How do you express the seriousness of hunger in the Inland Empire?
A Riverside artist found 16,553 ways.
That’s the number of cardboard spoons that make up an art installation assembled at La Sierra University in Riverside.
Rebecca Waring-Crane, an artist in residence at the private Seventh-day Adventist campus, created a massive display in which the spoons hang from strings inside the Zapara School of Business lobby.
La Sierra University artist in residence Rebecca Waring-Crane holds a cardboard spoon with her name cut out in as she works on her art installation featuring 16,553 cardboard spoons in Riverside on Thursday, March 27, 2025. Each spoon represents individuals struggling with food insecurity. The artwork is in the lobby of the university’s Zapara School of Business. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Artist in residence Rebecca Waring-Crane takes photos Thursday, March 27, 2025, of her artwork made of cardboard spoons in the lobby of the Zapara School of Business at La Sierra University in Riverside. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Silhouettes of some of the more than 16,000 cardboard spoons in Rebecca Waring-Crane’s art installation at Riverside’s La Sierra University are seen Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Volunteer Natasha Dean Moyron, right, celebrates the completion Thursday, March 27, 2025, of artist in residence Rebecca Waring-Crane’s art installation featuring more than 16,000 cardboard spoons in the lobby of the Zapara School of Business at La Sierra University. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Volunteer Joshua Dielmann, helps hang cardboard spoons Thursday, March 27, 2025, for an art installation inside the lobby of the Zapara School of Business at La Sierra University in Riverside. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Volunteer Kyliee Sanchez, 12, hangs spoons Thursday, March 27, 2025, as she helps artist in residence Rebecca Waring-Crane complete an art installation in the lobby of the Zapara School of Business at La Sierra University in Riverside. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Artist Rebecca Waring-Crane hangs the last 100 cardboard spoons for her art installation that features more than 16,000 cardboard spoons in the lobby of the Zapara School of Business at La Sierra University in Riverside on Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Rebecca Waring-Crane works with volunteers to hang cardboard spoons for her art installation in the lobby of the Zapara School of Business at La Sierra University in Riverside on Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Artist in residence Rebecca Waring-Crane hangs the last 100 cardboard spoons Thursday, March 27, 2025, on her art installation of more than 16,000 spoons at the Zapara School of Business at La Sierra University in Riverside. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Artist Rebecca Waring-Crane looks Thursday, March 27, 2025, for places to hang the last 100 cardboard spoons for her art installation in the lobby of the Zapara School of Business at La Sierra University in Riverside. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Volunteer Jennifer Helbley, right, hangs spoons for Rebecca Waring-Crane’s art installation in the lobby of the Zapara School of Business at La Sierra University in Riverside on Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Spoons dangle Thursday, March 27, 2025, in an art installation by artist in residence Rebecca Waring-Crane in the lobby of the Zapara School of Business at Riverside’s La Sierra University. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
La Sierra University artist in residence Rebecca Waring-Crane hangs the last 100 cardboard spoons for her 16,000-plus cardboard spoon art installation in Riverside on Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Artist Rebecca Waring-Crane, right, shows husband Ken Crane her art piece featuring more than 16,000 cardboard spoons in the lobby of the Zapara School of Business at La Sierra University in Riverside on Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
La Sierra University artist in residence Rebecca Waring-Crane holds a cardboard spoon with her name cut into it Thursday, March 27, 2025, as she works on an art installation at the private Riverside university. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Artist in residence Rebecca Waring-Crane takes photos Thursday, March 27, 2025, of her art installation featuring more than 16,000 cardboard spoons. Each spoon represents individuals struggling with food insecurity to highlight the issue of hunger in the Inland Empire. The piece is in the lobby of the Zapara School of Business at Riverside’s La Sierra University. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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La Sierra University artist in residence Rebecca Waring-Crane holds a cardboard spoon with her name cut out in as she works on her art installation featuring 16,553 cardboard spoons in Riverside on Thursday, March 27, 2025. Each spoon represents individuals struggling with food insecurity. The artwork is in the lobby of the university’s Zapara School of Business. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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Teaming up with the nonprofit Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino, Waring-Crane got statistics on food insecurity in Riverside and San Bernardino counties and lined up volunteers.
Then she went to work.
Each spoon represents children “struggling with food insecurity and aims to bring awareness to the issues of hunger in the IE,” Rachel Bonilla, a spokesperson for the local Feeding America, wrote in an email.
The installation, called “Article 24,” will be unveiled Thursday, April 24.
The art piece takes its name from Article 24 of the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, “which states a child’s right to the highest attainable standard of health, including access to adequate nutrition,” Bonilla wrote.
The number of spoons comes from a local statistic — that 16,553 elementary school children in Riverside qualified for free or discounted lunches in the 2022-23 school year. The spoons, created by Waring-Crane and volunteers, are suspended so guests can walk underneath them — atop mats with more statistics on food insecurity.
The spoons, made of cardboard from food packages like cereal boxes, dangle above statistics such as:
A 1% drop in hunger saves California $600 million in prevented healthcare costs.
In 2023, California declared food a human right, but the state has no plan to ensure the right.
For Waring-Crane, officially known as the “creative in residence” at the business school, it’s the second art project on Inland Empire hunger.
Her first, also at La Sierra’s business school, came in January and was dubbed “Empty.” It featured ceramic spoons suspended over an empty ceramic bowl. Each spoon symbolized 10 students in the Alvord Unified School District, which serves western Riverside and nearby areas, who face food insecurity, according to Bonilla.
The new project aims to “create an immersive experience that will inspire action to be taken in some form against hunger in Riverside,” Bonilla wrote.
An opening reception is set for 5 pm. Thursday, April 24, at the Zapara Business School on campus, 4500 Riverwalk Parkway. The public can view the art piece weekdays, between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, and from 9 a.m. to noon on Fridays.
It’s free to attend the event and see the artwork, which will be up until June.
To schedule an “artist walk” with Waring-Crane, email her at rwaringcrane@gmail.com.
