Artist Bio:
Cole Kammler is a senior at Union College from New Canaan, CT majoring in Studio Fine Arts. He primarily works in steel and clay, however, other explored mediums include plaster and foam. His primary interest is in sculpture. Upon graduation, Cole will be taking the time to explore various career paths in this degree.
Artist Statement:
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted every person, regardless of age. People always talk about how college is considered the “glory days”, or the best times of their lives, and adults tell kids that you will regret every opportunity you do not take full advantage of when it is their time for college.
I truly wanted to understand how the pandemic impacted the individuals that were in college during this time. I interviewed five seniors at Union College to see how the experience was through their eyes, to see how the students were impacted because they were dealing with a global epidemic while taking higher education classes. These students were not able to take in the opportunities that they were told about due to travel restrictions and restrictions on the College. They highly advertised these opportunities, like internships, but they were hard to come by or were remote.
I wanted to depict five individuals' stories on how their college experience was during the pandemic, through these masks and faces to hopefully convey conversation between viewer and piece. I wanted to use new material that I've never been exposed to. Just like this pandemic that I was experiencing,working with these materials was new to me. I wanted to learn and understand how this new material would react, as well as be able to incorporate the novelty and challenge into my pieces.