Creating a heavy metal summer
IU Kokomo art students leave a legacy with campus sculpture
By Danielle Rush
Communications Specialist, Indiana University Kokomo
When most people think of creating art, they think of paints and brushes, pencils and paper, or clay and a wheel.
A summer sculpture class at Indiana University Kokomo pushes the boundaries of those ideas, utilizing metal, welding torches, and paint to share a message about the importance of the college experience.
When complete, it will be displayed on campus as part of IU Kokomo’s outdoor sculpture collection.
The class members recently met with Chancellor Mark Canada to share their progress. He asked them how it feels knowing they can come back to campus years after graduating, and their work, with their names on it, will be there.
“He put it in perspective for us,” said Nick Biscella, a new media, art, and technology (NMAT) major from Kokomo. “It’s surreal to think about it.”
“We haven’t gotten there mentally yet,” added his classmate Alyssa Stevens, an NMAT major from Peru. “It’s like a legacy for yourself.”
Students are completing the larger-than-life, as-yet-untitled sculpture in a class taught by Gregory Steel, professor of fine arts and new media. Cybil Johnson, BFA ’23, returned from her Master of Fine Arts program at Southern Illinois to serve as artist-in-residence and mentor for the class, which also included Sierra Pixley, Kokomo, who is a nursing major with a minor in art.
The work began with a brainstorming session, discussing words that describe to them what college is, and what it means.
“We decided from the get-go that we wanted it to be focused on how students feel during their academic careers,” Biscella said. They started with about 100 words, narrowing their selections to a handful. Each student then created a drawing that encapsulated how the words made them feel, and how it would work in a shape or motion.
They looked through everyone’s sketches and picked elements from each that they agreed on, which Steel then used to complete a final sketch. While waiting for their materials to arrive, they created a cardboard model for a better idea of the scale of the project.
The welding was the most challenging part.
Pixley said Johnson was instrumental in helping her feel comfortable welding.
“I was having a hard time getting a rhythm with the welder,” she said. “Cybil had me hold it and turn it on while she moved it, so I could feel what a good weld was. Since then, I’ve been better at it.”
Stevens said they’ve appreciated their teachers’ patience.
“We’ve had minimal experience with welding, and we haven’t perfected it yet, so there were mistakes made,” she said. “They were very helpful, assuring us there is always a solution.”
With the work nearly done, they’re currently working on a name for the sculpture. Campus leaders will select a location for it soon and host a dedication ceremony once it is placed.
Steel said the class offers students an inside look at a unique way to use their artistic skills.
“I know people who make a good living making public art,” he said. “If you don’t understand the process, you wouldn’t know how to begin. My job as a teacher is to make people understand they have capacity and potential that is probably far beyond what they understand. That’s what education should do.”
The sculpture will be the second in the campus collection created by Steel’s summer class. Johnson and Jimmy Murphy, who graduated in May, built the first – Victory Unchained – in 2023. IU Kokomo began its outdoor sculpture collection in 2016, generally rotating work out every two to three years. The student work will be part of the permanent collection.
Education is KEY at Indiana University Kokomo.