Cap Times features Abdu’Allah public art collaboration with Madison students
A faculty member and leader in the School of Education recently collaborated with Madison public school students on a public art installation.
Faisal Abdu’Allah, a professor of printmaking in the School of Education’s Art Department, worked with Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) students on “Reach For It,” a public art installation at Madison’s Warner Park Community Recreation Center. The work was featured in a recent story published in the Cap Times.
Abdu’Allah, who is also the School of Education’s associate dean for the arts and innovation, told the Cap Times he wanted the creation to be a true partnership with the students involved, “not me parachuting in creating something detached from their own experiences, but something that was a dance … almost like a piece that was made by a symphony.”
“Reach for It” was unveiled last month. The installation features a sandhill crane’s phases of flight, silhouettes of human figures painted with a sandhill crane inside the sun, a figure shooting a basketball into a hoop, and a pathway leading to Lady Liberty.
The title “Reach For It” came from the idea that inside each person is the desire to “reach for something,” Abdu’Allah told the Cap Times.