Campus Connection

Student restores 90s-era sculpture for placement in new Student Union

Vibrant colored paintings, curving metal sculptures, and other works of art beautify the UWL campus inside and out. Many were created by UWL students throughout the university’s history. As these works age, they sometimes need a little TLC. That’s just what UWL student Travis Trzecinski gave a 1990s-era sculpture during spring semester. He volunteered about 20 hours to give the sculpture of a tree new life. Using metalsmithing and blacksmithing skills he learned from Associate Professor Brad Nichols, Trezencinski repaired the piece UWL alum Hans Ruebel created as a senior art project in 1991. Trzecinski has long made a hobby of restoring and refinishing old vehicles and other machines at his family home in Phillips, Wisconsin. “If it moves, I enjoy working on it,” he says. He carried that on in his military career. After a 9-5 shift as a heavy equipment mechanic at a California military base, he’d head over to the base’s mechanized museum to restore rusty panels and repair drive lines on Vietnam-era military jeeps, and make the M60 tanks run like new again. A clearly smaller scale project, Trezencinski exercised the same care re-welding the leaves on Ruebel’s sculpture to its base and sanding down rust to bare metal before repainting. [caption id="attachment_49078" align="aligncenter" width="685"] Travis Trzecinski estimates he spent about 20 hours restoring the sculpture. Restoration has been a long-term hobby for Trzencinski. During his time in the military, he volunteered to restore old military jeeps and tanks for display in a mechanized museum.[/caption] “It’s such a sense of accomplishment bringing something back to its original life,” he says. “At the end of the day, you know there is something there you’ve done with your hands.” Trzecinski is appreciative of Nichols, associate professor of art, who recommended him for the job and provided support along the way. Nichols was among UWL’s six Eagle Teaching Excellence Award winners announced at the end of the school year. “The staff in the Art Department are phenomenal,” he says. Ruebel’s sculpture part of Cartwright Collection Ruebel’s sculpture was originally purchased by the university to add to the Cartwright Center art collection, which started when the building first opened in 1964. Ruebel’s sculpture — a winding and abstract tree — was located in a corner near the elevator entrance to the second floor of Cartwright Center. It was beginning to rust and lose leaves at its base. Once Trezencinski repaired it, the sculpture was transferred to the lower level of the new Student Union near the recreation area. Other student artwork in Cartwright — primarily paintings — have been moved over to The U as well. The goal is to acquire more student artwork to add to the new building and also label it to acknowledge the artists, says Larry Ringgenberg, director of University Centers. “We have a lot of wonderfully talented students producing art here,” says Ringgenberg. Large art sculpture outside of Cartwright was part of Wisconsin Percent for Art Program While the university purchased Ruebel’s piece, some artwork on campus was acquired through the Wisconsin Percent for Art Program. That includes “Ribbon V,” the large sculpture created in 1985 by Stephen J. Fischer at the northwest entrance of Cartwright Center.