Ben Bonner and Laura Magnusson Sculptures to Enliven Campus

School of Art students Laura Magnusson and Ben Bonner are the winners of the first CPAM (Collaboration to Promote Art and Music) contest, Sculptural Experience. On November 17, 2009 contest entrants and judges convened amid 14 entries installed in GOSA to hear the announcement of the winning sculptures. Magnusson, a fourth year student majoring in sculpture, and Bonner, a special topics in sculpture student, will each receive $5,000 to complete their proposed sculptures which will be installed on campus in early 2010.

Ben Bonner, maquette for Golem’s Pelt

Bonner’s sculpture, Golem’s Pelt, depicts an unthinking creature that mindlessly carries out its assigned task. Magnusson describes her piece, Goodnight Gutenberg, as a repository for the memory of books. It is perhaps an elegy for the loss of book as a physical object. Each sculpture, in its own way, addresses concepts important to education; the golem is the antithesis of the informed, critical thinker universities aim to produce, while the book, symbolizing the dissemination of knowledge, represents the core of learning and communication.

Laura Magnusson, maquette for Goodnight Gutenberg

CPAM is a new partnership between the University of Manitoba Student Union and the University of Manitoba. Its stated goal is to improve the artistic and aesthetic environment of the University in a way that promotes the creative talents of students and encourages celebration and promotion of student engagement. Besides Sculptural Experience, CPAM is sponsoring two other initiatives: Tunnel Vision, the creation of art and murals in the University tunnel system; and Random Acts of Music, performances of music by five soloists or groups around the campus. The winners of these two contests will be announced on December 18.

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