The Weatherspoon’s To the Hoop ended in the best way possible—with kids geared up for fun.
Those visitors who got to see the exhibition will remember the commanding presence of artist David Huffman’s sculpture Akhet 1, a monumental pyramid built from 650 basketballs. From its inception, Huffman envisioned the work as a social piece—one that would literally go out into the community in the form of donations to youth sports organizations at the close of the show.
On Tuesday, November 24, WAM staff and volunteers made that happen, as the pyramid was disassembled and the balls bagged and loaded into vehicles bound for Triad area Boys & Girls Clubs. Along with the balls, we sent a photograph of the pyramid and the following description written for the kids:
When making this artwork, artist David Huffman was thinking about challenges. The sculpture is made in the form of a pyramid-like the ancient buildings in Egypt. But, instead of bricks, this one is built from 650 basketballs! Think about how much work would go into building a giant pyramid. That same kind of effort can go into all sorts of things that we do—like practicing basketball and playing our hardest, learning a new subject or skill, or going someplace we’ve never been. If you were able to visit the basketball pyramid in person, you would have heard two different sounds coming from it: a recording of Martin Luther King Jr. reading his famous “I Have a Dream” speech and a recording of sounds from outer space. Working towards making our world a better place, like Dr. King, or reaching new worlds, like astronauts, also takes a lot of effort.
Each time you play with one of the basketballs from this artwork, you can remember that the artist wanted us to be inspired to work hard and do big things.
It’s always bittersweet to see an exhibition end, but when we can close it out like this—well, that’s a slam dunk.
