Several art pieces made with pink chalk were drawn on the ground around the Memorial Union, Mabee Library and Morgan Hall on campus. They were made for Kat Martin’s sculpture project in Benjamin Wills’s advanced sculpture class. Martin, a senior art major, started the project with the class on Monday, Feb. 25 to express her love for Washburn in the art piece.

“I was brainstorming ideas like what we could do, and I wanted to do something in the public,” said Martin. “I just love Washburn, and I’m very involved. I wanted to do something on campus that would be impactful.”

Martin planned out the project with the “HELLO” stencils made from big pieces of poster board. The bold banner at the top makes the art piece stable and clear, and it’s eye-catching to see the message. The students in the class were split up into three different groups. They went around campus to use stencils to do the chalk and filled in with quotes.

Some of the messages students wrote are “I’m an Ichabod,” “happy you’re here,” “having a food baby,” “thinking of you,” “cheering you on,” “believing in you” and “next to you.”

Miku Motoi, a senior art major, is one of the students in the class. She also participated in creating the art piece for the project.

“The first day we worked on the project was pretty cold, but it was so much fun,” said Motoi. “We got to use our unique words to make the project different and creative. I saw some students step by and read them actually. This means, people on campus got some interests from the project and it became a good topic to talk about.”

The art piece doesn’t seem like a typical sculpture. Martin and other students wanted to involve the public within the art piece, instead of being a traditional painting. The creative form of the “sculpture” makes it more interactive.

“It’s nice to have public engagement with it,” said Martin. “I wasn’t expecting that much talk about it. I was really pleased with the final end.”

Although the art piece made of chalks would be stepped on and ruined and it might not last for long.

“It’s all about that first impact,” said Martin. “When someone first sees it, it’s nice to see that little message there. It’ll sadly wear off, but at least it had an impact at first.”

Martin plans to graduate in spring 2019 and she wants to go on to art therapy. It inspired and motivated her to do the sculpture project.

“I’m definitely all about expressing feelings and using art as a process,” said Martin. “Just put more emotion into engaging others, and I definitely want to help others.”

The positive message on the art piece expresses students’ love and pride for Washburn. They hope it helps people have a better day once they see it.

“I am so glad to be an Ichabod and I hope other students on the campus feel that way as well,” said Martin. “Just always to be positive. There’s always something good happening, just to recognize that.”