Video: Nature, human experience explored in newly dedicated Vancouver art works

Jo-H-face-80VANCOUVER, Wash. – Two recently installed art works were dedicated at Washington State University Vancouver on Oct. 3, coinciding with the WSU regents meeting.

 

3-look-at-big-Jo-H-art-450“Field Reports: Faux Phoenix Sightings,” by Jo Hockenhull, http://www.rivergallery
art.com/artist_jo_
hockenhull.php,
is a six-panel painting in the Dengerink administration building. Hockenhull’s career includes service at WSU campuses in Pullman and Vancouver.

“Impressions,” by Stu Schecter, http://www.sandcartstudio.com/, in the undergraduate building lobby, was created from a tree that had to be removed during construction of the building.

birds-bottom-450“As I disassembled the majestic Douglas fir that once lived on this site, a question kept running through my head that inspired the imagery I carved into the planks… What kind of impression can I leave?” Schecter said. He chose to adorn the faces of the planks with scenes of local plants and wildlife in addition to the poem “Lost” by David Wagoner.

The tree was shipped to Schecter’s studio in Boston where it was cut and carved. The artist custom-built a machine to carve images onto each plank.

Tim Marsh, WSU News correspondent, took photos in Hockenhull’s
Oregon studio during the summer and on the Vancouver campus on Oct. 3.