For the first time ever, Midwestern hosted the Texas Sculpture Symposium from Nov. 1-3 where Japanese artist Hironari Kubota performed his spinning car sculpture in front of the Fain Fine Arts building. In addition, the Sculpture Network of Texas honored retiring artists and educators Sara Waters of Texas Tech University and Benson Warren of Cameron University.
The Nov. 1 reception at the Juanita Harvey Art Gallery included the opening of Waters’ and Warren’s exhibit as well as the Kappa Pi Exhibition showing student artwork in the Foyer Gallery.
Catherine Prose, associate professor of art and gallery director, said she is especially happy to host Waters and Warren because she studied under them.
“It’s really nice because for about 12 years I’ve been in the position that I’ve been able to highlight the people who have influenced me,” Prose said. “Believe it or not, I had nothing to do with selecting them, so it just felt really nice that my personal education is linked to people that are held in prestige.”
On top of that, Prose said it is not often that MSU hosts a symposium of this size, making it an important networking opportunity for art students.
“We haven’t had a symposium in a while, and we’ve never had the Sculpture Symposium, so even if the student’s not a sculpture major, they’ll certainly benefit,” Prose said. “It’s very rare. You basically apply to have some of these things at your school, so being offered a symposium, for Suguru, is huge.”
Suguru Hirade, associate professor of art, applied for the Texas Sculpture Symposium and brought it to the Jaunita Harvey Art Gallery. Hirade said he hoped the symposium would be a great opportunity for students, much like the career-changing moment Hirade experienced at a conference as a student.
“When I was a student, I went to a sculpture conference. That conference changed my career. I was studying graphic design with sculpture as a minor, but after that I switched,” Hirade said. “That conference kind of changed my life, so I thought our students could have something like a great moment in their lives.”
The symposium also provided another opportunity for Hirade to bring Kubota to MSU for his first ever performance in the United States.
“I met with him probably four years ago in Japan, and then he showed me his work, but he told me he had never done it in the United States,” Hirade said. “The rest of his friends and peers told him, you know you should do this in the United States. They thought American people would like it, and I agree.”
Hirade said it would be nice to show Kubota’s kinetic sculpture and performance in America, but Hirade had no solution to bring him here.
“So I told him, hey, if I find something I will let you know, but it never happened,” Hirade said. “Finally, I decided to invite this organization [Texas Sculpture Symposium] here.”
Prose said Kubota’s performance is based heavily in his culture and upbringing, providing students a chance to experience more worldly artwork.
“Although I think it’s cool and hip just because he’s spinning a car and he’s got these great stickers on the side of it, I think what you’ll see tonight is very cultural,” Prose said. “I think it is jarring for people at first, but then when they open up and try to see it as a performance, which is a very cultural thing from his rearing in Japan, then I think it opens up the minds of the students a little bit more.”
Erick Zambrano, junior in art, said the performance was impressive when all of the elements came together.
“It was nice, especially with the music,” Zambrano said. “I’ve seen some of his videos and actually I’m surprised that he didn’t spin it as fast as those, but I guess it’s just the body of the car is heavier than most.”
Zambrano said he and other students were involved in helping Kubota set his sculpture up.
“I’m glad to be a part of it, especially the fact that MSU is getting all these cool artists with the symposium,” Zambrano said. “And it’s inspirational. I saw him work because I was taking sculpture the whole time he was here and he was always in the back working on that car. He loves it. He’s doing his own thing.”
Zambrano said being able to watch Kubota prepare his sculpture over the course of the semester made watching the final performance even more special.
“It’s the climax of it, especially since they decided to go with this car almost halfway through the process and having them bring it over here and helping them set up was a great experience,” Zambrano said. “Being able to help this guy set up a piece like this is awesome.”
Jameel Roberts, sophomore in business, said it is impressive to see student artwork up in the gallery next to professional artists’ work.
“It’s amazing, like extremely dazzling for people to actually pull off this kind of work,” Roberts said. “You just have to give them the respect that they deserve, and the instructors that actually teach them how to do this.”
Roberts said the symposium offers an opportunity for art students to improve their art and prepare themselves for showing their work after they graduate.
“Students are able to actually put out their art for everyone to see and the instructors’ criticism prepares them for the world,” Roberts said. “Other art museums have shows like this, so it prepares them for the outside world.”
Prose said coordinating with administrators to set up Kubota’s performance worked as a learning process for her and administrators.
“We have to talk to administrators, we have to make sure that we’re in code and we have to make sure that the university is not liable for any accidents,” Prose said. “Even upper administrators will tell you they really enjoyed that learning process of broadening their idea of art being in a frame or art being a performance.”
The works of Waters and Warren will be available for viewing in the Juanita Harvey Gallery until Jan. 10, 2014, and the Kappa Pi exhibit will be on display until Nov. 29.