The community story that inspired Sculpture Workshop….

I interviewed Matt and Sarah Kargol, two local artists and the founders of the Oskaloosa Art Center, about the growth and impact that visual art continues to have in the community. Here’s an excerpt from my interview with Matt:

“Four or five years ago, we started the sculpture tour.

 We started talking about it, partly because we were getting some people coming to the Oskaloosa Arts Center, but the majority of people in the community weren't. A lot of people didn't know it even existed.

 My thought was, well, then let's put art in front of them. Let's put it where they can't miss it. And so being a sculptor, it only made sense to do a sculpture tour.

The first year, we got ten sculptures. We went to a group in town called the Golden Goose Club, a group of women who, every quarter, each contribute $100, and they pick a project in Oskaloosa to support. We applied, and we got selected the first year. Then we went to the George Daily Trust and got matching grant fund for it. The first year, we didn't even have to ask for sponsors because we had the tour covered.

The Sculpture Tour was new and different, and it challenged people's perceptions of what art should look like. None of the sculptures were controversial in themselves, but they apparently were controversial just because they were different and unexpected.

We sold four of the sculptures that were in the first tour. They're permanent now in Oskaloosa. It's amazing. It's great. It's great for the artists, too. Private businesses bought them, or private citizens and organizations. The library bought one. One was donated to the fire department.

One sculpture’s in a community garden. The animal shelter bought one and then commissioned another one.

And then over time, it's become part of the fabric of Oskaloosa, and people are interested in it. They come to the Art Center wanting pamphlets so they can go do the tour, wanting to know when the next sculpture is coming, etc. We don't get any negative feedback anymore.

It looks like we might have even some neighborhoods stepping up to have a sculpture in their own neighborhood. So that's neat, because then they're taking ownership of it. And it's not just a business doing it for advertising. It's the community saying, we want this.

The Sculpture Workshop came out of this tour. A local donor called and said “I have this garage. You guys can have it for the sculpture. But it has to be an asset to the community. It can't just be your personal sculpture studio.”

He wants more people in the community building sculptures for the tour, local people building them. And now we've got to teach them how. And so that's how that came about. That space was donated, and a lot of equipment was donated.”