Daily Aztec Story: A 'Sign' exhibited

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Anderson

Though the stigma of the deaf community is one that is often unheard, art instructor Jennifer Anderson and students have created a sign that cannot be missed.

Anderson and five San Diego State students have created a piece of public art for the Port of San Diego. Their unofficial Art 103 project is as tall as a house and bound to draw some curiosity at first glance. What the students really want, however, is for people to take a second look and to see the message in the hands.

Their sculpture is called "It's a Sign." The public art project is a looming 17-foot-tall four-hand salute. The fingers, formed by rusted sheet metal, spell out the word "Tree" in sign language. The message may only elicit curious looks until one reads the plaque that accompanies the work:

"Whether we are deaf or hearing, language transforms experience and connects us with one another. 'It's A Sign' is a metaphor for underrepresented communities."

The students, Justean Giger, Bianca Saad, Gabriela Salas-Miranda, Sara Beam and Audrey Kenyon, said their dream location for their art is outside. The sculpture stands along the breezy Port of San Diego Embarcadero within walking distance from the Star of India and the San Diego Airport. Thousands of tourists and visitors who walk along the coast every year will see the Urban Trees 5 exhibit, a public art show of 31 sculpted trees that is updated yearly.

The open-air gallery is part of what makes "It's a Sign" special, Anderson said.

"You don't have to go to the gallery or pay to get into a museum," Anderson said. "Anyone who walks down the promenade can see it and enjoy it and interpret it."

Anderson, an adjunct art professor and furniture designer, told her students about the public works opportunity in her Art 103 class, which teaches three-dimensional design. "It's a Sign," was among 30 other projects chosen out of 122 applicants by the San Diego Port Authority.

The Port Authority gives the artists $2,500 stipends for the artwork but only after the artwork has been completed. Anderson said that she and the students had to come up with the money themselves. The students met twice a week after class to plan the project and continued to communicate through e-mail after the semester finished.
The work debuted on Saturday during a dedication ceremony that formally introduced the artwork to San Diego. Allan Tait, the Port Authority's public art project manager for the Urban Trees Project, said the SDSU students crafted something unique.

"It was like nothing we had ever seen before," Tait said. "Most of us can't read that. Those who are familiar with the language will recognize it immediately. It's absolutely original in the design."

The project came about as the result of a lot of hard work, Giger said. Because of money and time considerations, Anderson became directly involved in the project as the team was forced to scrap the original design.

"The tree was originally planned to be constructed out of cast bronze," Giger said. "We had to go back to the drawing board and re-design the whole project again. That was when Jennifer jumped in because we were under incredible deadlines in addition to our regular schoolwork."

Giger considers the work worthwhile. Five minutes after the sculpture went up, people were already taking pictures. Giger returned later that night to show her husband the artwork and heard people discussing "It's a Sign."

The students' message seems to be heard loud and clear.

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Writers Notes: I had the privilege to sit in on a "Print Day" at the Daily Aztec yesterday, very different from the "Print Nights" we would have at the SWC Sun. The DA is great place and I am fascinated by the stuff they do. The city Editor and I edited the front page together (well...I mostly watched.) and it surprised me that we had to fit the entire City section into one page with the headlines and teasers. I take my hat off to the resourceful page designers over there who create within close corners, they truly are wizards.