Scepter by Steve Tibbetts
Steve Tibbetts was a student at Western Washington University in the 1960s. Little is known about his life, but we are able to honor his memory by representing his amazing sculpture “Scepter”. He created this piece of work out of recycled car parts as part of a sculpture project at Western. He won this competition, for obvious reasons, and Western decided to buy the art from him to display on campus. He was known to enjoy creating artwork out of recycled materials, because of his interest in the environment. Supposedly, Bellingham was focused heavily on recycling during this time period, which could have possibly also influenced this work. We also know that sadly, Tibbetts passed away in 1983 at age 40. Since his passing, the Scepter remains in red square for people to admire and wonder about.
The 1960s
The 1960’s was a decade of tense global politics. In America there was tension over the Vietnam war, thar ranged from 1955-1975, since the government wanted to deploy more troops. Martin Luther King Jr and other political figures were fighting to stop this and regain peace. Also during this time the space race was occurring which influenced pop culture. Locally, Seattle held the World’s Fair, in 1962, with the opening of the space needle. In addition to that, Bellingham was trying to reduce the amount of trash they had. Since Bellingham was increasing efforts to reduce the amount of trash left over from the economic boom of the 1950’s during this time, that could have influenced it’s creation. Also during this time period, junk art was becoming very popular in pop culture, which could have also lead him to using recycled car parts. During the 1960s, pop art and performance art were becoming increasingly popular. Performance art includes live performances, which created a new approach to art that wasn’t limited to a canvas or a still form. People were able to bring new and original ideas to life. Pop art featured labels and brands, and other forms of pre-existing ideas that were incorporated into artwork in a new way. It was like people were able to recreate art in their own way that allowed viewers to gain a new perspective of the concept.
Our Interpretation
For our blog assignment project, we intend on creating an interpretative art piece where we combine the 3 black canvases together. Each canvas will be representative of a different section of Scepter. Each group member will be assigned to a section of the sculpture – head, body, and feet, as we call it – and then interpret it in our own desired medium on the canvas.
We decided to do this because it would be an interesting way to merge all of our own ideas into one collaborative work. Art is all about creativity, and splitting the project into 3 parts allowed all of us to create something that felt special to us. When we brought our work together, we were amazed by the unique interpretation that each one of us had. It shows that we all may have a different perspective about something, but it is possible to come together and find common ground.
It was a really fun experience for us to work on these paintings, and they definitely express who we are.
Tasks
Project- Madeline Gordon, Anna Smith, and Karina Avila
Research- Anna Smith and Karina Avila
Admin/Formatting- Madeline Gordon
Artwork- Anna Smith, Karina Avila, and Madeline Gordon
Bibliography
“Art of the 1960s.” Artsy, www.artsy.net/gene/1960s.
Pearson, Steve. “1960s Important News and Events, Key Technology Fashion and
Popular Culture.” The People History, 2008,
www.thepeoplehistory.com/1960s.html.
“React. Research. Execute!” React Research Execute, Western Washington University , wp.wwu.edu/wwuart109/.
Suervo, Mark di. “Western Washington University Public Sculpture Collection.” Wikiwand, www.wikiwand.com/en/Western_Washington_University_Public_Sculpture_Collection.
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