Tag Archives: Art

art time~

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This Studio Thursday was the first one I had been to, and had I known about this weekly event, I would’ve been to many more. For this particular week, us participants were able to make our own linoleum prints. After reading the event description, I had thought the event would simply be a demonstration of how linoleum prints are made (which would’ve been informative for me anyway, because I didn’t know what a linoleum print was before). However, I was pleased to find that we were going to make our own prints.

The event took place in the basement of the Johnson, in a room similar to the art classrooms I always walked by in high school. When I realized that I would get to make a print myself, I was excited, as I hadn’t been sat down and given materials for an arts and crafts activity since I was a pre-teen. The whole experience was vey nostalgic, as the Johnson workers demonstrated what we would be doing. The step-by-step explanation along with an example of a finished linoleum print made me feel as though I was once again a small child, especially because one of the earliest memories I can remember was one of being in a daycare with other three-year-olds listening to an explanation of an art activity.

Having looked at the Studio Thursday event calendar, it seems that art activities are only done on some Thursdays, while art-related discussions are held on others. I found this activity very enjoyable, and intend to attend more Studio Thursdays on activity days.

(artisitics renditions of) poisonous plants

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To be honest, I didn’t read the description of this event before deciding to attend it, so I was expecting an exhibit of actual poisonous plants. As a result, I was questioning the decision to place an entire exhibit of poisonous plants in the Rose dining hall.

When I did show up to the event, I realized that the exhibit was a gallery of art made by students. Because I had been expecting living, poisonous plants, I was at first disappointed. However, I found some of the prints interesting and well done (speaking as someone who isn’t much qualified to criticize art). The professor of the art class (Gregory Page) was present, as well as the man (House Fellow Todd Bittner) who had shown the art students a variety of poisonous plants at the Plantations. They were there to briefly talk about the exhibit and then to discuss and answer questions about the art.

After looking at each of the prints in the exhibit, I approached House Fellow Todd Bittner. I had some questions about the plants he had shown the students. However, I was most interested in whether he had attempted to recognize some of the poisonous plants in the students’ art. I thought that would’ve been a neat post-project interaction between the collaborators, but it seemed that this hadn’t happened.

While I was looking at the exhibit, I thought that it would’ve been nice if each of the prints had a brief description/explanation of the art written by the student. I guess since I had been expecting plants, my desire for informative facts about poisonous plants was left to be sated. I still enjoyed the exhibit though.

When The Art Comes to You

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refugeesa

I’d only been to a few art shows in my life, and have always kept a distance from thinking about pieces in depth. I always felt like an observer who couldn’t quite understand what was going on; someone that could never quite “get it.” I was happy to find out that the Rose Dining Hall was receiving a small collection to keep around for a while.  Walking in on that Wednesday night, I was surprised when I saw a piece at the that caught my attention and held it for some time.

 

Refugees by Nicholas Carbonaro struck me as a powerful piece. In it, three faces are frozen in time and connected with a cloth-like material.  Two of them lean on each other while another is upside down. The faces are solemn, perhaps in deep thought -a moment of respite. The artist mentioned that he crafted this to represent the permanent connection with family can provide solace in a situation as treacherous as a refugee’s. Looking at the piece I felt intrigued by it, wondering what stories contributed to its construction. I think it would have been interesting to have other pieces with this theme shown. For now I’ll stare in wonder during the few weeks it gets to live in our dining hall.