Welding Students Share 'Bodies' of Work in Captivating Art Project

Published 09.09.2014

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Artist and welding lecturer Michael K. Patterson (left) installs a chef creation with the help of Chad L. Karstetter, General Services horticulturist/motorpool lead person (in yellow), and Steve J. Kopera, welding lecturer. The chef sculpture features a bowl of soup and saltine crackers among its appetizing details. Timothy S. Turnbach (right) welding instructor, invited college president Davie Jane Gilmour and Paul Starkey, vice president for academic affairs/provost, to write – and weld! – their names into a book held by another figure in "Student Bodies." Here, Gilmour writes her name before welding … ... and Turnbach (foreground) assists Starkey with the finishing touches.After their turns at the torch, Gilmour and Starkey visit the campus mall to delight in the ongoing installation of "Student Bodies.""Student Bodies" – a fanciful procession of abstract, life-size human forms through the pulsing heart of campus – continues to take shape between the Breuder Advanced Technology and Health Sciences Center and West Third Street. Sculptor and Penn College faculty member Michael K. Patterson has worked with welding students for nearly a year on the marriage of craft and creativity, forged solely of scrap-metal from their lab, and recently began installing the cavalcade of professionals and pedestrians along sidewalk islands of grass. Scheduled for dedication next month, the work is one of three Centennial art projects breathing new life into familiar surroundings.