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New sculptures dedicated around campus turnabouts

Art

New sculptures dedicated around campus turnabouts

Coming into the educational corridor of the NIC campus, one will take notice to something that’s freshly gracing one the campus’s many roundabouts. Three vibrant structures reaching towards the sky in jagged harmony, their numerous colored panels playfully bending sunlight as viewers make their way through the intersection.

The sculptures, aptly titled “Trilogy,” are the work of local artist and NIC art professor Michael Horswill. Based out of his studio in Hayden Lake Horswill creates art that is strongly influenced by Native American, African, and Oceanic cultures as well as the Japanese philosophy of Wabi-sabi.

After accepting his application, the Coeur d’Alene Arts Commission chose Horswill to create a piece of art that communicated the nature of the educational corridor.
“I came up with the concept of three different sculptures that articulate different groups of people who have shared this space,” Horswill said.

Coeur d’Alene’s rich Native American history can be found among the sculptures’ complex designs as well as its role in the community as a center for higher learning.
The structures themselves are made from steel. Each one of the 100 panels in the front of the sculpture is made from powder-coated aluminum while the large colorful sheets found in the back are made from plexiglass.

“The pieces are very complex so just organizing all of the different parts and bringing them together was a lot of work.  I had to work on them horizontally because I didn’t have the capacity to stand them upright during the building process. They are about 16 feet tall, so just trying to be sure proportions were accurate was a real focus.”

After a creation period of over five months, “Trilogy” was finally installed on Sept. 29. Lights are planned on being installed into the grounds of the roundabout, allowing the sculpture to be illuminated well into the night.

“I’m very pleased with the piece.  It has the visual impact I wanted.  I felt that as an entrance piece for the college, we needed something with color that expresses human potential and celebrates all the wonderful people that visit and work and live in this community.  I’m really excited to see how they look once we have the lights installed.”

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