For Mike Bobbie ’08, studying in Kenya plus a love for art created the perfect senior project.  Bobbie recently displayed his project, “Awaiting Creation,” in the Richard F. Brush Art Gallery.

"Awaiting Creation," the centerpiece of a sculptural and mixed media installation, is an "abstract yet recognizable sculpture, within which many ideas about modernization and progress can be gathered," according to Bobbie.  

Bobbie said comparisons between how Kenyans and Americans treat the environment were a primary inspiration. “My intention is not to say that urbanization is bad, but rather that it is a new environment created by humans for humans, and that it needs to be thought out more carefully in order to alleviate much of the impact it leaves in its wake,” Bobbie explained.

He said he uses art to convey his thoughts on many environmental issues.  The sculpture exhibit was successful because it was thought-provoking, according to Bobbie.  “The work has different meaning for different people. This to me is most important because it is what art is about. All I am trying to do is get people to think,” he said. 

Bobbie will continue to focus on the environment through his sculptural work for a second Senior Year experience with his advisors, Assistant Professor of Art and Art History Amy Hauber and Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Jon Rosales.  “It will be another sculpture similar to ‘Awaiting Creation’ and it will be displayed on campus at the Environmentally Sustainable Landscape, by the end of the semester,” he said. His art can been seen in the photo at right, a sculpture created from slip-cast stoneware, steel and found objects.

Bobbie, of Higganum, CT, is a graduate of Haddam-Killingworth High School.  A Fine Arts and environmental studies double major, he also plays on the St. Lawrence men’s soccer team. Following graduation Bobbie plans to spend some time in North Carolina assisting internationally known sculptor Patrick Dougherty (http://www.stickwork.net/).