Pratt Institute recently installed three sculptures as part of Agnieszka Gradzik and Wiktor Szostalo’s “Treehugger Project” in its outdoor Sculpture Park, which stretches across Pratt’s 25-acre Brooklyn Campus and is the largest in New York City. Other recent additions include a light canopy by Pratt architecture students and a sculpture on the impact of war on human lives by Martha Walker.
“Treehugger Project” by Agnieszka Gradzik and Wiktor Szostalo is an ongoing work of environmental art made from twigs, branches, vines, and other natural materials in the shape of human figures hugging trees. The works represent the artists’ ongoing mission to help people rediscover their relationship with nature.
“The Light Canopy” is an orange light canopy designed by architecture students under the leadership of Pratt’s Director of Production and Technology Mark Parsons, which was sponsored by Sperry Sails. The invertible openings on the canopy allow variable compositions of directed or reflected sunlight. This sculpture will be on view through the last week of August 2009, after which point it will be installed in Pratt’s Higgins Hall.
“The End Justifies the Means” by Martha Walker utilizes various welding techniques to create solid and skeletal forms. The form grew out of Walker’s idea for a rain cloud, and offers her interpretation of the absurdity of war and its profound impact on human lives.
The Pratt Sculpture Park also includes sculptures by Donald Lipski, Mark di Suvero. Robert Indiana, Michael Rosch, Hans Van De Bovenkamp, and many other artists. The park is curated by Professor David Weinrib and was recognized as one of the 10 best college and university campus art collections in the country by Public Art Review in 2006. Weinrib is aided by Associate Curator Harry Gordon and Preparator Jacques Zanetti.