Final Draft

One of the many sculptures outside the Sheldon Museum of Art, “Willy”, was made in 1962 out of welded steel by a man named Tony Smith. This abstract piece of art is differs from those surrounding it. A vast majority of these pieces show portions of humans or contain similarity with other well known objects. However Tony Smith’s piece of art is something unique. It argues a different perception of art and a way nature, time, and the audience influences each other. This piece of art shows that anyone can become part of art and how art can fit in with our everyday life. Tony Smith’s background in art, the elements of “Willy”, and the environment in which it is placed all give us insight into the connections between artist, audience, elements, and environment.

Tony Smith was born in South Orange, New Jersey into an Irish catholic family. As a child he was stricken with tuberculosis. While being quarantined from his family, he started making models from small medicine boxes (New Angles on Art). Later in life he did paintings and worked in architecture. However, he became frustrated when clients wanted to keep changing his ideas. So he instead focused more on art. An idea for his first sculpture came to him while teaching a course on basic design (Time Magazine). His students were creating basic designs using cigarette boxes when he noticed a black file box behind them (Time Magazine). As a result, his first work of art was a metal box which simply enough he named “Black Box”. After this he began to create more geometric works of art, which displayed some of his architecture background. These pieces would later go from inside museums and later break outside of them into the outdoors.

This break from the confines of a museum into nature shows how expansive art can be. It proves that to experience art you do not have to enter a building to view it, or possibly pay money to view it. With sculptures outdoors, any person can be exposed to it. For example, “Willy” is placed on a campus where students from all sorts of backgrounds and intelligences walk by. With sculptures and other forms of art being placed outdoors, you have a more vast audience you are not limited to just people with a background in art, or old couples getting out and around. Everyday people can now try to relate to it. Ironically, Tony Smith named this piece of art after the character Willie from Samuel Beckett’s play Happy Days. In this play, Willie is a character that crawled as a mode of transportation. In the same manor you could say that “Willy” crawled his way out of traditional art viewing into a more exclusive way for viewers to experience. This change creates a greater bond between audience, sculpture, placement, and artist. Tony Smith felt that America was growing and expanding with sky scrapers and other buildings, so he wanted to create sculptures that would be more to scale with this change (Time Magazine). He did just that. He made a definite connection between audiences that were expanding their lives in conjunction with the growing society, and created large works of art that would stand out for audiences to become a part of.

Like many of his other works of art, Tony Smith had a unique way of piecing elements together to get an expansive and incredible work of art. His pieces were welded steel formed into geometric shapes. Any signs of welding were smoothed over. This made the piece seem more natural and took people away from focusing on the lines connecting each piece to the larger structure he had created. Geometric shapes can allow an audience member to relate their background in shapes like triangles trapezoids and others that are implemented into his work. Most of audience members, in other words passer byes, remember dealing with these sorts of shapes in some point in their life. This addiction of geometric shapes can bring you back to the simplicity of childhood, and the emotions and memories that go with it.

Most importantly, “Willy” is greatly influenced through the nature in which it was placed and the surrounding environment in which the statue is presented. When “Willy” was placed outside the doors of the Sheldon Museum of Art, it was placed in a more open space than those in the surrounding area. When put in an area like the one “Willy” was placed in it is more susceptible to the nature, weather, and objects surrounding it. In addition to this it gives the opportunity to walk up to it, touch it, and view it in a much closer proximity. When you stand close to this sculpture in the more sunny times of the year you can see a reflection of the colors you present. It is like you are meant to influence this sculpture in even a minimal way. The way you place yourself in relation to the sculpture affects the perception you get. This sculpture, with its large size, allows you to move around it and through it. So you can get a really broad and diverse feeling for it. In addition, the different seasons have an effect on “Willy”. With the sun beating down on this piece you not only get reflections of various colors, but “Willy” also casts obscure shadows beneath and around it. This causes the image of “Willy” to be in a constant change. The Earth is constantly moving around the Sun, making it change positions constantly. As seasons come and go the relationship between sculpture and weather changes. During fall months, the background of this piece of art changes. The grass that was once a luscious green has faded into a brown colored landscape. In the same way the trees transition through color schemes. They move from green leaves to more bright reds, oranges, or yellows; eventually the leaves fall off the tree all together. This gives the whole background a deader look. With the color of “Willy” being black, it doesn’t really clash with any of the colors of seasons. It is one basic color that goes with almost any. In transition from the dead of fall, the winter months bring snow to the campus. This gives yet another look and environment for Tony Smith’s “Willy”. Snow will cover some of “Willy” while most will fall at its base. Nature causes the makeup, view, and perspective of the sculpture to change.

Tony Smith composition of “Willy” has shown audiences the connection between artist, audience, elements, and environment. It has also shown that when a sculpture is placed outside it takes on a new meaning. Audiences of different types and backgrounds are able to see them in a way that relates to them specifically. Also with it being outdoors, more people are able to see it. Tony Smith wanted to have a larger scaled piece of art to relate it to the growing size of the world’s skyscrapers and life in general. His larger than life sculptures allow viewers that may have no background in art to now be able to relate to it. I feel that Tony Smith has changed sculpting from the original “art” to which we are familiar, and turned into a more modern form that many people can relate to. With sculptures like his out in the open, many people from different backgrounds can be exposed to it and create their own feeling. “Willy” dares people to think.




Statement of Purpose

WP3 Rough Draft

Works Cited:

(n.d.). Snapshot: tony smith. Retrieved from http://www.nga.gov/education/classroom/new_angles/bio_smith.shtm


(1967, October 13). Sculpture: master of the monumentalists. Time Magazine, Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,837402-1,00.html

Authors Note

The task of finding rhetorical appeals shown within a sculpture was difficult for me. Prior to this project, I had no experience with this form of art. Thus, it made it hard for me to even begin thinking about this project. I felt that my sculpture, “Willy”, was going to be difficult to analyze due to its abstract form. Looking at all of the sculptures around the Sheldon Museum of Art many of them had human-like forms. “The Fallen Dreamer”, “A Woman Lying Down”, “Story”, are examples of these sculptures. When we first started this assignment, I felt like I was given the short end of the stick. I felt that I was going to have one of the hardest times finishing our final writing assignment. However when I looked past my frustration, I realized that this abstract form of artwork gave me a more open slate. It allowed me to explore past arguments focused on man and man’s actions or thoughts.

With this open slate it was still a very hard task for me to come up with a possible argument to present about this sculpture by Tony Smith. When given class time to sit with our sculpture and free write I got many ideas, however none of them supplied me with a good argument I noticed first the geometric shapes throughout the whole sculpture. I then clung to that idea. When our first pre-write assignment came around I found that though I picked out the rather obvious point of geometric shapes within the piece, I did not come up with anything to tie it to. I made the mistake of trying to make that piece work for that particular post. Looking up the background of Tony Smith and looking deeper into the creating of “Willy” was a bit difficult for me; however after searching I was able to find the meaning behind the sculptures name and Tony Smith’s background. To my pleasure, this helped me in searching for an argument. Finally after more class time with my sculpture I was able to find an argument.

For my argument I felt that “Willy” showed an alteration from what we see as traditional art to an art that the audience itself could relate and contribute to. I tried to fit this argument into an essay in the best way. At first I felt it was rather choppy and had no cohesiveness. It seemed to me that I was just rambling about nothing. I hit my backspace button quite a few times during my rough drafts, trying to find the right words and way to present this argument. When it came time for peer reviews I was given tips of what I should add, keep the same, or change. In my conclusion I had failed to make a “So what?” statement. And my peer suggested I replace one of my hyperlinks with a Wikipedia page that gave information about Tony Smith. I took this advice and revised my conclusion, tried to add some more emotion to my piece, and change my hyperlink.

WP3: Rough Draft 2

One of the many sculptures outside the Sheldon Museum of Art, “Willy”, was made in 1962 out of welded steel by a man named Tony Smith. This abstract piece of art is differs from those surrounding it. A vast majority of these pieces show portions of humans or contain similarity with other well known objects. However Tony Smith’s piece of art is something unique. It argues a different perception of art and a way nature, time, and the audience influences each other. This piece of art shows that anyone can become part of art and how art can fit in with our everyday life. Tony Smith’s background in art, the elements of “Willy”, and the environment in which it is placed all give us insight into the connections between artist, audience, elements, and environment.

Tony Smith was born in South Orange, New Jersey into an Irish catholic family. As a child he was stricken with tuberculosis. While being quarantined from his family, he started making models from small medicine boxes (New Angles on Art). Later in life he did paintings and worked in architecture. However, he became frustrated when clients wanted to keep changing his ideas. So he instead focused more on art. An idea for his first sculpture came to him while teaching a course on basic design (Time Magazine). His students were creating basic designs using cigarette boxes when he noticed a black file box behind them (Time Magazine). As a result, his first work of art was a metal box which simply enough he named “Black Box”. After this he began to create more geometric works of art, which displayed some of his architecture background. These pieces would later go from inside museums and later break outside of them into the outdoors.

This break from the confines of a museum into nature shows how expansive art can be. It proves that to experience art you do not have to enter a building to view it, or possibly pay money to view it. With sculptures outdoors, any person can be exposed to it. For example, “Willy” is placed on a campus where students from all sorts of backgrounds and intelligences walk by. With sculptures and other forms of art being placed outdoors, you have a more vast audience you are not limited to just people with a background in art, or old couples getting out and around. Everyday people can now try to relate to it. Ironically, Tony Smith named this piece of art after the character Willie from Samuel Beckett’s play Happy Days. In this play, Willie is a character that crawled as a mode of transportation. In the same manor you could say that “Willy” crawled his way out of traditional art viewing into a more exclusive way for viewers to experience. This change creates a greater bond between audience, sculpture, placement, and artist. Tony Smith felt that America was growing and expanding with sky scrapers and other buildings, so he wanted to create sculptures that would be more to scale with this change (Time Magazine). He did just that. He made a definite connection between audiences that were expanding their lives in conjunction with the growing society, and created large works of art that would stand out for audiences to become a part of.

Like many of his other works of art, Tony Smith had a unique way of piecing elements together to get an expansive and incredible work of art. His pieces were welded steel formed into geometric shapes. Any signs of welding were smoothed over. This made the piece seem more natural and took people away from focusing on the lines connecting each piece to the larger structure he had created. Geometric shapes can allow an audience member to relate their background in shapes like triangles trapezoids and others that are implemented into his work. Most of audience members, in other words passer byes, remember dealing with these sorts of shapes in some point in their life.

Most importantly, “Willy” is greatly influenced through the nature in which it was placed and the surrounding environment in which the statue is presented. When “Willy” was placed outside the doors of the Sheldon Museum of Art, it was placed in a more open space than those in the surrounding area. When put in an area like the one “Willy” was placed in it is more susceptible to the nature, weather, and objects surrounding it. In addition to this it gives the opportunity to walk up to it, touch it, and view it in a much closer proximity. When you stand close to this sculpture in the more sunny times of the year you can see a reflection of the colors you present. It is like you are meant to influence this sculpture in even a minimal way. The way you place yourself in relation to the sculpture affects the perception you get. This sculpture, with its large size, allows you to move around it and through it. So you can get a really broad and diverse feeling for it. In addition, the different seasons have an effect on “Willy”. With the sun beating down on this piece you not only get reflections of various colors, but “Willy” also casts obscure shadows beneath and around it. This causes the image of “Willy” to be in a constant change. The Earth is constantly moving around the Sun, making it change positions constantly. As seasons come and go the relationship between sculpture and weather changes. During fall months, the background of this piece of art changes. The grass that was once a luscious green has faded into a brown colored landscape. In the same way the trees transition through color schemes. They move from green leaves to more bright reds, oranges, or yellows; eventually the leaves fall off the tree all together. This gives the whole background a deader look. With the color of “Willy” being black, it doesn’t really clash with any of the colors of seasons. It is one basic color that goes with almost any. In transition from the dead of fall, the winter months bring snow to the campus. This gives yet another look and environment for Tony Smith’s “Willy”. Snow will cover some of “Willy” while most will fall at its base. Nature causes the makeup, view, and perspective of the sculpture to change.

Tony Smith's composition of “Willy” has shown audiences the connection between artist, audience, elements, and environment. It has also shown that when a sculpture is placed outside it takes on a new meaning. Audiences of different types and backgrounds are able to see them in a way that relates to them specifically. Also with it being outdoors, more people are able to see it. Tony Smith wanted to have a larger scaled piece of art to relate it to the growing size of the world’s skyscrapers and life in general. His larger than life sculptures allow viewers that may have no background in art to now be able to relate to it.

Works Cited:

(n.d.). Snapshot: tony smith. Retrieved from http://www.nga.gov/education/classroom/new_angles/bio_smith.shtm

(1967, October 13). Sculpture: master of the monumentalists. Time Magazine, Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,837402-1,00.html

WP3: rough draft 1

One of the many sculptures outside the Sheldon Museum of Art, “Willy”, was made in 1962 out of welded steel by a man named Tony Smith. This abstract piece of art is differs from those surrounding it. A vast majority of these pieces show portions of humans or contain similarity with other well known objects. However Tony Smith’s piece of art is something unique. It argues a different perception of art and a way nature, time, and the audience influences each other. This piece of art shows that anyone can become part of art and how art can fit in with our everyday life. Tony Smith’s background in art, the elements of “Willy”, and the environment in which it is placed all give us insight into the connections between artist, audience, elements, and environment.

Tony Smith started his career building architectural work. However, he became frustrated with clients making changes to all of his designs (New Angles on Art). So instead he focused more on art. An idea for his first sculpture came to him while teaching a course on basic design (Time Magazine). His students were creating basic designs using cigarette boxes when he noticed a black file box behind them (Time Magazine). This sparked Tony Smith’s zest for sculptures. He was able to create structures with his own desires in mind and not have to worry about it being changed. His first work of art was a simple metal box which simply enough he named “Black Box”. After this he began to create more geometric works of art, which displayed some of his architecture background. These pieces would later go from inside museums and later break outside of them into the outdoors. This break from the confines of a museum into nature shows how expansive art can be. It proves that to experience art you do not have to enter a building to view it, or possibly pay money to view it. With sculptures outdoors, any person can be exposed to it. For example, “Willy” is placed on a campus where students from all sorts of backgrounds and intelligences walk by. With sculptures and other forms of art being placed outdoors, you have a more vast audience you are not limited to just people with a background in art, or old couples getting out and around. Everyday people can now try to relate to it. Ironically, Tony Smith named this piece of art after the character Willie from Samuel Beckett’s play Happy Days. In this play, Willie is a character that crawled as a mode of transportation. In the same manor you could say that “Willy” crawled his way out of traditional art viewing into a more exclusive way for viewers to experience. This change creates a greater bond between audience, sculpture, placement, and artist. Tony Smith felt that America was growing and expanding with sky scrapers and other buildings, so he wanted to create sculptures that would be more to scale with this change (Time Magazine). He did just that. He made a definite connection between audiences that were expanding their lives in conjunction with the growing society, and created large works of art that would stand out for audiences to become a part of.

Like many of his other works of art, Tony Smith had a unique way of piecing elements together to get an expansive and incredible work of art. His pieces were welded steel formed into geometric shapes. Any signs of welding were smoothed over. This made the piece seem more natural and took people away from focusing on the lines connecting each piece to the larger structure he had created. Geometric shapes can allow an audience member to relate their background in shapes like triangles trapezoids and others that are implemented into his work. Most of audience members, in other words passer byes, remember dealing with these sorts of shapes in some point in their life.

Most importantly, “Willy” is greatly influenced through the nature in which it was placed and the surrounding environment in which the statue is presented. When “Willy” was placed outside the doors of the Sheldon Museum of Art, it was placed in a more open space than those in the surrounding area. When put in an area like the one “Willy” was placed in it is more susceptible to the nature, weather, and objects surrounding it. In addition to this it gives the opportunity to walk up to it, touch it, and view it in a much closer proximity. When you stand close to this sculpture in the more sunny times of the year you can see a reflection of the colors you present. It is like you are meant to influence this sculpture in even a minimal way. The way you place yourself in relation to the sculpture affects the perception you get. This sculpture, with its large size, allows you to move around it and through it. So you can get a really broad and diverse feeling for it. In addition, the different seasons have an effect on “Willy”. With the sun beating down on this piece you not only get reflections of various colors, but “Willy” also casts obscure shadows beneath and around it. This causes the image of “Willy” to be in a constant change. The Earth is constantly moving around the Sun, making it change positions constantly. As seasons come and go the relationship between sculpture and weather changes. During fall months, the background of this piece of art changes. The grass that was once a luscious green has faded into a brown colored landscape. In the same way the trees transition through color schemes. They move from green leaves to more bright reds, oranges, or yellows; eventually the leaves fall off the tree all together. This gives the whole background a deader look. With the color of “Willy” being black, it doesn’t really clash with any of the colors of seasons. It is one basic color that goes with almost any. In transition from the dead of fall, the winter months bring snow to the campus. This gives yet another look and environment for Tony Smith’s “Willy”. Snow will cover some of “Willy” while most will fall at its base. Nature causes the makeup, view, and perspective of the sculpture to change.

In addition to nature’s affect on this sculpture, time has also taken its toll on “Willy”. When I looked closer at the metal on Tony Smith’s sculpture, I found faint lines of dirty streaking down his sides. With “Willy” being composed of steel, it makes it more resistant to weathering. But it will show any dirt or dust that is blown around it.

Tony Smith composition of “Willy” has shown audiences the connection between artist, audience, elements, and environment. With sculptures in general, when it is placed outside a whole different perspective is given. Audiences of different types and backgrounds are able to see them in a way that relates to them specifically. Also with it being outdoors, more people are able to see it. Tony Smith wanted to have a larger scaled piece of art to relate it to the growing size of the world’s skyscrapers and life in general. His larger than life sculptures allow viewers that may have no background in art to now be able to relate to it.




Works Cited:

(n.d.). Snapshot: tony smith. Retrieved from http://www.nga.gov/education/classroom/new_angles/bio_smith.shtm

(1967, October 13). Sculpture: master of the monumentalists. Time Magazine, Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,837402-1,00.html

WP3: Statement of Purpose

This semester we have been exposed to analyzing rhetorical elements of objects. We began by analyzing photographs and followed this by analyzing comic strips. For our final writing project we were selected a sculpture outside the Sheldon Art Museum and were asked to analyze it. I was assigned “Willy”. This sculpture was created out of welded steel in 1962 by sculptor Tony Smith. Unlike sculptures with definite resemblances, “Willy” allows its audience to interpret it in a different way. With art objects that show an exact replica, a picture of an apple for example, don’t let the audience to expand their minds and enjoy the art and view it in your own way.

The context in which “Willy” is placed hints at a possible argument. It is placed outside the confines of the museum within the nature surrounding the museum. Its large size and color made me think about possible arguments that could be established through this piece of art. I tried to break down each part and aspect of this sculpture to come up with ideas. My initial observation was the geometric shapes that it consists of, however I felt that was too basic and looked also at its surroundings. I walked through it, touched it and noticed its hollow sound.

“Willy”, though a seemingly simplistic sculpture, uses the space and nature surrounding it to emphasize its aspects. Its black color and the texture of the metal allow it to reflect the colors and light that surround it. While walking around “Willy”, I noticed that even the color of my clothes could be seen reflected on its surface. This shows how the audience, art object and the context all work together when it comes to this particular piece of art. The sculpture argues the affect that each thing in life has on the other. The weather had altered parts of “Willy” as well. With the windy weather, dirt had been blown on to its surface giving it subtle brown lines running down the sides. I addition to this, the outlook of the sculpture was constantly changing. As each minute passed, the sun moved in a different position in relation to the piece. This made the shadows cast by “Willy” become constantly altered. Each minute, day, season, and year will make this sculpture different in at least a small way. Tomorrow it could be casting shadows, winter it will be covered in snow, and in a couple more years more weathering of the metal will be noticeable.

Many of Tony Smith’s sculptures are located outside and are made to the same scale and others even larger than “Willy”. He makes his art seem larger than life and allows it to work together with the natural environment letting it change the outlook and appearance of each piece. Although the weather and its surroundings have an effect on “Willy”, the welded steel he is composed of is resistant to any rusting rain or snow may cause. This can argue that the relationship with art, time, and nature is strong.

When I researched Tony Smith for one of the previous blog posts, I did not look to deeply into his background or information. I also did not find too much about “Willy”. However for this blog post I was able to find more information on both artist and sculpture. When a child he was put in quarantine structure behind his house after being diagnosed with tuberculosis (New Angles on Art). He spent much of his time building models out of medicine boxes. He found his skill of building thing from the family’s tool building business. After spending years in architecture, he became frustrated with people making changes to his work. So he left architecture however he did not keep it from influencing his work.

Tony Smith often found objects in life that he could turn into an idea for his sculpture. For example, one of his earlier sculptures was created after he noticed a file cabinet behind one of his students. He would start with building his models from cardboard and worked from there. I found it interesting that with my deeper research I found that in fact many of his sculptures are described as anthropomorphic in nature (New Angles on Art). I read in the Sheldon Art Museum’s Brochure that Tony Smith’s sculpture “Willy” was influenced by the character Willie in Samuel Beckett’s play Happy Days. Willie spends most of his time crawling around his wife who is buried waist deep in a mound of earth. Like the character in Samuel Beckett’s play Happy Days, “Willy” looks as to be a object crawling.

With this new knowledge of Tony Smith’s “Willy” sculpture, I am better able to interpret or get a better sense of its purpose or argument. Now that I know the relationship between the sculpture “Willy” and the character Willie from the play, I see that my original interpretation of his piece of art is not as accurate as I had originally thought. Instead, I now see how it somewhat resembles a crawling creature. In my original posts I was unable to see any resemblance of his art to anything but geometrics. But instead I now see that his art uses geometric shapes to create a unique form of anthropomorphism in “Willy”. In addition to the combination of geometry and anthropomorphism, I can now understand that the name that Tony Smith gave to this particular sculpture was of importance to him. It is now more evident to me that sometimes to get the full interpretation of a sculpture, or any piece of art really, you must also try and see the background or meaning behind it. We must step back and try to imagine different purposes. After learning more about Tony Smith himself and the artwork he produced you can see how he parallels his love of architecture with his talent in building sculptures. His works of art were, and are still, seen as “monumental, grand, spiritual, anthropomorphic, elusive, exploring infinity, geometric, biomorphic, complex, simple, multifaceted” (New Angles on Art).


Works Cited:

(n.d.). Snapshot: tony smith. Retrieved from http://www.nga.gov/education/classroom/new_angles/bio_smith.shtm