Con Lounge Merges the Worlds of Music and Art
by Faith Richards

Although the Conservatory of Music may seem like a world in itself with little or nothing to do with students who are only enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences, there is a new effort on campus to combine the world of musicians with the world of artists in the College.
A committee of three students and a faculty advisor are working to bring visual artwork produced by students into a space in the Conservatory lounge that was redesigned last year just for this purpose. The lounge is visited every day by students, members of the community and people from all over the world. This makes it an ideal place for the public display of artwork.
The large lounge is surrounded on two sides by walls made almost entirely of windows looking out over a picturesque pond. One of the other walls contains a bulletin board for Conservatory announcements and concert advertisements. The fourth wall is now the space intended for the display of student, and occasionally faculty, artwork. With its simple white backdrop, it’s perfect for any picture or painting. The artwork on this wall provides a welcome distraction for students trying to relax on the many black couches and chairs in the lounge.
Currently, the space is covered with the artwork of adjunct professor of art, Audra Skuodas. The large, unframed pieces are worked in pastel colors and contrast nicely with the rest of the décor in the lounge. They grab your attention with their angular designs and especially with the striking woman who is sitting with her back to the viewer in the center piece. Beginning next week, with an opening reception this weekend, a new show with the theme of “Cities,” consisting of student pieces, will be hung in the space.
Pieces are chosen to be displayed in this space by a committee of three students: Lauren Maurand, senior May Tran and senior Takuya Murata, who are advised by art professor Pipo Nguyen-Duy. They are looking for pieces that are presented well, either framed or unframed, though Maurand was quick to make it clear that any pieces displayed needed to be as two-dimensional as possible due to the nature of the space as a high traffic area. She also said that “the space is available for all students, [art] majors and non-majors alike, but we also need to keep a fairly high profile because of the nature of the space.”
Those who have worked to transform the Conservatory lounge wall are hopeful that it will become established as an art space with more shows per year coordinated and displayed.
Students either interested in having their work displayed in this space or who have questions about the space should contact lauren.maurand@oberlin.edu, may.tran@oberlin.edu, or Pipo Nguyen-Duy at pipo@oberlin.edu. Students interested in curating or setting up shows in the art space next year should contact Maurand.