Breaking a world record for a great cause By Kate Luce
Throughout the course of summer 2019, The IU South Bend Fine Arts Club built what they hope will be the world’s largest freestanding paper mache sculpture, which they hope will break the Guinness World Record. The club celebrated its completion by showing off the sculpture with a food drive directly benefiting the Food Bank of Northern Indiana and Titans Feeding Titans on September 19. “When I was approached with the opportunity [to make the world’s largest paper mache sculpture], there wasn’t a choice to make. When I first arrived at IU South Bend, I asked myself, ‘why make art’ Why spend hours practicing, studying, and exploring works from the past? There is no guarantee of a career, of appreciation, or even having your work seen by the public. So why did I choose to devote my life to the uncertain? Art had inspired me, and I wished to do the same by creating art that could make a difference. So, when an opportunity came along to use art to make a huge difference in our community, I was all in,” Kolt Sizer, club president, says. The giving tree sculpture, as it was named, stood outside of Wiekamp Hall patio during the duration of the food drive, shocking and intriguing students and faculty who walked by. “Both the sculpture unveiling and the food drive not only helped promote the Fine Arts Club and IU South Bend but 6
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was a way to positively impact the city of South Bend,” Julia Kanestrom, vice president of the Fine Arts Club, says. It all started with a partnership through Martin’s Supermarkets, who reached out to IU South Bend. They had seven pallets of misprinted customer comment cards. Martin’s asked the Fine Arts Club to create the world’s largest paper mache sculpture. In return, Martin’s would donate $25,000 to the Northern Indiana Food Bank. The club agreed to this challenge and began working on the project starting in spring 2019. At first, they worked in the Campus Auditorium for a span of a month. They mostly built the raw materials during this time. By August, the club had finished the trunk, most of the roots, the branches, and the leaves. “Our process was slow at first, but we became more efficient because we knew what we were doing. The longer we worked on it, the more we knew what worked and what did not. It was all trial and error. If something didn’t work, we found a different way to do it,” Morgan Koenig, club member, explains. “The process was a lot of hard work. Our art community on campus worked all summer and into the fall semester. The tree had several “blueprints”, we had multiple plans,
