Moments before an important presentation at her design firm, master’s architecture student Sarah Grossman received a message from alumna Emerald Smith that she didn’t have time to process. It didn’t sink in until after the presentation that she and Smith would spend the next few months designing and building a creative architecture sculpture for the UMLAUF Sculpture Garden + Museum and AIA Emerging Professionals “Design Shine” exhibition.
Centering around the theme “Nestled in Nature,” the Design Shine exhibition selected four project proposals from emerging professionals — designers who have been in the field for less than 10 years — to have them create their ideas for display in the UMLAUF garden. On Dec. 9, the installations will be revealed at the garden from 6 to 8 p.m., with free admission.
“It’s important to give people agency on creating things that are not for work and not for any reason other than to just do it for fun,” Grossman said. “There’s nothing that we get out of it, other than just seeing it, and that’s really important, and life is doing things that you just do for fun.”
Grossman and Smith took inspiration from sculptor Charles Umlauf’s pieces and bent electrical conduit into shapes reminiscent of the curves found in his works. They then drilled holes and placed LEDs into the conduit to integrate a lighting feature into the piece, entitling it “Sylvan Lightscape.”
“These kinds of competitions, especially ones that are more art than architecture, are a great opportunity to explore your own creative ideas and have free rein to both conceive of and execute a creative idea that you’re interested in that’s not for a client or a boss,” Smith said.
UMLAUF executive director Katie Robinson Edwards said she wants the exhibition to inspire visitors to view art in new ways. The UMLAUF will be open late during their “MoonLAUF” events in January and February to allow visitors to view the works at night.
“Design Shine is particularly important because there’s not another place that’s going to show you this kind of art,” Edwards said. “I’m always really heartened and touched when I see people come through and spend a lot of time with the Design Shine sculptures, and they start to get it and interact with it back and forth.”
Design Shine forms a jury of experienced architects to decide which project proposals they will feature. Edwards said they receive about 15 applicants on average and try to choose as many as possible to showcase.
“They’re making those connections with other artists that are in their team and the artists that are also doing Design Shine,” executive assistant Trinity Knabe said. “I’m not an artist myself, but I can’t imagine how hard it is to find a space to put one of your own personal sculptures that you’ve created. (The exhibition is a) very good opportunity.”