Jack Catlett ‘23 is using art in his personal and academic life to bring communities together and spread environmental awareness.
Catlett is a product design major in the Art, Architecture, and Design department and the recipient of last year’s Theodore U. Horger ‘61 Award. He said he is leaning into the art realm at this stage of his college career.
Catlett added two sculptures to the Millennium Folk Arch Art Enclave atop Lehigh’s Hill.
He said he discovered the enclave by accident during his first year, and it became a special place he visited frequently.
As an independent study, he wanted to add to the enclave before he left Lehigh, so he got in contact with retired professor Norman Girardot, who started it in 1999, and received permission from him. He said getting permission from the university was more convoluted, but he reached out to many people and ended up being able to do it. He said he made sure to pursue the project in a way that respected the space.
He created a stylized figure using welded steel armature, chicken wire, concrete and stucco. He added glass eyes made in the Banana Factory’s glass studio.
“My art revolves around those figures, which I use as an expression of humans,” Catlett said. “Any sort of concept that I want to express through my art, I express through those figures.”
His second sculpture is an oversized seashell with apple trees coming out of them.
“I wanted the theme to be growth,” he said. “Being on a campus, I wanted it to be something that engaged the Lehigh community–that's why they’re apple trees. My hopes were that it created another reason for students to want to go out there in the future as a recurring thing.”
Catlett said he views these sculptures as his legacy at Lehigh and something he can always come back to see once he graduates.
This figure is also the main image in Catlett’s clothing brand Aminal, which he started four years ago. He said he became interested in Adobe programs and created digital designs to go on clothes. Since then, his products have evolved into painting on clothing–each item presented as a unique art piece, instead of pumping out digital prints.
When he creates his products, he buys clothes wholesale or thrifts them, as he is trying to move towards purchasing upcycled clothing. This reflects the meaning behind Aminal: strides toward making others more open-minded and aware. One facet of this is environmental consciousness.
“The meaning behind Aminal is kind of hidden, but I want people to be more self-aware and mindful of the environment,” he said. “It’s integrated in all of the work I do in, maybe, an abstracted way, but that's the message I want people to take away from it all.”
Last spring, Catlett held a pop-up shop in the enclave for an Aminal collection. He said he hopes to do so again, and he is trying to navigate permissions from the university.
Catlett’s most recent work was an animation projected onto a tree.
In addition to another collection, he is working on an animation for Aminal, which was self-taught through YouTube videos, plaster minifigures to put on the Mountaintop Campus and an honors project that will take the form of a large interactive, immersive installation to go on the Clayton University Center front lawn.
“I hope that I can continue to do art and have a sustainable living from it,” Catlett said. “I hope that Aminal can grow so more people are able to to see my artwork, and I hope that I can change people's perspectives to live more open-minded lives."