Hamilton Elementary School students were greeted by elaborate chess pieces as they filed into one of the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery’s rooms on Monday morning. 

But the students weren’t there to play chess. They were there to look at, think about and interact with art on a new level. 

After the 34 elementary students were settled in front of the chess pieces, artist Willie Cole came out from behind the proverbial curtain. 

Cole is a prominent African American artist whose sculptures have been exhibited across the globe. Cole’s chessboard piece is called “To Get to the Other Side,” and while it functions as a working chessboard, there are social commentaries on economic and social inequality, as well as race, woven throughout it.

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