About the Artist: 

Tom Otterness was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1952. He spent 18 years there before moving to New York in order to study art and develop his own style. Otterness is a self-taught sculptor who is known for his simplistic and cartoon-like style, however, he personally considers his style to be that of a “punk artist.” His art is known for being experimental, revolutionary and groundbreaking. While it seems that his style has a “child-like” essence, there are often deeper meanings and themes that focus on the ideas of class, sex, gender, and race.

Public Artist Tom Otterness

Otterness began his journey into art through an independent study program at Whitney Museum of American Art and eventually joined a group of over 50 contemporary artists. The group was known as CoLab and allowed the artists to work on collaborative projects together. In the 1980s, Otterness took a leading role on one of CoLab’s projects which later became known as one of the first avant-gardes in the 1980s and was shown in Times Square. 

In 2002 art critic Ken Johnson did an interview with the New York Times, during the interview he referred to Tom Otterness as “the world’s best public sculptor.” Three years later, in 2005, Otterness became the first designer of a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade float who had an artistic profession and background. Otterness is considered a public artist with thousands of his sculptures appearing in major cities throughout the world. You are able to see his sculpture in New York, St. Louis, Miami, San Francisco, Portland, and our very own campus Western Washington University. Today, Tom Otterness continues to create art at his studio in Gowanus, Brooklyn in New York City.

About the Sculpture: 

When Tom Otterness began Feat of Strengths he would spend days on Western’s campus watching the students and facility.  Otterness could be found hanging around Haskell Plaza, sitting around the courtyard or lounging on the sandstones rocks. Like his other sculptures, Otterness’ Feat of Strength focuses on the ideas of class, sex, gender, and race. It represents the academic lives of students, as well as the workers of various classes from the San Juan Islands in the 90s. In this particular piece, Otterness places seven of his iconic bronze figures in various positions around Haskell Plaza.

Photo taken by Extended Education photographer, Mark Kienzle

All but one of the green people are carrying sandstones boulders which are more than twice the size of them. The seventh character is lounging with his shoes off  on the sandstone rocks, simply enjoying the sun. While they blend in with the environment if you take a closer look you can notice that each person is dressed up. The ‘men’ are depicted as wearing hats with a suite and tie while the ‘women’ is in a dress. It is the women that is often noticed first as she stands on top of a boulder while holding a sandstone above her head like Atlas.

Stages of Success:  

Stages of Success, our recreation of Feats of Strength by Tom Otterness depicts different ways students approach their studies. While some display disinterest or laziness, others show hard work and dedication. Therefore, leading one through the path of success even though it could start out as a burden. In other words, our project was created to describe the stages of success presented through seven figures. The stone symbolizes a student’s heavy workload and the seven figures refers to the phases one must go through to reach academic success. It starts out as coal, but becomes gold when one becomes successful.

Sophia Roca’s recreation “Stages of Success”

It begins with the first figure who appears to be laying on top of the rock. This represents the lack of interest one may hold in the start of college. A stone sits on top of the second figure’s lap, who is seen to have a long face. The stress builds up as school continues, causing a student to fall behind in schoolwork. The third figure depicts the peak of stress, as one struggles to carry a boulder. However, stress is only temporary; referring to the next figures who all work together to lift the heavy boulder. In other words, students are always welcome to ask for help from friends, family, academic advisors, or guidance counselors. In order to reach success, it takes determination and hard work, even if that means getting some guidance. Lastly, the figure that holds a stone above their head represents the completed state of being academically successful.

Created by Keely Antoon, Lorin Lindell and Sophia Roca

Sources:

Berggruen Gallery. “Tom Otterness.” Berggruen, 2018, http://www.berggruen.com/artists/tom-otterness

Clark-Langager, S. (n.d.). Feats of Strength. Retrieved October 23, 2018, from https://westerngallery.wwu.edu/sculpture/feats-strength’

DeLong, W. (2018, October 09). Tom Otterness Designed New York’s Favorite Subway Sculptures – But He Also Killed A Dog For “Art”. Retrieved from https://allthatsinteresting.com/tom-otterness

McKinney, G. R., Trimble, J. E., & Albrecht, E. (2000, May 1). A Profile of the 1999 WesternWashington University Graduating Class. Retrieved October 23, 2018, from https://cedar.wwu.edu/surveyresearch_docs/413/

Otterness. “Tom Otterness.” About, 23 Oct. 2018  http://www.tomostudio.com/

Summers, D. (2011, July 08). Tom Otterness. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBUZxWSChfU

Photos take by Extended Education photographer, Mark Kienzle