Issue date: 10/10/06 Section: Lifestyles

Media Credit: Katy Hartwig Graduate student Sarah Frost with her Sculpture on Campu 2006 entry. The 2006 Sculpture Walk begins at 4 p.m. Friday in the Art and Design Building.

Across the road from the Evergreen Hall construction site, a construction of a different kind rocks back and forth with the wind -- a green pyramid -- the kind found on a dollar bill.

When it catches the sun just right, it can glint for some distance, and attract the attention of passersby.

Designed and constructed by Sarah Frost, a graduate student in her third year at SIUE, the sculpture is a part of the Sculpture on Campus program, a contest which allows 12 art and design students to beautify the campus, gain experience and develop awareness of the SIUE art program.

Frost's sculpture is not just a pyramid -- it also functions as a container for numerous goods, both brand-name and unbranded.

Frost points to a silky piece of lingerie, a purple bra suspended in the collage.

"That's Victoria's Secret," Frost said. "They must be making an incredible profit."

Inside the structure are scanners, keyboards and walkers. There is a Barbie doll and a

Rawlings-brand basketball - products that some might consider American icons.

"All these things … put me in a relationship with people halfway around the world," Frost said.

On the side of the structure, there is the inscription "made in China."

"My idea was to reflect how things are ... like to collect an absurd variety of stuff that was all manufactured in China, so people would look at it and go 'Wow, look at all that,'" Frost said.

The rocking pyramid isn't Frost's first outing for Sculpture on Campus. Frost participated last year with "Drive," a sculpture with the appearance of a cardboard box for a new car. Apparently, the cardboard effect was convincing for many people.

"A lot of people came up to me and said, 'Aren't you worried about how long that cardboard is going to last?'" Frost said.

The cardboard was just an illusion, however. The material she really used was corrugated plastic, commonly used for road signs.

"I just made a faux-finish that made it look like cardboard," Frost said.

The fake finish fooled even the art judge in last year's contest. While that may have helped Frost's performance, there were other categories that left an impression on the judge.

Continued...

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