Artwork can make a space shine, and thanks to a commissioned piece from artist Sheryl Nieman, the renovated Spoon River College Macomb campus has a showstopping piece, titled “A World of Possibilities, just inside the entrance to the newly-opened campus.
Through the State of Illinois’ Capital Development Board’s Art-in-Architecture program, art pieces are procured for new build public projects. According to Nieman, artists submit their portfolio and letter of intent to projects they interested in, and a committee narrows the submissions down to three artists who then complete a more detailed proposal for the budget given them. SRC President Curt Oldfield and the building’s architect were part of the committee that selected the artist.
“I chose to create a piece of decorative art to hang on the north wall of the entryway, with intention of engaging and drawing a person into the community. To accentuate the atrium feeling of the room, I decided to use a stainedglass window effect for the visual style of the piece,” Nieman explained. “The lines, or ‘leading,’ of this style helps create movement, while the actual window frame adds form for balance and structure.”
“I selected a landscape subject matter as a way to symbolize the timeless theme of inspiring a world of possibilities, a beautiful future using one’s education to make a difference,” she added. “Though an abstract, the space is proportioned to looking out a window.”
The color palette she used was intended to create a comfortable, welcoming feeling into the space, while unifying the decorative aspects of the room. Nieman said it was her aim was to use value as a way to infuse light into the piece similar to an actual stained-glass window, while also creating a little element of surprise through pops of color for acrylic latex on canvas, which measures 10 feet x 20 feet.
