The 1960’s

Around the time of Steve Tibbetts creating “Scepter”, in Bellingham, there was an up rise of promoting the slogan “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle”. This area was becoming very environmentally friendly and that inspired Steve Tibbetts in the making. Also, during this time was the Vietnam war, which created conflict because the government’s main focus was the Vietnam war rather than the War on Poverty. There was a lot of people fighting for civil rights at this time also, fighting for segregation to no longer be okay. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was brought in. At the end of the 1960s, over 400,000 people went to Woodstock to end off the era of the “Sixties”.

Art in the 1960’s

Artists in this time period experimented with form and style. The art that was produced in this time didn’t stick specifically to one side, neither for nor against American commercialism. The idea of consumerism in this time period brought on the use industrialist materials, which may have had an impact on Steve Tibbetts use of old car parts for the Scepter. An artist around the same time, Dan Flavin, made his mark in history relatively the same way. He used industrial materials, namely fluorescent lightbulbs, in his art pieces. This aligned both Flavin and Tibbetts with the minimalism and consumerism concepts of using pre-made materials and reusing them in a new and simple way.

A few of the main trends among the 1960’s were pop art, minimalism, and conceptual art. The minimalism concept in this time period is what mainly seemed to influence the creation of the Scepter, with the one solid color and basic geometrical shapes. Minimalist sculptures tend to focus on the physical space around them and didn’t distinguish a clear point, but it was rather open for interpretation. The trend of minimalist art paired with conceptual art also may have influenced Steve Tibbetts since most of the art produced based in these ideas relied more on the idea and meaning behind them instead of the finished project. This can be connected to the scepter because of the fact that the sculpture isn’t necessarily a distinct thing. It is said to be a symbol of sovereignty and a possible humanoid shape, but looking at it, there is no real thing that jumps out, only after learning the title “The Scepter” does the shape really give meaning. The focus of The Scepter is put on the theoretical art, and the intention of the artist.

About the Artist

Steve Tibbetts was born in 1943 but is now unfortunately no longer with us, it also seems he also attended Western in the early 1960’s. In 1966 Scepter was created and entered into a contest held at Western, and was soon bought by the Associated Students. The main inspiration for Steve Tibbetts’ work was 1950’s cars, he has taken unused and old parts from those cars and welded them together to create the Scepter. Unfortunately there is little to no information on Steve Tibbetts, and a lot of his work remains a mystery to some people especially in meaning for some. He designed chandeliers for the Whatcom Museum of History and Art and Machinations in the Mode of Senility for the Seattle Art Museum in 1967, but Scepter seems to be the one many people don’t know the inspiration for. People have said what they thought the Scepter could possibly represent, but since his passing, no one knew or will ever know his full intent on this piece. He took old parts and made them new, in a way it could be considered upcycling, a creative aspect that is not much appreciated anymore

Photos of the “Scepter” sculpture as you would see it everyday.

Artist Statement

We used a model to dress up in all brown clothing with abstracted leggings. We decided to represent the sculpture as a human because it was meant to represent a human figure. We used a female to see it from another point of view. We painted the models face with face paint to represent the bronze material that was used from the old car parts. We added blue and yellow to the face to represent the oxidization and rust from the age of the sculpture. We added a few poses of the model acting as herself and posing girly. We decided to do this to show the difference between the straight figure of the statue and the daily life of a girl. We also decided to make the face look almost dirty like a person who had just got done working on a car got stuff all over their face. We also added angular lines on the face and the shirt to represent the sharp edges of the statue.

Model standing as a statue.

Model as a statue

Close up of face paint.

Model posing with brown clothing and face paint.

Credits

Project: Rose-Lynn Anderson, Nichela Traber, and Kyrsten Morrow

Model: Kyrsten Morrow

Face Paint: Nichela Traber and Rose-Lynn Anderson

Setting: Miller Hall

Photos: Nichela Traber and Rose-Lynn Anderson

Works Cited:

“1960s Art and the Age of Pop.” Widewalls, www.widewalls.ch/1960s-art/.

“The Arts in 1960s America.” The Sixties in America Reference Library, Encyclopedia.com, 2015,

www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/arts-1960s-a

merica.

DiTolla, Tracy. “Dan Flavin Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works.” The Art Story, The Art Story

Contributers, 2018, www.theartstory.org/artist-flavin-dan.htm.

History.com Staff. “The 1960s.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2010, www.history.com/topics/1960s.