Sculptor Laura Shintani (MFA 2012) invites the community to leave permanent fingerprints on “You + Me,” her artwork commemorating the 2013 International Children’s Games.
A sculpture by a UWindsor art grad will become a permanent memorial of the International Children’s Games, and she is inviting members of the community to get involved.
The project, called “You + Me,” will take the form of a pair of seven-foot Windsor chairs cast in bronze.
“At its heart it is a community driven, crowd-inspired and sourced work that couldn't have even got this far without the kind and generous support of many levels of community,” says Laura Shintani (MFA 2012).
She hopes to bring hundreds of collaborators—Windsor residents and visitors in town for the games—to mark the wax model with their fingerprints and initials. Once cast in bronze, the chairs will be set in Jackson Park, facing each other as if to form a space suitable for conversation.
Shintani says her design celebrates Windsor’s relationships with its 12 sister cities around the world.
“As a Windsor-based artist, this is my contribution, a wide and lasting hug to all of Windsor and region,” she says. “Children are especially welcome as bronze lasts a very long time and they will be able to revisit their mark and yours in Jackson Park throughout their lives.”
She says her intention is to make all viewers feel like children.
“The scale of the chairs invokes a playful sensibility,” says Shintani. “In getting closer to the sculpture, everybody becomes child-sized.”
The wax sculpture is available for volunteers to place their marks this week at the Art Gallery of Windsor, 401 Riverside Drive West: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, August 14 to 17; and Sunday, August 18, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.