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, its 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.
|