's and sites located on either side of his property. The initial idea was for the students to link three projects together by a common theme. When the students returned to the sites almost four weeks later, they presented their ideas to Amundson and his neighbors.

"For the longest time I have had the idea to create a walkway along the many lots here," Amundson said while walking along the lower half of his property over the Blue Heron Reserve. "Most of the lower ends of the lots are not developed like ours so we could create a walkway and have artists put their sculptures along it like a miniature sculpture park."

Amundson began to see a portion of his idea become realty as three new, temporary pieces of art were installed. Each piece, Feldman said, was designed to respond to a common denominator--a creek in the reserve below.

On one site, composed largely of rockery and nicknamed "the desert," students created an open tunnel with a trail of red rocks scattered down the middle. On a second more wooded site, called "the jungle," a student group created a wooden, wavy boardwalk that leads to a platform and a window frame suspended between two trees. In Amundson's own backyard, four wooden structures each include pieces shaped like megaphones in order to pick up the sound of the creek. A line of red, plastic material pieces hangs between two trees to symbolize the flow of the water.

The designs were the students' responses to their specific site, Feldman said.

"This wasn't me telling them what to do," he said. "This is them responding to what's already there. My job was to give them the skill base so they could do this and monitor that base."

The opportunity to create and build a sculpture outside of the classroom was a unique one, Feldman's students learned early on.

"Typically the sculpture classes that are at SPU do things within the studio," junior visual communication major Elizabeth Dolhamyk said.

Opportunities to work on art installations are rare due to a competitive process and the overall cost of building, according to Feldman, who is internationally recognized for his own work and created a permanent piece on the campus of Renton Technical College. He is hopeful that the experience of working on the site specific installation will broaden his students' perspectives in their individual chosen areas of study.

"All sorts of skills are implied beyond just making (art installations) work," he said. "On my end this has been such a successful experience. This is real life … I think they'll graduate and look back five years later and say 'wow.'"

Senior theology major Katie Wakovich said she and her classmates want others to enjoy the outdoor sculptures that they created.

"Roger was excited about this project and the people in the community were excited about this project," she said. "It makes us feel like we're just that more responsible for doing a good job. It's not just about getting a good grade."

Amundson said he would like to help create more exposure to sculpture. The collection he and his wife JoAnn have worked on for the past ten years will be displayed during the Richmond Beach Garden Tour on June 14.

"One of the really wonderful things is how a piece of sculpture makes the environment look better and the environment makes a piece of sculpture look better," he said. "The whole idea of outdoor art is so enriching for those of us who enjoy it."