Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art

  • Exhibitions & Programs
    • Plan a Visit
    • Event Calendar
    • Exhibitions
    • Watch + Listen
    • Recent Exhibitions
  • Education
    • University Art Collection
    • Digital Publishing
    • PreK Through 12th Grade
    • College Students
    • University Faculty
    • For Everyone
  • Support
    • Season Partnerships
    • Giving to Auburn
    • Donor Program
    • Donate
  • About The Jule
    • Contact
    • The Jule Newsfeed
    • The Museum Store
    • The Jule x the grazer co.
  • Exhibitions & Programs
    • Plan a Visit
    • Event Calendar
    • Exhibitions
    • Watch + Listen
    • Recent Exhibitions
  • Education
    • University Art Collection
    • Digital Publishing
    • PreK Through 12th Grade
    • College Students
    • University Faculty
    • For Everyone
  • Support
    • Season Partnerships
    • Giving to Auburn
    • Donor Program
    • Donate
  • About The Jule
    • Contact
    • The Jule Newsfeed
    • The Museum Store
    • The Jule x the grazer co.

Board Caterpillar by Christopher Fennell

  • 0 Shares Share
  • 0

Christopher Fennell
(Alabama, b. 1965)

Board Caterpillar, 2003
Recycled wood and steel
6’ (H) x 12’ (W) x 11’ (D)

ARTIST’S STATEMENT:

Christopher Fennell uses locally recycled materials to build site-specific installations across the United States. The artist places recognizable objects into organic forms: like a wave of 60 canoes, a ball of 600 baseball bats or a tornado of 120 bicycles. He grew up in Florida doing construction work, then got an engineering degree from the University of South Florida and went to work forMotorola Inc. in robotics. A job with British Aerospace designing flight simulators in Tampa, Fla., followed, but Fennell said he got bored with using existing components to design things. He wanted to create from scratch. So he went back to school and earned a master of fine arts degree from the University ofGeorgia. One of his professors wanted him to tear down an old barn, which inspired Fennell to build his first colossal sculpture. “I saw the barn falling down, and then the idea came to build a wave,” Fennell said. Using discarded objects to create sculpture has become his theme: a fireball sculpture using decommissioned aluminum fire ladders for a fire station near Dallas, tree sunscreens and leaf inspired benches made from donated used skateboard decks for a skate park in Norfolk or a 63’ long steel guitar using 44 salvaged truck frames at the band shell where Elvis played his first concert in Memphis.Currently he is building twelve nineteen foot tall working weather vanes with animals built in Fennell fashion: a cow from lawn mower blades, a song bird sculpted of birdhouses and a horse made from locally donated bicycles from and for the City of Fort Worth, Texas.

MUSEUM HOURS

Closed for Exhibition Changeout. Regular operations resume in September.

Tuesday through Sunday: 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Extended Hours on Thursdays until 8 p.m.

FREE ADMISSION. Donations welcome.


Navigation

  • Home
  • Upcoming Exhibitions
  • COVID-19
  • Donate

Tiger Transit

Via the Fine Arts Line


Stay Connected


Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art

901 South College Street | Auburn, Alabama 36849 | Phone (334) 844-1484 | Fax (334) 844-1463

© 2023 Auburn University

Privacy Statement | Campus Accessibility | Website Feedback

Search JCSM

Welcome to the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art

We welcome you to explore, experience and engage with the visual arts.

Recent Posts

  • The Jule Year in Review 2022 February 17, 2023
  • Invisible Thread February 3, 2023