(Above: Andy Salzman’s sculpture class at Lane Community College has created a set of whimsical, huge chess pieces out of cardboard and paper; photo by Paul Carter)

By Randi Bjornstad

For the most part, we tend to think these days of cardboard and brown paper as waste to be recycled, if we’re good, and tossed into the landfill without another thought, if we’re not.

But 15-year Lane Community College instructor Andreas “Andy” Salzman and his sculpture class came up with a better idea for this spring term’s construction class. They put their heads together, divided up the work, and among the 19 students — and one instructor — created a giant chess set with pieces that vary from a fantastically beautiful bishop to three pawns in the shapes of a rooster, a rat terrier dog and a squirrel that have a place in one student’s life to a pair of knights that together show the chaos and ultimate futility of war.

A fanastically intricate bishop was one of the pieces created by a student in the class; photo by Randi Bjornstad

Salzman was wowed by the results on June 6 as he met with his students not to critique, but to celebrate, the fruits of their imaginations and their ability to translate them into three-dimensional creations.

The first one up created two pawns for the dark side of the giant chessboard marked out with colored tape squares on the floor of the sunlit atrium in LCC’s Building 10.

“My concept for the pawns was nighttime, a commentary on my sleep disorder and my experience being transgendered,” the student said.

“I understand,” Salzman said as he looked at the pieces. “The first one is really compact and looking inward. The second has spectacular imagery, as it expands outward with a lot of energy.”

“Spectacular was a word the enthusiastic instructor used often as he praised the class’s work, from a king and queen created by twin girls in the class who portrayed the queen as tall and stately and powerful and the king as short, a bit dumpy and definitely not the dominant member of the pair.

“I love the way (the king) looks as if he’s more concerned about the way he looks than his leadership skills,” Salzman said. “And the way she appears to (exert) more power, but they still are definitely a couple. Her shoulders, hands and arms have a feeling of movement, and her height compared to his says a lot about their relationship.”

The student with the three animal pawns explained her approach with a laugh.

Instructor Andy Salzman was amazed by his students’ artistry in creating huge chess pieces from cardboard and paper

“Every morning, I let the dog out, and it immediately chases after the squirrels and the chickens,” she said. “That gave me the idea of using them all into chess pieces.”

Salzman loved the idea, “for the visual line that they make, and also for the story that goes along with them.”

After going through the merits of each piece on the chessboard, the students divided themselves into teams and actually played a game, moving the sometimes unwieldy pieces from square to square as they would move in a real chess match.

As they played, other students looked on from common areas around the atrium, obviously entranced by the spectacle.

“When we started this project, we sat in a group and talked about who would do what,” Salzman said. “At the beginning, getting them to talk and getting them to collaborate was hard, but I tried to leave it with them, and I’m amazed at what they came up with, without me always having to be in the middle.”

Chess pieces from cardboard and paper

What: A project created for instructor Andy Salzman’s sculpture class atLane Community College

When: Through June 8

Where: In the atrium of Building 10 on the Lane Community College main campus at 4000 E. 30th Ave.

Information: 541-463-5809

After presenting their creations, students in Andy Salzman’s sculpture class played a real game of chess using their creations; photo by Paul Carter