The 19th Annual “Shaping the Future” Award Winner Selected for 2015

REMET^® PIC, Inc along with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) came together for the 19^th year to conduct the REMET “Shaping the Future” Award competition. This year’s panel review and winner selection was held, at the school, on November 21, 2014.

The recipient of the 2015 award is Sae Jun Kim, a 2015 BFA candidate at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  His entry, titled “Fungus I-Beam”, was selected, after review, by a panel of art and foundry professionals.

Sea Jun’s winning piece, which will consist of bronze castings and salvaged I-Beams, is an installation meant to question our relationship with nature. Parks represent natural environments, but constructed landscapes only mimic desirable nature. These constructed landscapes abstract the natural environment. The inspiration and focus of “Fungus I-Beam” is the abstraction of manicured nature.

Sae Jun’s installation will include six various sized I-Beams, with bronze mushrooms attached to each. The mushrooms will be made by the ceramic shell process, using the direct burnout method.

Sae Jun’s proposal was selected from another solid group of student entries, as it best met the judges’ expectations in each of the award criteria: professionalism, realistic timeline, budget and equally importantly, its unique artistic impression. The completed sculpture is expected to be unveiled in a ceremony in the spring of 2015.

The panel of judges charged with making the difficult decision in this year’s competition included Karly Spell (Art Casting of Illinois), Mary Seyfarth (Instructor & Artisan), Beth Sahagian-Allsopp (Vanguard Sculpture Service), Isobel Neal (Collector & Curator), Eric Blome (Figurative Art Studio), and Bob Pawlak (REMET).