SignalsAZ.com Prescott News Podcast - Prescott Sculptor Examines the Weight of Free Speech

Episode Date: April 17, 2025

Send us a text and chime in!It sits in the center of the gallery. A pile of discarded bricks, and on each brick, a word: Equity, Activist, Community, and many more. Those surveying the pile consider the weight of each word, the role it plays in a free society, and the cost of casting them aside. Words Have Power: Use Them, a stunning exploration of free speech, is a featured sculpture at Yavapai College’s Faculty Art Exhibition, now running through May 9 at the YC Prescott Gallery in the Jim & Linda Lee Performing Arts Center. “Words are building blocks.” Sculptor and YC Faculty member Rita... For the written story, read here >> https://www.signalsaz.com/articles/prescott-sculptor-examines-the-weight-of-free-speech/Check out the CAST11.com Website at: https://CAST11.com Follow the CAST11 Podcast Network on Facebook at: https://Facebook.com/CAST11AZFollow Cast11 Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/cast11_podcast_network

Text to Speech audio articles made possible by Cast 11 Talking Glass Media. It sits in the center of the gallery. A pile of discarded bricks, and on each brick, a word, equity, activist, community, and many more. Those surveying the pile consider the weight of each word, the role it plays in a free society, and the cost of casting them aside. Words have power, use them, a stunning exploration of free speech, is a featured sculpture at Yavapai College's faculty art exhibition, now running through May 9th at the YCp. Prescott Gallery in the gym and Linda Lee Performing Arts Center. Words are building blocks. Sculpter and YC faculty member Rita Toika says, they advance communication, and they are the foundation of language, understanding, and are shared knowledge. With words have power,

use them, Toyka makes a powerful point about free speech. The bricks are a metaphor. Use like words, bricks have weight, are building blocks, and the piles I want to suggest the discarding of them, ruinous. Protecting language and its ability to explore, evaluate, and change is critical to our development. Our interior and exterior landscapes are so much more complex than previously believed, she says. So language continues to evolve to suit our needs as individuals and communities to express this beauty and bring attention to harm so that we may correct it. Using a red folder, a wall mural, and 1,000 pounds of discarded bricks, words have power is the latest work from Toika, a YC faculty instructor whose August installation, hashtag n trafficking, called out the silent scourge of human trafficking in the United States.

Art for social change is always about instigating conversations about issues that can be difficult to talk about, especially when people have differing views. She says, When we consume art, a silent conversation occurs. How did they do this? Or why did they do this? Contending with another person's ideas, coming to terms with them silently, may spark moments of true humility, empathy, and understanding. Words have power, use them as part of Yavapai College's Spring Faculty Art Exhibition, featuring 60 works, including paintings, sculpture, printmaking, multimedia pieces, installation, jewelry, and video art from 18 Yavapai College faculty members. Yisi's Faculty Art Exhibition runs through Friday, May 9th at the Yavapai College Prescott Art

Gallery inside the gym and Linda Lee Performing Arts Center, 1,100 East Sheldon Street, on the Prescott campus. The gallery is open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Admission is free. For exhibit schedules or more information, please call 928, 776.2031 or visit www.w.w.w.com. Yavapai College operates six campuses and centers throughout Yavapai County and offers over 100 degrees and certificates, three baccalaureate degrees, student and community services, and cultural events and activities. To learn more about YC, visit www.YC.org.org. Read more stories from dining, entertainment, recreation, and travel on signalsaz.com. Subscribe and be the F1RSD 2-No.