This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
Two students have created log sculptures for the Breast Cancer Awareness Garden at Riverside Park on Larry Holmes Drive.
Psychology major Matthew O’Donnell ’05 (Brewster, Mass.) and computer science major Matthew Hokanson ’05 (Biddeford, Maine) made the sculptures in the Williams Visual Arts Building as part of an independent study course led by Alastair Noble, assistant professor of art. The three will be recognized noon Tuesday during the monthly luncheon held by the Women in Business Council of the Two Rivers Area Chamber of Commerce (TRAAC) at the Bank Street Annex, 316 Northampton Street.
The sculptures were installed this week and will be dedicated 9 a.m. Wednesday at a ceremony in the garden. Besides the students and professor, those attending will include Michael Moorehead, TRAAC president; James Palmeri, TRAAC chairman; and Sally Bird, chair of the Women in Business Council.
“This is a wonderful partnership between the college and chamber, between the business and educational communities,” says Moorehead. “It’s indicative of (Lafayette) President (Arthur) Rothkopf’s willingness to include the town in projects. The chamber is very excited about what Lafayette is doing in Easton. We look forward to continuing a great relationship with Lafayette College through this and many other projects.”
Hokanson’s piece, “Grand Spiral,” consists of eight two-by-10-foot logs wrapped in spiraling ropes. The logs are about a foot in diameter and cut at 45-degree angles. He says he used spirals in his sculpture because they are found in nature; both students focused on the themes of life and nature.
O’Donnell’s creation, “Natural Identity,” includes two lotus tree logs with his enlarged fingerprint embedded one inch deep into 45-degree cuts. The logs are two feet in diameter and three feet high.
The Women’s Business Council selected the concepts from models presented by each student. Created over 10 weeks in the Williams Visual Arts Building with equipment that included an electric drill and chainsaw, the sculptures were dedicated at a ceremony in the garden attended by the students and Noble, Moorehead, TRAAC Chairman James Palmeri, and Sally Bird, chair of the Women in Business Council.
The sculpture presented challenges that went beyond a typical art project, notes Hokanson.
“You usually follow an assignment based on how you feel,” he says. “Here we really worked with the women’s group. We had to keep other people’s intentions and the location in mind. It was constricting, but that wasn’t bad because it helped focus our attention on what we needed to create.”
The Breast Cancer Awareness Garden was started by Carole Heffley, now an Easton councilwoman-elect. The Women in Business Council maintains it.