UAlbany’s Boor Sculpture Studio Celebrates Decade, Commemorates with Campus Sculpture Dedication

ALBANY, N.Y. (December 6, 2012) -- In honor of the 10th anniversary of the University at Albany’s Boor Sculpture Studio, visionary artist Cal Lane created "PALL CARGO," a sculpture made from a Vietnam War-era military shipping container. Currently installed in front of the studio, the sculpture will be dedicated at a ceremony on Friday, December 14.

Installed in front of UAlbany's Boor Sculpture Studio is "PALL CARGO," a sculpture by Cal Lane made from a Vietnam War-era military shipping container. (Photo by Paul Miller)

Lane served in residence during October 2012 upon invitation by the Studio’s director, Edward Mayer. As part of a Department of Art program inviting artists to visit and speak with students about their artistic enterprise, Lane accepted the invitation to create the sculpture onsite so UAlbany students could observe the entire creative process. During this time, Lane also spoke to groups of undergrad and grad students.

The studio, which opened in 2002 and is named after sculptor and benefactor Terri Cosma Boor, is located on the Uptown Campus. The studio’s design and flexibility facilitates students' ability to create using a variety of techniques and processes, including film, video, sculpture, and digital processing. All undergraduate and graduate sculpture classes are conducted at the Boor Studio, with approximately 140 undergrad enrollees each semester and 14 private graduate (MA and MFA ) studios accessible 24 hours per day.

Since the studio’s inception, two new presentation spaces have been established for experimental exhibitions and an operating foundry has resulted in the production of sculpture by grads and faculty that has been exhibited around the region.

Recent graduates have garnered academic positions at respected institutions including RPI, NC State, Middlebury, and Cornell, as well as displaying exhibitions in NYC, other artistic centers, and residencies throughout the country.

Lane, a native of Vancouver Island, is a sculptor who uses a plasma cutting torch to open and perforate ordinary steel objects, such as shovels, dumpsters and old oil drums into remarkable lacy configurations. Her past works have been featured in exhibitions in New York, Massachusetts, California, and Canada. Educated at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and with an MFA in sculpture from SUNY Purchase, she recently returned from Australia where she participated in the Sidney Biennial. She is now developing projects for a subway stop in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and a synagogue in Los Angeles.

Production of the sculpture and support for Lane’s residency was provided by Metrometals Recycling, LLC, of Watervliet, NY, a grant from the University at Albany Alumni Association, and the Art Sculpture Program Fund.

"PALL CARGO" is on loan by the artist and will remain on site for a period of two years.

"We hope during that time we can find a donor to acquire the work and make it a permanent part of the University’s collection and the Purple Path," says Professor Edward Mayer.

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