About the Artist:

John Keppelman is primarily a painter but has worked in metal, creating abstract sculptures and vivid paintings. Keppelman attended San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley with degrees in English and art. Keppelman even worked as a professor at Western for 14 years. The artist’s many commissioned works are on display across Washington and California.

Found on the edge of south campus, rising above the the road, perches the Garapata. The work of art is a 10 foot tall aluminum plate and lacquer sculpture resembling a plane in flight, similar to a painting in that it can be viewed on one side only, using the lush greenery as a wall to showcase the work.

The Garapata itself was originally commissioned in 1978 by Annie Dillard and gifted to Western Washington University in 1986, fourteen years before Keppelman himself would begin teaching at the University. The sculpture is said to be influenced by the time Keppelman spent as a child in California, where the Garrapata State Park is known for jutting cliffs that meet the Pacific Ocean. When creating the Garapata Keppelman used a method of cutting and folding paper, like origami, to create abstract planes and lines. Keppelman’s Garapata has a minimalist feel to it due to the way in which its simplicity is capitalized on by clean lines and color.

In the artists statement on Keppelmans website he states to “seek confrontation with subtly profound visual instances”, this idea is prevalent in the Garapata, as he uses dimensions and planes to evoke certain feelings of soaring above the ordinary. Keppelman also states that he uses his life experiences and “unconscious mind” to shape his sculpture work, concerned with “how things fit together”.

Artists Statement:

By Isak Ogurkow and Audrey Prewitt

In an effort to understand and respond to the Garapata we decided that, because of the history behind the Garapata, we would attempt to show the past, present and creation of the work through video, sculpture, music and photo.

In order to ground the work, to show the artists roots and inspiration, we chose music with waves in conjunction with the photos of the original home of the sculpture and the coastline of Garrapata State Park, the reigon for which the sculpture is named.

The Garapata is inspired by paper folded and cut, the sculpture itself examines the use of planes and lines and how they work together. While examining the form of Garapata, in an effort to understand the way the sculpture was created, we included sculptures made of different planes that intersect and create forms inspired by the Garapata. The photography shows the way that the planes of the Garapata change as the viewer moves around the sculpture, similar to the form studies included in the video.

As the video progresses and the viewer has an understanding of the infulences that shaped the Garapata the music builds and crescendos as the videos and pictures show the Garapata in its home on south campus. The photo and video attempts to illistrate the way that the Garapata reflects light and color due to the medium that Keppelman uses. In this way the sculpture evokes its roots in the State Park, the way the work reflects light gives the viewer a sense of water and the folds in the metal break up these reflections like the cliffs of Garrapata.

Bibliography
John Keppelman, painting, epainting, sculpture. , www.johnkeppelman.com/index.html.
“John Keppelman.” Vimeo , 22 Jan. 2018, vimeo.com/122727079.
LeBourdais, George Philip. “How Artists of the 1980s Changed the Course of Contemporary Art.” Artsy , 17 Aug. 2015,
www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-the-most-iconic-artists-of-the-1980 s.
“React. Research. Execute!” React Research Execute , wp.wwu.edu/wwuart109/2017/11/13/garapata-john-keppelman-2/.
“Western Washington University.” Western Gallery , westerngallery.wwu.edu/sculpture/garapata.