In a room filled with giant wood sculptures and art swinging from the ceiling, students find themselves in awe of the larger than life art pieces created by artist Paul Vexler.

Vexler uses wood to make suspended sculptures for certain sites, and gallery shows or collections. His art is currently on display through March 5 at EvCC’s Russel Day Gallery. On his website Vexler says, “I like to push the limits of my medium and work in unconventional ways, which also means that I often create new tools and methods.”

“I have admired the work of Paul Vexler for years,” said the Russel Day Gallery director Greg Kammer, “He is a nationally known sculptor who is as involved in art education locally. He loves to work with students and has worked with design students in the past.”

Malisa Suljic, a student at EvCC said, “I just found out about his work and I love it. I think it would be incredibly difficult to work with wood. To be able to take wood and sculpt it into something that can hang without breaking is amazing to me. I love this art.”

Here at EvCC, there are five different sculptures of Vexler’s hanging in the student fitness center. When asked about how he got started with EvCC, Vexler said, “My mentor used to go to this school (EvCC), Dick Roberson. He recommended that I stop here.”

The Russell Day Gallery currently has five sculptures on display by the names of  “Nothing is Unstable,” “Barber Pole,” “Metropolitan,” “Cobra” and “Vessel.”

EvCC Laura Deno said, “I passed by and it’s just gorgeous stuff. I wanted to stay because I cannot get enough of that one.” She said as she pointed to the sculpture called “Nothing is Unstable.” “It is just so pretty and it makes me think of music. I like them all. They are just so fluid,” Deno added.

Along with the wooden sculptures, Vexler set up a station for students to try and build their own tiny sculpture model. Vexler uses models to help himself build his wooden sculptures. “There are examples of how I use paper tape to help me visualize ribbon sculptures, and I use other model making materials.” Vexler added, “The big projects can take up to a year and sometimes I can do it in a day. It all depends.”

Student Chloe Lydon was building little models the exhibit and said, “I think it gets us more engaged and maybe opens up our creative side. It is nice to walk inside and see art.” She also said, “It looked cool and I might take a few art classes because it is so beautiful.”

Vexler said, “I like to make things that I enjoy looking at and what other people enjoy looking at. I always liked to build things and I’ve been building things all my life. I like to build buildings, furniture, and I like to make art pieces.”

On the Russell Day Gallery website Vexler’s says, “ The thought of people “enjoying” my work really does not convey my intent when I make a sculpture. You can call me old fashioned, but I truly believe that the purpose of fine art is to evoke aesthetic experiences, both for the artist as he or she creates the work and for the viewer.”