Artist Sarah Grant came to the Small Animal Clinic to install two carved and painted wooden sculptures and nine panels Friday.

“I decided we were going to do something like a totem pole where the animal and the vet are intertwined and become one,” Grant said about the sculptures that were being installed by the front entrance.

Her designs were inspired by talking to the veterinarians about their lives, knowing what the staff and students of the facility wanted the space to do, as well as history. People and their pets have a bond of love, she said.

“Anyone who would be coming [to the Small Animal Clinic] believes strongly in that relationship,” she said.

Grant wanted to show the animal kingdom in its entirety and not just small animals.

“Looking at animals from all parts of the world and all sorts of habitats might get your mind off the fact that your puppy is sick,” she said of the panels that adorned the wall in the waiting area.

Research for the art project started in late 2010, and went on to the composition phase as Grant and employees of Sticks, an art company she founded, planned how they were going to lay out the panels, the drawing of which they completed this summer.

“The sculpture pieces were started the first of July and we’re just finished today,” she said.

All the time spent on the creation reaped the result she wished for.

“It’s exactly what I visualized,” Grant said.

Staff at the Small Animal Clinic was pleased, too.

“It is very impressive, with all the colors,” said Bronte Soss, night clerk at the clinic. “I would recommend other people to have Sticks do their designs.”

Upon being asked for suggestions for ISU design students, Grant said to take as many classes as possible on subjects completely unrelated to design.

“You’re going to be servicing people who are in different businesses and industries, and everyone’s home is different and everybody’s interests are different,” she said.

The more you know about people and the activities in the world, the more you’ll be able to tell their stories, give messages or attain your objective through your design, she said.

“So don’t be afraid to take a class you think you might hate that has nothing to do with art,” Grant said. “Because it will feed in to your storytelling.”

Grant started Sticks, an art company that specializes in furniture, accesories and object art, in 1992.

“It is really interesting and exciting,” she said about being in the art business.

She is able to fulfill her dream of making art and understand her customers, business and marketing.

“We do a lot of work for specific people who have a specific request – whether it’s a place like the vet school or a children’s hospital or it’s you wanting us to do a dining table and tell your whole family’s story, with your own cats and dogs on it, the fact that you like to cook and ski and whatever it is you do, and with family sayings,” she said.

“I don’t know all the customers who are going to be coming to this vet school, and I don’t know all the people that work here, but I know that we made something that they’re going to enjoy,” Grant said. “And that’s really cool.”