Found Object Art at the Nasher Sculpture Center

A group of Dallas students spent the year turning trash into treasure, thanks to a partnership between DISD, the Nasher Sculpture Center, and LaReunion, TX. On Saturday afternoon, they showed off their work at a reception at the Nasher.

Over the year, the students participated in trash pickups and visited LaReunion, where they saw art  others have created on the 35-acre site. They also spent time at the Nasher, exploring works made from natural materials and found objects.  Backgrounded and with plenty to work with in hand  from those clean-ups, they began creating their own art objects.

The results: Fabulous. From the literal – a dog going for a bone – to adorable jewelry – to the more abstract, the kids drew on a variety of experiences to choose the subjects of their work. And they were happy to talk about it.  They also explained it in the artist statements that accompanied each work.  This piece to the right, for example, is Omega by Daniel Singletary of Skyline High School. Daniel says he was inspired by the carved heads on Easter Island.

Here (left) is Demarcus Wade from Emmett J. Conrad High School with his sculpture Sonitus Planta. I admired it for being both delicate and dangerous.   The flowers symbolize peace, and the glass inside the speaker part is an angry mouth, Demarcus says.  The effect is meant to show “the overall conflict between nature and machine.”