The Coleman Center for the Arts and Culture

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Kris Harzinski, SIGNAL

SIGNAL is a site-specific installation. The piece entails 30 handcrafted cardboard airplanes hanging from a hanger at the old airport. The idea was inspired from Kris’s family obsession with aviation—his late grandfather, his father, and his brother are pilots. This obsession, coupled with his emotional response at seeing York’s abandoned airport inspired his memorial.

"The simple act of air travel seems to mirror the complex act of living a life," says Harzinski. "This includes such things as: journeying, waiting, returning home, and constantly arriving and departing. The title SIGNAL refers to the idea that every arrival throughout a person’s life ‘signals’ an eventual departure. Life can be seen as a series of eventual arrivals and departures; from arriving at birth and departing at death, to the constant coming and going while running errands on a Saturday afternoon. In the same way, this metaphor holds true for the growth and change of cities"

Harzinzki is a resident of Lancaster, Pennsylvania and specializes in sculpture. He received his BFA from University of Nebraska in Omaha and MFA from Pennsylvania State University. He has taught sculpture at several schools, including (ironically) a Pennsylvanian institution named York College. Mr. Harzinski’s work has shown in a number of exhibits. Outside the Centers was a traveling display that presented his work at various museums throughout Pennsylvania. His work has also shown at Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art in Colorado and the Plains Art Museum in Fargo, North Dakota.