About the artist: Steve Tibbets

By: Jason James, Jake Torres, and Drew O’Brien

Steve Tibbetts was born in 1943 and a former student at Western Washington in 1966. The Scepter came about from a student competition held at the school. During this time, advancements toward environmental awareness was being made. Steve acknowledge this and used old 1950’s car parts to create the Scepter. Using these materials symbolizes the effort towards recycling and reusing. Standing tall and strong, the Scepter overlooks red square showing power and strength to all those walking by. Creating something powerful and interesting out of scrap metal makes this art piece stand out from the others. This shows that you do not need the latest and greatest materials to make amazing art.

What is Junk Art?

I tried to remake the Scepter from my own “junk.” I found chicken wire and paper in my trash in my garage. I figured I could make the shape of the sculpture with the chicken wire and fill in the gaps with paper mache. As you can see making “junk art,” is way harder than it appears.

During the time of the design of the Scepter, “junk art” was becoming popular. Junk art is a type of art where an artist uses repurposed objects (scrap metal, broken machinery, and other found materials) to form an art piece. In the 1950’s junk art was coined by a British artist named Lawrence Alloway. The first artist to create junk art or “Found art” though, is Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (known as Marcel Duchamp). This is only if you’re not counting the Makapansgat Pebble. The Makapansgat Pebble is millions of years old, highly controversial (whether it’s junk art/found art or not), and artist is unknown (because it’s million of years old). Duchamp was a French-American artist and sculptor whose most famous piece is Fountain. It is not known whether or not Duchamp was an influence on Tibbetts.

Later, junk art was put into the category of “Pop Art.” Lawrence used the term “Pop Art” to show that art can influence popular culture. Other artists including Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein played a major role in the shift of modernism and pop art. It is known as one of the most popular styles of modern art. During WWII, technology and art started to become popular which caused artists to focus on the people of everyday life rather than creating art from the past. Artists looked for connecting ideas between cartoons, advertisements, and films/television. Primary colors, often straight from the tube or can, were used in the creations. When looked at you may think of comic books, which was commonly incorporated into the work.

More on Pop Art

Pop art emerged from Britain and America in the late 1950’s. This movement of art challenged the traditions of fine arts by using things such as comic books and advertising. This is seen in Andy Warhol’s famous painting Campbell’s Soup Cans. The aim of pop art is to use popular culture to show or emphasize things in culture. On way pop artists achieve this is by using irony in their art pieces. Some people believe pop art was created as the reaction to abstract expressionism. Abstract expressionism was also a post WWII movement that made New York the center of new art. Art created from this movement gave people the ideas used in pop art. Pop art was soon seen in many other countries other than America and Britain. Some of these countries include Spain, Japan, Italy, and Belgium. Each country had a unique art movement when pop art was introduced.

In Japan, a pop artist named Tadanori Yokoo became very successful around the 1960’s. As a graphic designer, he created advertisements and artwork for famous celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, The Beatles, and others. While in Belgium, an artist by the name of Paul Van Hoeydonck created a sculpture known as Fallen Astronaut. Fallen Astronaut was the first piece of art on the moon, as it was taken and left by Apollo 15 Commander Dave Scott. A replica was later given to the Smithsonian in 1972. One country that didn’t really get to into the pop art movement was Russia, as they were a communist country. Things like art and other bold forms of expression were closely monitored. Although some surfaced around the 70’s.Not much is known about Tibbetts biographically.

During Tibbetts artwork there happened to be another Steve Tibbetts, a famous musician who may have overcast a shadow. Artwork by Tibbetts also seems to be hard to find. Only one other piece of artwork is known, “Mach Machinations in the Mode of Senility”. This piece was held in the Seattle Art Museum in 1967.  Chandeliers designed by him can also be found in The Whatcom museum of History and Art. Even though there is not a

whole lot to show for Tibbetts, the times when his artwork was created left lots of room for influence, as pop and junk art were being newly introduced and explored.

Scepter has left its mark on Western. Even though it stands tall it can be hard to miss with a quick glance as the colors blend in with the brick wall behind it. If you’re on campus, be sure to admire this treasure of junk art.

-Drawing by Jason James

Bibliography

“React. Research. Execute!” React Research Execute, Aug. 2017, wp.wwu.edu/wwuart109/category/northcampus/tibbetts/.

Google Search, Google, Aug. 2017, www.google.com/search?q=steve%2Btibbetts%2Bscepter&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi35r3jgLDXAhVOxWMKHTijDP8Q_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=659#imgrc=sW6iaiV6xYby-M:

“Pop Art Movement, Artists and Major Works.” The Art Story, Aug. 2107, www.theartstory.org/movement-pop-art.htm.

“Pop Art.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 Nov. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_art.

“Junk Art: Definition & Meaning.” Junk Art: Definition, History, Aug. 2017, www.visual-arts-cork.com/definitions/junk-art.htm.