Tyler students wage a friendly art war
by Susan Snyder
Philadephia Inquirer
March 21, 2009
For nearly 30 hours, the new art students in town built their self-proclaimed acts of “art war” – eight-and-a-half-foot sculptures of Trojan horses – which they then stealthily installed on the campuses of four Philadelphia arts colleges earlier this week.
“Art war,” proclaimed Alyssa Brubaker, 22, a Medford, senior studying at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art, which relocated from Elkins Park to North Philadelphia in January.
“We’re here now.”
The prank, however, had a larger purpose: to open dialogue among students at major art schools in the city.
Chester Zecca, 22, a Tyler school senior from Berwyn, said he often lamented that there was not more communication.
“It’s really important for artists to have a strong community, the more the better,” he said.
The idea was born in mid-February in an advanced sculpture class when assistant professor Karyn Olivier asked students to think of a project that would require them to work together for an extended period of time, as artists must sometimes do. The group of 12 students decided that a calling card of sorts was the project to embrace. Continue reading “The Art of War”
