Jonathan Brilliant: The Red Stick Piece I Louisiana Art & Science Museum

North Carolina artist Jonathan Brilliant is known for his imaginative site-specific installations composed of ordinary materials found in coffee shops. Working entirely in situ at LASM, he created a sculptural environment using only tension and compression to hold together 50,000 wooden coffee stir sticks and 4,500 coffee cup sleeves provided by Community Coffee. A wall drawing composed of espresso grounds visually linked his rhythmic forms with the movement of the Mississippi River viewed from the gallery window. During his stay, he made several relief prints of woven coffee stir sticks, giving several to the museum’s collection.

Click here to see video of its making

When the installation closed, area children were invited to tear it down and the materials were given to a local public middle school’s talented art program. The students remade the sticks, sleeves, and an additional 5,000 recycled cafeteria sporks into a whimsical 84-foot-long wall installation. Titled Brilliant Solutions, their creations were accompanied by Jonanthan Brilliant’s prints, fragments from his installation, and the installation video.

Jonathan Brillian, The Red Stick Piece at LASM. Image courtesy of the artist; Middle: “Tear-down” party at LASM with area children and parents; Bottom: Mural installation by Gina Dave’s Glasgow Middle School Talented Art students.