An installation currently on display in the courtyard of the E. Bronson Ingram Studio Arts Center is the result of a collaboration between Vanderbilt art students and a local sculptor.
“Senior art students painted over 100 plywood panels, and over the course of several weeks, I used those panels to build the installation,” said John Watson, who works primarily with found wood to create sculpture that is architectural in reference. He was invited to create the work by Mel Ziegler, professor of art and chair of the Department of Art at Vanderbilt.
“I was interested in engaging with the art building itself and allowing my work to interact with the existing architecture and architectural features of the building,” Watson said. “In the finished piece, the chaotic, teetering geometry of my work juxtaposed against the organized, stable architecture of the building invites viewers to see the space of the courtyard from a re-imagined and playful perspective.”
Watson taught sculpture in the Leigh Gerdine College of Fine Arts at Webster University in St. Louis for seven years before relocating to Nashville, where he joined the faculty at Belmont University in 2012.
The Courtyard Project can be found at the Studio Arts Center, located at 1204 25th Ave. S. and Garland Avenue on the Vanderbilt campus.