Life-sized Paper Airplane

CCS Art alumnus featured in downtown Santa Barbara exhibit

The College of Creative Studies (CCS) is pleased to report that alumnus Luis Velazquez (Art '14) is featured as part of the City of Santa Barbara's State of The Art Gallery, an art show that features life-size sculptures from local artists. His piece Paper Airplane is now on display on the corner of Carrillo and State streets in downtown Santa Barbara. The work may look familiar, as Velazquez debuted the idea in 2013 with a similar sculpture on the CCS lawn.

Velazquez created the original Paper Airplane for Professor Jane Mullfinger’s Public Art class, where he had the opportunity to develop a piece of art for a specific place on campus. Velazquez picked the CCS building because it "is a cool building," said Velazquez. "I started doing some research about the building and realized it's an old building that used to be part of the World War II Marine base." Velazquez wanted to create a piece that brought together both the history of the building and what it is now. "I wanted to make something graceful and playful, and that is beautiful, and that we all have a good association to," explained Velazquez. He started playing around with his notebook and ended up selecting a paper airplane because "it addressed the history of the building and the fact that it is now a College."

After considering 10 separate models, Velazquez ended up deciding on a paper airplane that was a large-scale yellow piece of legal sized paper. The artist thought the yellow color would work well with the yellow color of the CCS building and contrast with the "beautiful green grass" of the CCS lawn. The original piece was created out of plywood. "It was on the lawn for about a month and a half, then we moved it to another location," stated Velazquez. He continued, the plywood wasn't very durable and "eventually I took it away because it was starting to split and decay."

Contrary to what most people think, the current Paper Airplane is an entirely different sculpture than the original. "It is funny how many people think it is the same sculpture," Velazquez laughed. "[The current piece] is very similar to the original one, but there are a couple of changes." The main difference is that it is made out 750 pounds of metal, which will extend the life of the piece. The other dissimilarities are the folds. "I consciously decided to change [the folds] to make it a little more aesthetically pleasing."

Velazquez created the current Paper Airplane specifically for the State of The Art Gallery. Hundreds of artists submitted proposals for the show, and Velazquez was one of eight selected to be featured. The artist credits his detailed proposal as one of the main reasons he was picked. "I gave a specific description of what materials I would use, approximately how much it would cost, how much it would weigh, and all of the sketches," said Velazquez. He also had all of the photos of the original sculpture. "Of course, there is nothing better than having photographs of your work."

Once his proposal was approved, Velazquez had only six weeks to construct the work. He worked well into the night to finish the project on time. All while still working at his day job, as the lab assistant for Santa Barbara City College's Department of Art.

Paper Airplane is not Velazquez's only piece that the CCS community may recognize. He may have taken one of the best photographs of the CCS building, which the College has used on many occasions, and constructed a sculpture of an owl in honor of Bruce Tiffney, CCS Dean Emeritus, that is located at the front entrance to the CCS building. Velazquez described his inspiration for that sculpture: "I heard that he was going to retire from CCS being the dean, and I thought it would be nice to do something for him to celebrate the years that he gave to CCS." While he was a student, Velazquez would often be working in the CCS building late into the night, and he would see Tiffney working in the Dean’s office. "I always had the thought, in the back of my head, that he was like an owl due to his wisdom and late hours in the CCS building. […] It was the first thing that clicked into my head."

After the State of the Art Gallery closes in June, the fate of Paper Airplane is uncertain. There are some preliminary plans to be exhibited in more locations across Santa Barbara County, but Velazquez hopes he can find a buyer soon. "It is just too heavy to keep moving it from place to place."