Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

Fall 10-10-2024

Abstract

The University of Nebraska at Kearney( UNK) is completing an extensive renovation to the Calvin T. Ryan Library. Nebraska’s 1% for Art Law requires that 1% of all state-funded projects be set aside for a public art commission. The Nebraska Arts Council spearheaded UNK’s search and out of over 100 submissions the successful applicant was Leslie Iwai, an accomplished artist with a history of creating thought-provoking pieces in public spaces, galleries and museums. Together with Nebraska’s State Poet Matt Mason, serving as cumulate’s Poetry Curator, she designed and created an interdisciplinary art project aimed at sparking curiosity and interaction for the UNK community and beyond. cumulate houses a physical, digital and ephemeral experience to highlight the landscape and people of Nebraska; filtering the work of Nebraska poets - past, present and future - through the lens of clouds and a broad spectrum of accessibility. Physical artwork is displayed throughout the Calvin T. Ryan Library, there is a tactile component in the form of an accompanying braille-embossed book containing visual representations of curated Nebraska poetry in Morse code, while the digital realm houses the ability to hear audio recordings of the poems in conjunction with Morse code. Themes of accessibility and community-building comprise the foundation of the book, which provides yet another medium for users to navigate this unique vision of Nebraska.

In this presentation Matt and Leslie will provide insight on their interdisciplinary collaboration as a poet and a visual artist and its impact on their individual creative practices.

Download

Share

COinS