Construction of “The Drone Project: A Participatory Memorial” began Sunday with many people already volunteering to help complete the art piece.
The deadline to finish the sculpture is March 28, and Joseph DeLappe, a new media artist and professor of art at the University of Nevada, Reno, is working with his volunteers to finish it by the deadline.
Since Sunday, many people have volunteered their help on the project. Dr. Adan Avalos, artistic difector for the Center of Creativity and the Arts at Fresno State, and others from the art department have been trying to spread the word about the building of this sculpture.
“We are getting the word out through social media. We have put a lot of stuff on Twitter, Facebook and our CCA website, we are also just making contact the old-fashioned way, face to face,” Avalos said. “So far we have gotten about 20 volunteers and about 15 showed up yesterday.”
Students aren’t the only ones volunteering — the project has received volunteers from local groups as well.
“We have gotten outside volunteers,” Avalos said. “Peace Fresno has volunteered their assistance. The Center for Nonviolence and other community organizations want to have a part in this.”
Avalos and DeLappe hope to continue receiving volunteer help throughout the week and remainder of the project.
DeLappe has been an artist since finishing graduate school and has worked on numerous projects since. He came up with the concept for the drone project after he was contacted by the Center for Creativity and the Arts to create a proposal for their theme.
“I have been working on this project for a little over a year. The CCA invited me to submit a proposal, and they were interested in my history of doing work in the social-political theme, so we came up with this project,” DeLappe said.
DeLappe is hoping not only to memorialize those killed by American drones, but also to bring attention to America’s drone policies.
“I have been interested and concerned about our drone policies for quite a while now,” DeLappe said. “This seemed like a good opportunity to do a work that will serve numerous purposes.”
DeLappe wanted to have the help of many people to create this sculpture because he believes it will be more powerful that way.
“This is a memorial. So basically, it is a way for American citizens going through a process of building a memorial to victims of our foreign policy,” DeLappe said.
After the sculpture is complete, it will be displayed on the west lawn of the Conley Art building until May 31. After that, DeLappe will disassemble it and take it back to his studio. DeLappe hopes to one day take the drone to Pakistan so people in that country can see the memorial firsthand.
Since creating the idea and beginning the construction, DeLappe has already gotten local attention on his social media pages and various websites, but he hopes that when it is completed they will receive some national attention.
Many students have had the opportunity to get involved through classes providing time to work on the project.
“This project is very interesting,” graphic design student Felix Hernandez said. “I like the concept, especially at this scale. It is a good message to get out to the students and others,”
Some students are hoping to gain experience working on large-scale projects like the drone project.
“I wanted to be involved in a project like this to gain more experience as an artist and to spend time working on things like this,” Fresno State student Jacob Ortega said.
DeLappe is still looking for people to volunteer and assist in the construction. To get involved, visit the CCA website at www.fresnostate.edu/artshum/cca/ or go to the Conley Art building to volunteer.