Art “Springs” Up Around Campus

With the arrival of spring and flowers blooming, you may have noticed some creative installations popping up around campus recently. “The assignment for Tabor’s Pop-up print installation started with a prompt asking student artists to consider possible connections between our personalities and an animal, plant, machine, object or ‘critter’ (allowing students to consider mythical and imaginary beasts) that felt personally resonant or like an energetic sherpa for us in our daily lives,” explains Art department Chair, Tricia Smith.

Ideas that students considered and discussed were the cultural significance around Spirit Animals, Spirit Guides and Avatars. Noting the cultural appropriation around these ideas, students worked to identify the core of our own interpretations. Artist Alexa Cotton ’24 states, “I chose to create this winged leopard critter because I have loved leopards since I was little. I added fairy wings to give it a fantasy aspect. It was a lot of fun making this print.” 

Avery Nelson ’22 adds, “My spirit critter is my personal rendition of the character Totoro from the Studio Ghibli movie My Neighbor Totoro. It was (and still remains) one of my favorite movies growing up. Having spent the first years of my life in Asia, I always felt a connection to the style of film and love how Totoro symbolizes a connection to nature that I think we all could benefit from!”

Each printmaker created an edition of 20 prints. They were then asked to include a quote or other relevant sentiment on the back of each print so when the prints were found, the person discovering them was guided by the image and the sentiment together. Remote students were asked to do the same kind of installation, wherever they were zooming from. 

Without advance notice these prints were “installed” around campus over two days in April. No doubt Tabor community members were pleasantly surprised to find pop-up pieces of inspiration as they moved around campus this spring.