You Need to Start to Notice All the Art.!

You Need to Start to Notice All the Art.!

When was the last time you stopped looking at your phone or laptop and saw the art that is inside and outside LBCC? What do you mean you haven’t seen any art? It’s literally everywhere you look. 

How did all this art get in and around Chinook Hall, Benton Center, and our Main Linn-Benton College campuses? Well that is a good question. You cannot really know by reading the tags mounted next to the art installations. The names of the people on the tags who created the paintings, statues, or sculptures don’t tell the whole story. 

Let’s look at three art installations. First we’ll look at artist Kris Mitchell’s White Oak “Learning Tree” in the lobby of the Benton Center. Next came the main LBCC campus’s north entrance art sculpture that was completed while the building of Chinook Hall. Finally,  Albany master artist Bill Shumway, LBCC staff members Marc Rose and Renee McKitterick, members of the Benton Center Arts Committee tell the story about what they went through to get art on the walls and out front of Chinook Hall.

Kris Mitchell, Philomath painter, said  “I was approached by the staff of the Benton Center to create a ‘Learning Tree’ on the ramp wall in the open area at Benton Center. After being asked, I then submitted some draft drawings of my ideas and after agreeing on a design we decided I would do the work during the summer while most classes were out of session.” 

“My draft proposal was of a white oak tree. There are white oaks growing around BC and they are also native to this area. I added symbols to represent the areas of learning offered at BC but we didn’t want them to be too prominent so they are somewhat hidden in the painting.” 

“I solicited help from other artists to help and one young student worked with me to add some of the texture on the tree branches. Another senior student helped me with some of the root paintings. I wanted it to be touchable, thus the texture. I also wanted to represent the roots as they extend into the foundation of BC. All of this had to work with the ramp as well as with the railing.” 

            The final product is in the main lobby of the Benton Center. Make sure to check it out the next time you're in the Benton Center.

Kris Mitchell with her husband White Oak “The Learning Tree” by Kris Mitchell

             Artist Bill Shumway tells the story of what the Benton Center Arts Committee (BCAC) went through to complete the renovation of the North Entrance Project and the Chinook Hall art installations. .

“Around 2015 my artist friend, Rachel Urista, asked me if I would fill in for her on the citizens advisory group, Benton Center Arts Committee, which was working with the Benton Center administration. What became Chinook Hall was occupied by a bus company and at the time they were refusing to move to another site. That situation created a lot of challenges and it continued for a few years.” 

 Before the BCAC could complete Chinook Hall, they were asked to focus on the north entrance of LBCC.  “Representatives from the main LBCC campus asked us to direct our attention to helping them improve the north entrance to their campus while the bus company lease issue was being sorted out, which took another two years or so. What had become the ‘backwater’ area of the campus was transformed into a welcoming entrance with refurbished classrooms, walkways and a plaza.”.

Bill Shumway at home in his studio

Bill added “Renee McKitterick was, at the time of the main campus, north entrance project, the head of the LBCC art department and Marc Rose was head of the welding department on the main campus. When they did the Chinook Hall project she was head of the Benton Center ceramics department.  Renee designed the sculpture grouping and installed the ceramics onto the welded steel forms that Marc constructed. They hired a concrete contractor to install the bases. Our BCAC team trusted their creativity and expertise to come up with a stunning installation. We knew very little about the design prior to installation.”

Renee  commented “The first project was a sculpture that was installed on the main campus's north entrance.  This work was designed by a student of mine, Bryce Smith, in a sculpture class and was a collaboration with the welding students.  It was a really wonderful project that brought together many facets of both the college and the community with members like Bill on the committee,” 

North Entrance Art Installation Photo courtesy of LBCC

Bryce Smith sculpture, pictured above, inspired him to write this poem:

 “A circle is a tactful teacher.
Endlessly it speaks to us;
inviting us into its safe spaces.
It comforts us with its quiet enclosure;
brings us back to our familiar earth.
It reminds us to be round not rigid;
makes us remember where we started.
The circle teaches us to be whole.”

—Bryce Smith

“We returned to the Chinook Hall Project when the bus company exited and decided to ask Renee (who had become the ceramics department head at the Benton Center) and Marc Rose to work together again. They worked together so smoothly on the north entrance project.”

“The interior of the building was a particular challenge because it was a big open factory facility in which the architects had to build a second story with effective track lighting. When we managed to have the Corvallis Art Center ‘permanently loan’ us some of Emily Steele's glass and metal sculptures, the walls had to be lined with three-quarter-inch plywood to carry the weight of the wall pieces.” 

Marc Rose, nine-year full-time welding faculty member, said, “I did the welding for the sculptures. We had an outside contractor pour the concrete bases. Student welders did the metal sign in the front. The design looks like cattails but they are actually corn dogs. A nod to the Foster Farms corn dog factory across the street from Chinook Hall. They also made a sign on the south side of the building that says Benton Center and in the lower corner of the metal sign is a little school bus. Another nod or Easter Egg to what the building used to be.”  

Mosaic art piece in front of Chinook Hall

Renee McKitterick, visual arts faculty at LBCC, worked with Bill Shumway and the committee on the two projects. Renee McKitterick and Marc Rose agreed to work with their classes to produce student-designed sculptures for various sites on the main campus, starting with a major installation at the newly refurbished north entrance..

“After that project we moved on to focus on the public art sculpture for the new Chinook Hall.  That project was not student-based and instead was a work designed by Renee McKitterick and created in collaboration with Marc Rose, our welding faculty.  Bill was again on that committee that helped get that project off the ground and completed.  There are so many steps and layers to these big endeavors, and you really need an energetic and focused group to get through the many hurdles.  Bill was one such force for us.” 

                                     

Mosaic art pieces in front of Chinook Hall

“I'm sure you also know that with these two works, the committee was also able to procure and display the collected work of Emily Steele (also at Chinook Hall).  This is such an amazing collection for our community to have access to and there are so many unseen steps to getting this to happen including safety, lighting, installation, etc.”

At a Glance:

Who:  Arts & Performance link under “Student Life” on the LBCC Home Page

 Vision of the Arts & Aesthetics Resource Team (AART):

Where art and aesthetics transform the college environment, strengthen our community, and provide diverse cultural resources to our region.

Our Mission:

The Arts & Aesthetics Committee actively pursues the creation of art and the integration of aesthetics on the Albany LBCC campus and satellite campuses – through commissioned pieces, donated artwork, artist residencies, collaborations between staff and students, and proposals generated by members of the college community.

Campus Art Projects:

The art projects you find on the campus of Linn-Benton Community College are reviewed by the Arts and Aesthetics Resource Team, in coordination with the President of the College and the Executive Director of the LBCC Foundation.

Design by LBCC Visual Arts student Bryce Smith

Construction by LBCC Welding and Fabrication Technology students