Students wear their issues on their backpacks

Project carries art, message onto campus

Kerilyn Tacconi went to class last week carrying that iconic symbol of college students, a backpack, but one with a twist: it was decorated to suggest a pregnant woman's torso to reflect her pro-life sentiments. Other students toted backpacks with designs that related to stem-cell research, capital punishment, immigration, health care and the war in Iraq.

Jessica Vogel Photo gallery »

It was all for an art project developed by senior Jessica Vogel, who decorated ten backpacks to draw attention to important issues and encourage students to discuss them. "A lot of times people view students as apathetic and not caring," she said. "I wanted this to show that students do care about issues and are passionate about issues."

Vogel, a studio art major from Metairie, La., said she chose subtle designs to depict the issues on the backpacks to spark dialogue, not controversy. "The main purpose is not whether they depict a 'left' or 'right' position, but the issue itself," she said. "I want to get students excited and to be active about what they think is important."

She recruited friends who felt strongly about a particular issue to wear the backpack illustrating that issue so that they could discuss it when asked about it. For three days last week, they wore the backpacks to class, the Pit, everywhere they went on campus. The backpacks are now on display near the main entrance of the Z. Smith Reynolds Library and will remain there through Dec. 16.

Tacconi's backpack (with flowers encircling the pregnant torso) was hard to miss as she walked around campus. "Just my friends and teachers asked about my backpack," she said. "They thought the project was interesting, but we didn't get into any debates about abortion."

Brian Johnson, a senior religion major from Lisle, Illinois, carried around a backpack decorated with two rows of figures lying on red, white and blue sheets surrounded by a white picket fence and trees, with the word "MAX" outside the fence. He laughed when someone guessed that it was depicting a maximum-security prison. Actually it was to show the problem of homelessness in Winston-Salem, he said, and how shelters are overcrowded and maxed out.

If the backpacks didn't catch your attention, the blue beanies--with a red, white and blue star--that each student wore, surely would. Benn Stancil, a junior economics major from Belmont, N.C., toted around a backpack decorated with cans and plastic bags; little sticks signified the trees lost to air pollution. "A lot of people approached me to ask me what the backpack was or why I was wearing it," he said.

Some of the themes were more obvious than others. A cutout of the Statue of Liberty over a red and yellow U.S. map was meant to spark discussion about immigration. A huge pill bottle illustrated health care. Then there was the backpack with a large Plexiglas container filled with red, plastic apples. "Did you notice they were different sized apples?" asked Mike Christatos, a senior English major from New York. "That is to show that not everyone is given the same educational opportunities."

The students gathered in the breezeway of the Scales Fine Arts Center Friday afternoon to compare notes on their experiences. "It's gone really well," Vogel said, while wearing a camouflage-colored backpack decorated with toy guns, a cloth soldier and tiny planes to symbolize the war in Iraq, but without taking a position on it. "There hasn't been a lot of discussion on particular issues, but really the whole purpose was to get students involved."

Vogel's project was for a public art class taught by Associate Professor of Art David Finn. Six other students also created projects that will be displayed in various locations on campus in December (see list below). "It's a good idea for public art to connect to the community, so it is not just the artist's personal statement out there," Finn said. "You can engage people in art beyond the gallery walls."

Each student had to work with a campus organization on their project. Vogel chose Democracy Matters, a student organization that advocates strengthening American democracy through campaign-finance reform. "The function of "Student Backpacks" is to establish awareness that all issues can have a better chance to be resolved through a functioning democracy that gives everyone a voice and a platform to express their concern," she said.

Students who participated in "Student Backpacks: A Public Art Piece on Democracy" and their issue:

• Bill Brown, stem-cell research
• Mike Christatos, education
• Brian Johnson, homelessness in Winston-Salem
• Trever Manders/Jessie Vogel, war in Iraq
• Rachael Mongold, immigration
• Alex Juszkiewicz, capital punishment
• Devon Reed/Catherine Wilson, gay marriage
• Sarah Smith, health care
• Benn Stancil, the environment
• Kerilyn Tacconi, pro-life

Other students who are creating public art projects that will be installed on campus in early December (some will remain in place through the spring semester) and their projects and locations.

• Bill Brown, a senior studio art major from Nashville, Tenn.: "Sunken," a large-scale video presentation focusing on campus safety; projected on the back wall of the Z. Smith Reynolds Library, nightly through Dec. 6.


• Megan Dieringer, a senior studio art major from La Crossse, Wis.: a wall graphic showing the interconnectedness of student programs, such as entrepreneurship and service learning; located in study room B on the sixth floor of the Z. Smith Reynolds Library.


• Trevor Manders, a senior math major from West Orange, N.J.: large paintings of notable Winston Salem landmarks; displayed at the Scales Fine Arts Center, Luter Residence Hall and Reynolds Gym.


• David Nix, a senior studio art major from Jacksonville, Fla.: a "gathering place," a large wooden platform-like structure; Davis Field.


• Frenchie Slade, a graduate student from Winston-Salem: "Vanity Sizing," a display to illustrate the practice of decreasing the nominal sizes of women's jeans over the years; located in the Tribble Hall lounge/main entrance.


• Catherine Wilson, a senior psychology major from Clemmons, N.C.: "The Interfaith Arch," a 10-foot-tall arch with cutouts of religious symbols that are projected onto the sidewalk as the sun moves across the sky; west side of Wait Chapel.

— By Kerry M. King ('85)
Office of Creative Services

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