BLOOMINGTON - Miles Bair, director of the Illinois Wesleyan University School of Art, was looking over student Chris Killham's work last year and made a suggestion: "He said, 'You should work larger, make things bigger,'" the IWU senior recalled Tuesday. | Photo gallery | Video

"Well, I decided to run with it, you know, rub it in - and I've just made this ridiculously large," he said.

Killham's "Hugs & Kisses, Abe" uses more than 6,000 neon-colored Post-it Notes adhered to 105 posterboards to re-create a straight-ahead stare from America's 16th president.

On Tuesday, he set the entire installation out on the floor of the IWU Hansen Student Center's main floor as a practice run for an exhibit in April on campus.

"This is the first time I've spread the whole thing out, seen it all together," said the 22-year-old from Chicago. He looked over the second-floor balcony, resting his arms on the railing.

On Tuesday, students passing through the student center couldn't help but see the gargantuan image.

Aaron Gierhart, an IWU junior, was sitting on a couch waiting for some other education students when he saw Killham spreading out the posters.

"I caught it out of the corner of my eye. At first, I couldn't figure out what he was doing," said Gierhart, 21, of Rock Falls. "I was very curious. I thought, 'Maybe it's a map,' and then, 'Maybe it's Einstein.'"

Gierhart walked upstairs to view it over the railing. Then he called his friend, Amy Grelck, a fellow education major. "I knew she had a camera, and I wanted a picture of this," he said.

"He said it was a picture of Post-It Notes, but I had no idea what to expect," Grelck said. "It's so cool," she added.

The future teachers said a class they're now enrolled in is focusing on teaching art to children. Young students don't always realize art materials can be more than crayons and paintbrushes, Grelck said.

"But, look - there's Abraham Lincoln made out of Post-It Notes," she said.

Gierhart said if he were a teacher he'd love to bring his class to view the artwork, which also could be integrating history and art in one lesson, he said.

It took Killham about 30 minutes to assemble the work Tuesday, and it was on display for about two hours.

But creating the artwork took nearly a year. Killham said he began last summer with an idea.

He traces it to a traditional black-and-white image of Lincoln. The artist re-assigned the shades to Post-It Notes' standard colors. "Black became pink; gray, orange; and white, yellow," said Killham.

Next, he used some math and a computer program to create a grid system to lay over the image.

Post-It Notes proved to be an ideal material because they were inexpensive and could be used to create the mosaic style he sought.

Since last summer, he's spent Sunday afternoons building the posters, he said. Pasting the Post-it Notes to boards made the incomplete project mobile, he said.

If you didn't stop by Hansen on Tuesday, don't fret: "Hugs & Kisses, Abe" will be displayed at IWU again, starting April 7.

The student says he's most influenced by pop artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein and Art Nouveau painter Alfonse Mucha. But he also credits his development as an artist to an addiction to bad science-fiction films such as "Plan 9 From Outer Space," cartoons like "Venture Brothers," and film noir favorites like "The Maltese Falcon."

His favorite movie, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" ties all of those together, Killham said.

So, how does a historic figure such as Lincoln fit in that mix?

"There were a lot of reasons for choosing Lincoln" as the subject, Killham said.

Growing up in Illinois and spending the past four years in Bloomington, where Lincoln practiced law as a circuit rider, has meant Lincoln is an ever-present iconic celebrity. But he also figured creating a piece on Illinois' favorite son was timely.

"Next year is his 200th birthday, and the celebrations are being planned everywhere. And this year's an election year, too, so there is a political aspect to it," said Killham, who will graduate in May with a bachelor in fine arts, and a concentration in painting.

Even using Post-It Notes carries meaning.

"Lincoln's an important footnote in history," Killham said. "But this is the present: People can't just be so reliant on him as an icon and say, 'Oh, he was so great.' They should do something themselves."

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Art on display

What: Illinois Wesleyan University Senior Art Exhibition

When: April 7 to April 22. Gallery hours are noon to 4 p.m. weekdays; 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays; and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

Where: Merwin & Wakeley Galleries, School of Art, Illinois Wesleyan University, 6 Ames Plaza West, Bloomington.

Highlights: Exhibit will include works by eight IWU senior art majors, including Chris Killham's "Hugs & Kisses, Abe."

Information: Call (309) 556-3822 or visit www.iwu.edu.