FSU Art Professor Selected to Coordinate Project
Soni Martin, a Professor of Art at Fayetteville State University (FSU), was selected to be coordinator for N.C. Veterans’ Park- the Casting of 500 Hands. For the project, Professor Martin developed the process to cast hands from the 100 counties across North Carolina.
As one of the artists and the coordinator, Martin selected the seven additional artists for the project. The process includes casting one hand of a veteran from each county to be casted in bronze for the Wall of Oath and four hands from each county, to be casted in concrete, for 50 columns being constructed. Two FSU visual art students, Marcela Casals and Aaron Wallace, both with a concentration in sculpture, are working on the project. Amanda Stephens, an FSU alumna and graduate student in sculpture at Western Carolina University, is also assisting. Dwight Smith, an instructor in the Department of Performing and Fine Arts at FSU, was also selected to work on the project. The N.C. Veteran’s Park dedication is scheduled for July 4, 2011.
Martin has been on the FSU faculty since 1991. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Painting from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and a Master of Fine Arts in Studio Arts from the University of North Carolina at Greensbooro. An advocate for the arts locally and in the region for 20 years, Martin is the recipient of the 2007 Sam Ragan Fine Arts Award presented by St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg. She was FSU’s 2003-04 Teach of the Year, and was the 2002-2003 recipient of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors Excellence in Teaching Award.
Martin continues to be a producing artist and has received many private and corporate commissions and has exhibited regionally and nationally. Recently, she has been invited to participate in a group exhibtion that will open in Japan in 2011.
FSU is the second-oldest public institution in North Carolina. A member of the University of North Carolina System, FSU has more than 6,300 students and offers degrees in 70 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
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