Don't forget to visit an article about this sculpture in OC Register:
I am contributing installing pieces of CDs to Wave of Hope. This picture above is taken by Yinghan Tang (Leo), used with permission.
From this sculpture, I feel that every broken piece of CD symbolize every person who has contributed, shaped, and helped me at Orange Lutheran High School and in life, and also represents every act that I have done to help other people.
A letter from Ms. Dominique Ovalle, an art teacher in Orange Lutheran High School
What is hope? To me, having hope is to have confidence that we will be okay, and that we can even be excited about the future, because it might just turn out to be really good, with unexpected twists along the way. Hope means our future is secure in that we know Jesus Christ will always be with us, through everything. To hope is to put a stake in the things we want, but which haven’t happened yet-but that we will actualize with hard work and God’s intentional hand upon us.
To me, the sculpture represents many people coming together, contributing unique gifts and talents and skills, and making something beautiful. The CD fragments can represent all of us: as humans, we have all experienced upsets, setbacks, failures, and mistakes. Many of us have been shredded, cut and ripped apart by life’s disappointments, and we are all broken fragments: our bodies are merely the material left behind by broken dreams, potentials passed, shards and shadows of who we once were. Connected and collected, we form a community, united by Christ, we can become a beautiful school, reflecting God’s light in all colors of the rainbow. We hang together; not merely for décor, we operate and function to change the world.
It’s beautiful, but what is it?
Imagine an art project, where one student is partnered with another student on either side of a great fence. One student threads the wire into the CD, and the student on the other side of the fence secures the CD piece with pliers. Students used their unique strengths and perseverance to come together to make something beautiful.
As you sit and ponder what this hunk of metal and CD pieces really is “about,” I hope you can reflect upon all of the art students who helped to create this. We had 183 students participate: students who cut CD’s, cut wires, threaded the CD’s with the wires, and placed and wired them on the sculpture, their hands whirring rapidly like hummingbirds.
My Advanced Sculpture and Ceramics class is responsible for the design and skeleton of the sculpture. Students created the frame and bones of it first, by “sketching” the design, each created their own miniature sculpture inspired by the word, “hope.” My students voted on the most successful wire “sketch,” and we began shaping the sculpture out of poultry fencing, which stretched 50 feet in length at one time. My students created the supports for it and wired on each piece of CD by hand. Every single student has grown in some way throughout this 3-month-long process, and I am extremely proud of them. My Advanced Sculpture and Ceramics class have been a Dream Team, and I am proud of ALL of my art students who have contributed to the process of making this vast sculpture possible.
To me, the sculpture represents many people coming together, contributing unique gifts and talents and skills, and making something beautiful. The CD fragments can represent all of us: as humans, we have all experienced upsets, setbacks, failures, and mistakes. Many of us have been shredded, cut and ripped apart by life’s disappointments, and we are all broken fragments: our bodies are merely the material left behind by broken dreams, potentials passed, shards and shadows of who we once were. Connected and collected, we form a community, united by Christ, we can become a beautiful school, reflecting God’s light in all colors of the rainbow. We hang together; not merely for décor, we operate and function to change the world.
It’s beautiful, but what is it?
Imagine an art project, where one student is partnered with another student on either side of a great fence. One student threads the wire into the CD, and the student on the other side of the fence secures the CD piece with pliers. Students used their unique strengths and perseverance to come together to make something beautiful.
As you sit and ponder what this hunk of metal and CD pieces really is “about,” I hope you can reflect upon all of the art students who helped to create this. We had 183 students participate: students who cut CD’s, cut wires, threaded the CD’s with the wires, and placed and wired them on the sculpture, their hands whirring rapidly like hummingbirds.
My Advanced Sculpture and Ceramics class is responsible for the design and skeleton of the sculpture. Students created the frame and bones of it first, by “sketching” the design, each created their own miniature sculpture inspired by the word, “hope.” My students voted on the most successful wire “sketch,” and we began shaping the sculpture out of poultry fencing, which stretched 50 feet in length at one time. My students created the supports for it and wired on each piece of CD by hand. Every single student has grown in some way throughout this 3-month-long process, and I am extremely proud of them. My Advanced Sculpture and Ceramics class have been a Dream Team, and I am proud of ALL of my art students who have contributed to the process of making this vast sculpture possible.
Thanks for the artists who contributed this sculpture, it won't exist without their helps:
A big thank you to Head of School, Mrs. Leslie Smith, Principal Mr. Todd Ecklund, Facilities Manager Mr. Jeremy Johnson, Mrs. Cathy Blankenship, Mrs. Sandy Lopez, Mrs. Dawn Hamby, Artist-In-Residence Mr. Kevin Nadeau for believing in our vision and for supporting this project. Art can sometimes be obnoxious and ostentatious, but at the same time, be made out of humble objects, and turned something exceptionally beautiful.
A special thanks to Dawn Hamby for getting all of her classes on board and for their help in preparing the pieces we used to assemble the sculpture, and for planting the seeds and idea for our Hope Sculpture. A special thanks to Soo Sunny Park for her inspirational art piece, at Rice Gallery, “Unwoven Light.”
Ms. Ovalle’s exceptional art students:
Advanced Sculpture and Ceramics (The Dream Team): Emma Enssle, Makenzie Killinger, Kaylie Milton, Chloe Petty, Sydney Ponder, Matthew Rodriguez, Kaitlyn Weber, Gillian Dudeck, Carley Vaccher, Serena Williams
Graphic Design 1, period 1: Brett Aguirre, Mark Ard Jr. Caroline Chavos, Jacob Circle, Olivia Coons, Nicholas Crocker, Ryan Diaz, Hayden Doherty, Lauren Gonzalez, Shelby Hahn, Angel Ruotong Jia, Bill Kavvathas, Taryn Lennon, Brianna Lippert, Ethan Lui, Michael Schlueter, David Tax, Maxwell Unis, Dylan Winn, Ryan Zanelli
Graphic Design 1, period 2: Deven Atwater, William Borger, Thomas Chiaromonte, Shelby Edwards, Salim Elsayegh, Hannah Glisman, Madeline Hahn, Henry Zuoheng He, Sierra Holloway, Leah Lehner, Maggie Daining Lin, Carter McCall, Ian Smith, Saxon Swart, Joshua Toma, Stacie Zumbek
Graphic Design 2, period 4: Troy Abrams, Phoebe Bartoldus, Hayden Caligiuri, David Christ, Wade Timothy Dutcher, Ellen Fisher, Julia Fontes, Ike Isaac Ford, Joshua Larios, Ryan List, Kevin McNulty, Matthew Merrick, Jake Simmons, Leo Yinghan Tang, Carson Turbedsky, Colman Van Eck, David Dongkai Xie, Josiah Young
Graphic Design 1, period 5: Trey Garret Anderson, Blake Birrell, Matthaeus Bischof, Christopher Bowker, Ashlyn Henning, Dylan Hetzler, Eryn McGuire, Adam Rodriguez, Lanbo James Wang, Joe Yuezhou Wang, Justin Williamson, David Wynne, Zoe Ziebarth
Graphic Design 1, period 7: Brianna Ahrens, Joshua Bereskin, Alexander Bowker, Cove Carlson, Gabriella Fernandez, Kendall Gath, Quinn Gilmore, Danielle Gutierrez, Harry Vu Thien Ho, Nathan Janis, Geoffrey Jae Young Kang, Mason Killion, Benjamin McGovern, Zeinab Ramadan, Matthew Smith Huberty, Jack Threshie, Miles Wilson
Dawn Hamby’s List of Exceptional Artists:
Kyara Adams, Elizabeth Ainsworth, Lauren Alexander, Morgan Alexander, Samantha Allensworth, Niko Aoun, Jack Baron, Lexie Bechtloff, Blair Billups, Sydnee Boley, Chad Born, Kristen Brown, Albert Burns, Ernesto Bustamante, Courtney Buzzerio, Yeonsoo (Jenny) Chang, Karissa Chvilicek, Nicolas Chvilicek, Remington Cilani, Allyson Coffin, Allyson Conti, Katherine Conti, Raymond Corey, Alyssa Croucher, Pamela Darling, Brenna Darnbrough, Delaney Demsher, Aaron Dufield, Lauren Espalin, Linzi Esser, XinTong (Carol) Feng, Dakota Fillet, Drake Frize, Caroline Garell, Victoria Gobbo, Cole Gress, Selene Hanna, Luke Hanson, William Harvey, Blake Hehl, Brandon Hernandez-McKinney, Ethan Howard, Lindsey Kemeny, Gunner Kennedy, Allyson Leon, Zachary Lew, Kexuan (Ellen) Li, Austin Liles, JayLee McClain, Gianna Minasian, Cailin Moorey, Baylee Mouw, Lawrence Mowder, Ashlyn Nazari, Emalie Nelson, Kayla Piper, Jessie Ponce, Madelyn Rameson, Jenna Reardon, Madison Renken, Mariah Rodriguez, Nicole Salazar, Daniel Santa Maria, Ryan Sarvak, Ethan Sellek, Aubrianna Sevacherian, Marissa Shorts, Myna Simmons, Ryan Slaughter, Xavier Steele, Sophia Stewart, Natalie Stuewe, Brianne Sullivan, Olivia Thornton, Tayber Tomanek, Cooper Vander Hill, Dillian Vazquez, Alexa Velasquez, Natalie Virga, Emma Walker, Jake Ware, Julia Weaver, Kaylee Welch, Christopher Williams II, Rebecca Williams, Nicholas Wire, Sarah Wire, Travis Yates
"Letter from Ms. Dominique Ovalle", "about this sculpture", and the list of artists who contributed the sculpture is written by Mrs. Dominique Kongsli (Ms. Dominique Ovalle), used with permission.
