“From the moment I heard that a chapel would be included in the聽Hagfors Center for Science, Business, and Religion,聽I wanted to design a piece of art for it,” said artist Bebe Keith. Her large 3-D glass sculpture will become a featured element of the building鈥檚 roof top chapel thanks to the sponsorship investment by聽Jeff Nodland 鈥�77 and Becky Bjella Nodland 鈥�79.
“One of the things that drew my attention to this opportunity is that Augsburg is recognized as聽the fourth most diverse and inclusive campus in the United States. The idea that people of all faiths and backgrounds will use the chapel space interested me while also presenting a challenge to me as an artist.”
聽has been creating art professionally for about 12 years, mostly in the public art realm. “I usually create stained glass mosaics by hand for public spaces, primarily in health care. “When I got the Art and Identity committee鈥檚 call for artists I wanted to do something distinctive.”
Drawing on聽inspiration聽from scripture, her original design was all about diversity, connections and networks between people.
“When I presented my first 2-D design to the Art and Identity Committee, they really latched on to the idea but wondered if it could actually be produced in three dimensions, so I figured out a way to make that happen.鈥�
She found a computer program that helped her illuminate what was in her mind鈥檚 eye. It worked. The design addresses the networking of the three disciplines of science, business, and religion was at the origin of her idea.
鈥淚 started with the idea of networks鈥攄ots with lines connecting with other dots with lines which connect to others and so on. The negative space is all triangles. So the idea of people as networks becomes forms.鈥�
As Keith puts it, 鈥淎cceptance is the most important value to me. I love to imagine people coming together in harmony and peace. Acceptance is the ideal. I want to promote places and spaces where people come together and listen to one another. This chapel is a place for sharing ideas and taking them along with them into the world. It will be a quiet place and those ideas are all there for the visitor.” Continue reading “Distinctive Sculpture Articulates Augsburg Identity”