Toilet Paper Art Sculpture Revolutionizes Art Department, Senior Projects

By Alex McComas

Professors and Chair members of the Art Department have found themselves unable to afford proper supplies for Art majors, and have resorted to various menial tasks for meeting minimal funds. The problem remains, however, that Art students have been left to ‘fend for themselves’, attempting to expand their portfolios in whichever ways they can manage without accessible materials. Some have tried striping trees for bark, only to be fined by DPS for destruction of public property. A number of students have attempted to steal chalk from professors and record their creations on sidewalk squares, but the recent rain has made this practice ineffective.

One student in particular, however, has finally found success in her Senior Project, inspiration striking her a week ago in the place where most inspiration is found; in the quiet solitude of the porcelain throne, student Michaela Anjelo discovered, in her desperation, the marvelous capacity of a medium previously undiscovered.

“Well, I was using the bathroom, and I had been worrying all day about how I was going to complete my senior project by the deadline. I don’t have any money, no one does anymore… It was at that thought that I went to grab some toilet paper. Well, that’s when it hit me! “ Anjelo exclaimed, “It IS paper, after all, right? I figured I didn’t have any other options, so I’m going to make sculptures out of toilet paper!”

Anjelo was sporting new clothes, a currently rare luxury for most Gettysburg students, when we spoke with her, having found some success in the artistic market for her designs. An art major with focus in sculpting, Anjelo describes that she worked feverishly through the night with her new found inspiration.

“My only setback,” Anjelo reports, “was my angry dorm mates the next morning that needed to use the restroom.”

Angry dorm mates aside, Anjelo was delighted in the success of her installation, now on display at Schmucker Art Gallery, entitled, “The Loo and the Loop; The Artistic Manifestation of Societal Quandary.” Her work earned her a total 25 dollars from a sympathetic art enthusiast.

“I feel as if my real motivator for these pieces was my economical situation at the time,” explained Anjelo. “I was so hungry. I’d resorted to eating .33 cent Ramen bowls for every meal. It was terrible. But, for the first time since the economic collapse, I had Progresso soup last night. It was like a taste of heaven in a desert; an Americanized, Japanese desert.”

Anjelo reports that she will be continuing her work just as soon as the cleaning facilities return through her dorm to restock the toilet tissue. Until then, Anjelo is experimenting with hardened tooth paste figurines and customized soap dispensers.