Jackie Cafarelli
Dimensions: 8' x 5'
Location: Carpenter Park (#8 Map)
Purchased by the City
Goddess of the Sea
I've always been enthralled by the way public art brings people together from all over the city, country, and even the world. True artwork is meant to be experienced. I've encountered monumental sculptures, that radiate sound with their mass, bringing a new sense of power. Using the sun as a natural light source, placement of the piece is essential as it will reflect or absorb light and casts shadows. The neighborhood or park that a sculpture is placed sets a specific mood that will also evoke a particular feeling in the viewer. With all these things to take into consideration, I want to find a harmonious balance that brings people together for a positive, enlightening, and creative experience through the realms of art..
Ideally, I would like to commissioned by cities to create work for a specific space. To keep the future generation alive and imaginative, I want to make art that appeals to children most. To achieve this, I like to use bright colors and gleaming materials, as well as creating fantastical themed artworks.
This particular piece is what I like to call "Goddess of the Sea". Jutting from the ground on a sharp angle, the sculpture extends 8 feet long and 5 feet tall. I welded rebar, proceeding to wrap that in sheets of Titanium for the armature. Then, I used to rivets to attached circular "scales" made of purple, green, and blue stainless steel. I also included some copper around the fin for additional golden illuminance. I wanted to capture this mythological idea of existence that briefly enters our earthly realm and then majestically swims back to the sea.
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Growing up on the south side of Chicago, my creative talents were masked by my overindulgence in sports ruled by my competitive nature. I played softball and did gymnastics starting at 5 and continued with both these sports until the age of 16. It wasn't until I began attending Whitney Young High School, where I was introduced to a nonprofit organization called Marwen. Marwen is an after school program that specializes in visual arts. After enrolling in this program my sophomore year of high school, I found myself excelling rapidly. I took classes that ranged from book-binding to charcoal drawing, 4 x 5 photography to oil painting, as well as a figure sculpting class. Using clay to sculpt a live model, I realized sculpting made much more sense to be than drawing ever did. Subsequent to this class, I knew that sculpture was my form of expression. However, only doing art for the past 2 and half years, I was apprehensive to enroll in as an art student .
When I graduated high school in 2006, I was accepted to Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, the one and only art school I applied to. I told myself if I get accepted, that's where I will spend the next four years of my life. I participated in the foundations program. Half way through my freshmen year, I began applying to the Kansas City Art Institute due to their reputation for their sculpture department.
I am now a second semester sophomore sculpture major at KCAI. I've shown
work at the Marwen Maine exhibition in 2006. Also, in 2006, I showed at a Darfur
fundraiser at Red Creek Winery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where art was auctioned.