Art department shows off
The Church Fine Arts Building hosted more than its usual art displays Tuesday night.
To celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the building, the art department invited the public to take a deeper look at the works inside.
The Front Door Gallery had an art and silent auction of student works. The theater department guided visitors around the back stage of the theatre. The University Percussion Ensemble let visitors to sneak a close-up look at their practices and instruments.
Students donated all the art being sold. Proceeds went to either the art department or the ceramics club’s trip to a national conference in Philadelphia. The works ranged from black and white linoleum prints to sky blue ceramic luminaries.
Gariono Casale, a 20-year-old education major who took an art class for fun, donated his black-and-white print to the sell.
“It helps the art department, which is always in need,” he said. “Besides, family members already got theirs, so I thought I’d give the rest away.”
Sophomores Alicia Kelly and Chelsey Norton came to the event after seeing a flier and said they enjoyed the visual aspect of the event.
“I love how opinionated the work is,” Norton, a 20-year-old psychology major, said. “You can tell someone had something to say. I would have underestimated this if I hadn’t seen it and I hadn’t known about it.”
Kelly, an art major, said she even learned something from the displays.
“I found out about a class that I didn’t even know we had,” Kelly said.
For the theater tour, Professor Jim Bernardi and technical director Matthew McKinney guided visitors around the stage, set for the upcoming “Trojan Women.” Participants were led through the production areas behind the stage, from the green room with graffiti from past theatrical casts to the set production shop, where they saw a 20-foot frame that allows students to paint the top of scenery without ladders. Visitors also got a glimpse at the dressing rooms and the rows of costume storage under the stage.
Before costumes end up in storage, they’re designed and crafted by students in the costume shop. Sketches for costume ideas and ties in every color hung on a rack in the corner.
Bernardi said there are currently more students interested in acting classes than there are slots for them.
“For every one student we accept into a class, we turn one student away,” he said. “People figure this is a time in life they can experiment. When they get out of school, life takes over and then they say, ‘I’ve always wanted to do that’.”
The musical representation of the night began with a musical petting zoo. Visitors were invited on stage by director Andrew Hegland. He explained how certain instruments worked and handed over the mallets, giving visitors a chance to play.
Later, Hegland introduced the University Percussion Ensemble and their instruments one-by one, from the tinny, metallic xylophone to the boom of the concert bass drums.
At 8 p.m., the group performed, with pieces ranging from an adaptation of Claude Debussy’s piano preludes to a fanfare-type song accompanied by dancers.
C.J. Walters, associate director of programming and marketing for the school of the arts, began planning the event last spring. She said the success of event may lead into similar projects in the future.
“Our initial conversations seem like it’s a good thing for us to do,” Walters said. “It seems people were more enthusiastic about things they could actually participate in, so that may need some tweaking.”
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