Esther Candari, a student from Kaneohe, Hawaii, majoring in Visual Arts, completed a sculpture of the apostle Peter and presented it as a gift to President John Tanner and the University as a “small token of gratitude for all he does to help achieve the mission and vision of this special place.”
“Esther is a very dedicated and passionate student of the arts. She is equally gifted as a sculptor as well as a painter,” says Dr. Jeffrey B. Merrill, a professor of visual arts at BYU–Hawaii.
Candari presented the project during the University’s Undergraduate Research Conference this year. Her sculpture acts as a representation from the Visual Arts program and her gratitude for the special spirit President Tanner and his wife Susan have brought to BYU–Hawaii. She dedicated over a hundred hours of work into the sculpture. “I decided to create a sculpture of Peter as a project for a New Testament class,” she explained, “and Peter is someone I have always connected very personally with.” She added that she relates to Peter’s impulsiveness, insatiable inquisitiveness, and courage, “And I have always been inspired by his rise from very humble beginnings.”
The annual Undergraduate Research Conference gives BYU–Hawaii students from all disciplines the opportunity to showcase and present research and developed areas of expertise, and to prepare them for similar situations in the workforce or in graduate school.
