'Thousand Cranes Project' inspires GBC art work in solarium

ELKO — A new art piece hangs in the Great Basin College solarium. One thousand hand-folded cranes dangle on strings from a welded metal base depicting hands folded in prayer.

The piece holds intentional symbolism behind its imagery, stemming from GBC's commitment to cultural outreach.

On Nov. 4, GBC faculty held a dedication event in the solarium, inviting the Elko community to attend.

It is tied to the college's celebration in May of Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, when it launched its "Thousand Cranes Project."

"The underlying question explored through the project is universal: How do you sustain hope in the face of adversity?" GBC Humanities Center coordinator Gail Rappa noted.

"The project grew from a conversation with Frank Sawyer in 2022 into a multimedia, multi-day, one-act theater production, taiko drum performance, panel discussion, community reading, paper lantern painting and origami crane folding event," she explained.

And from there, it inspired the sculpture.

"In Japanese culture, folding 1,000 origami cranes, or senbazuru, symbolizes hope, peace and healing," Rappa said. "Dozens of GBC community members, students and employees from all GBC campuses participated in folding and stringing the 1,000 cranes that you see here today. The custom metal top, designed and constructed by GBC's own welding students, is their interpretation of the project's theme of hope, resilience and remembrance."

She praised the work of GBC facilities director Jeff Winrod and the buildings and grounds team.

Rappa dedicated the mobile to University of Nevada, Las Vegas, professors Patricia Navarro Velez, Jerry Cha-Jan Chang and Naoko Takemaru, who died in a December 2023 shooting on campus.

Karissa Sena-Fadenrecht, a GBC student and Phi Theta Kappa Division IV international vice president, explained how the real-life story of Sadako Sasaki is still relevant today.

"The story of 'Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes' tells the story of a Japanese girl who was 3 years old when the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. At age 12, she was diagnosed with leukemia. Inspired by the Japanese legend, Sadako was determined to fold 1,000 origami cranes. Hoping to recover from her illness, Sadako folded 1,400 paper cranes before she passed away in 1955. Sadako's story has rippled across time as thousands of nimble fingers have folded origami cranes in the name of peace," she said.

"Sharing stories of historic events like this helps us examine parallels within our own lives. And within this exploration, we let empathy unfold. Sadako's story empowers us to stand up, stand strong and fight for justice and peace for all," Sena-Fadenrecht said. "Even today, Sadako's story shines a light on Japanese internment camps and the atrocities of war."

GBC Interim President Amber Donnelli gave "a special shout out to our Phi Theta Kappa chapter in their hard work, dedication and countless hours spent bringing this vision to life, decorating their office areas with many, many cranes."

"I would also like to recognize our welding students," she added.

Welding technology student Anton Mesna explained how his team constructed the metal section of the art piece.

"We had to roll the outer ring and then cut it to fit it and attack it. Then, we put the flange on the bottom and drilled holes through it so we could attach the little gussets for the birds to hang on and then tack all the birds up to it."

Elios Ruiz said for his role in the project, he "grinded the birds out, just to make sure they were all shiny and nice and [to] make them stand out."

The team used a plasma cutter to manufacture metal shapes for the art piece.

One GBC welder explained how students ensured the metal base was structurally solid. "There's a big gap, so we had to put a backing plate on it — and then weld that, grind it flush and then blend it in and make it look good."

Sena-Fadenrecht explained her own role in the art project along with her organizational role with the honor society.

"My leadership role is international," she said. "I oversee all the colleges on the western coast here — though I'm more of a member — but it is a lot of helping support them, getting through papers and things like that," she said.

"For this project, I helped inventory the cranes. I helped put them in the rainbow, I helped string them, anything that the humanities department needed," Sena-Fadenrecht said.

Donnelli explained what it takes to oversee a project like the crane piece.

"It has some key players who help pull everything together and it takes a lot of different groups. And as you heard, we had the welding students, we had [Phi Theta Kappa], we had people from within the community. We had faculty and staff — because folding those cranes is a lot of work — and then the planning of how to pull this together," she said.

"It's absolutely beautiful — but a lot of collaboration, a lot of time and lots of meetings to figure out how we could make this work," Donnelli said.

They even needed to consult Buildings and Grounds to make sure the art piece was structurally safe, she added. "Because, just the base of it is 44 pounds."

Sawyer explained the collaborative way in which he helped the project come together.

"Gail Rappa, who I've known for a couple of decades now, has wanted to see two particular shows done," Sawyer said. "She presented one, which was 'Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)' and then the other one was 'A Thousand Cranes.' And she went into some detail about it and it was an amazing story."

He said he's been in Elko "on and off" for 40 years.

"This community project has been absolutely the most meaningful. And I'm just glad I know this lady, because she's got a huge heart," he said of Rappa.

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