LSU art students in the class of Loren Schwerd, associate professor of art, created sculptures displayed with LSU Museum of Art’s exhibition Fierce Planets. The students designed and installed the sculpture series Corridors inspired by the cosmos and the Fierce Planets theme. The installation is on view alongside Fierce Planets April 18-July 28.

LSU School of Art students Sierra Beverly, Dylan Burchett, Anna Clark, Cole Clark, Astrid Guerrero, Bailey Hernandez, Meagan Moore, and Taylor Williams worked collaboratively to develop the pieces.

Corridors is a network of suspended knitted tunnels that traverse the exhibition space, contrasting the direct route the viewer must travel below. The project takes inspiration from the Einstein-Rosen Bridge theory that proposes the existence of bridges or wormholes that join distant points in the universe, effecting a short cut through the fabric of space-time. The walls of the narrow passage are reimagined as the surface of the space-time continuum. The circular entry and exit points of the tunnels suggest portals curving in to connect two inaccessible destinations.

“My objective was to impart professional artist practices through the realization of a student-conceived, site-based, thematic installation that engages audiences extending beyond the School of Art,” Schwerd said. “I think the experience succeeded at provided a model for performing interdisciplinary research, testing materials and methods, and preparing a persuasive visual presentation of their proposed design. Working collaboratively, while not always easy, required them to develop effective methods for sharing ideas and practical information that was critical for meeting their tight deadline amidst their busy, misaligned schedules.”

In fall 2023 Michelle Shulte, senior curator at LSU Museum of Art, inquired if any students might be interested in creating a new work that explores the themes of the exhibition, Schwerd said. She decided to build a spring semester soft-sculpture class around the opportunity, giving the chance for art students to develop works to be displayed in a museum.

The juried exhibition Fierce Planets features fiber art inspired by the work of Dr. Sabine Stanley, the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the Space Exploration Sector of the Applied Physics Lab, and author of the book, What’s Hidden Inside Planets. Responding to a call from the Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. (SAQA), artists from across the globe designed forty-two intricate objects inspired by planets and space. Their interpretations vary wildly, and include traditional quilts, fabric assemblages, and soft sculptures made using a variety of materials and techniques. Objects and artifacts from LSU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy and Geology and Geophysics, including a tile from a Space Shuttle and meteorites, accompany the artwork, allowing the viewer to glean a deeper appreciation and knowledge of space and the formation of planets, according to the LSU Museum of Art.

The LSU School of Art routinely partners with the LSU Museum of Art to give students and faculty learning opportunities in a museum setting. Learn more.

Watch: Corridors walk through, via The Baton Rouge Advocate