Imagine constructing a miniature city out of cardboard. Or a whole band’s worth of instruments. How about a life-sized boat? Or a barnstorming airplane big enough to seat a pilot? Kiel Johnson, master of the crowd-sourced project, has made them all, and he’ll be on campus this month to create with students an installation called Eyes on the Prize, in which participants will make trophies that fit their personalities. His visit is the second this academic year made possible by the Grum Project, funded by a generous alumna.
Johnson describes in this TEDTalk the impulse that drives him to create objects from his imagination and how he is constantly renewing his creative life.
He received his MFA at California State University, Long Beach (CA) and has received prestigious awards and honors including the Pollock-Krasner Grant, Durfee Foundation ARC Grant, and the CSULB Outstanding Creative Achievement Award.
Johnson will be in residence at the Williston Northampton School from January 22 to 25 and the installation he and the students create will be in the Grubbs Gallery until the end of January.