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For Amber Wilson, Vice-President of Internal Affairs with the McMaster Humanities Society, art is a huge part of her life — and everyone else’s. “There's art everywhere. I know it's corny, but there is,” the fourth year Philosophy student said.
The universality of art is something Art Matters Week aims to draw attention to. A collaboration between the MHS and Humanities SRA members, Art Matters Week offers a variety of free events for students in all faculties to enjoy. “This year we've really opened it up to the whole school, which is really important so we've changed the focus from humanities to art and the arts,” Wilson explained.
Running from Mar. 7 to 11, Art Matters Week is made up of a diverse array of activities and events. These include a panel discussion involving a member of each faculty explaining how they use art in their teaching, workshops led by Humanities-affiliated clubs, an arts alumni mixer and a wine and cheese night at the McMaster Museum of Art. Wilson and the Art Matters Week planning team hope these events will appeal to students in all faculties.
Wilson is most excited for the events of Mar. 11, however. Between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. the MUSC Atrium will be transformed into an art gallery. “We have students from all faculties submitting their art. We're bringing Art Crawl to us. So we'll have tables set up with Mac student art and at the same time the Jazz Ensemble and the Flute Ensemble will be playing,” she said, adding that student art submissions are welcome until Mar. 10.
The exhibit will also feature Robbie J, a well-known live painter. “He's going to bring all of his materials and you can just come and watch him paint ... In his 'artist's requirements' he said it's required that he have a fun atmosphere. So however whatever's going inspires him, he's going to put it into that piece. And then he's going to be donating that piece to us.”
This year marks a new chapter for Art Matters Week. In the past, the week had a minimal presence on campus. Events were sparse and quiet, the highlight being a coffeehouse at Bridges. “Gauging interest is what we're trying to do this year, so if people are excited about it, we're just going to keep making it bigger,” Wilson explained.
She added that she was inspired to revamp the event after giving a campus tour. “One of the parents of the tour I was giving asked if I liked living in Hamilton ... There’s so much culture in Hamilton and a lot of people don't realize it.” As this is the first year the events have been planned to have a greater reach on campus, most of the events are tied to McMaster. However, Art Crawl and other off-campus events will also be promoted throughout the week.
Wilson hopes the events will entice students to look at all the ways art factors into their lives and the Hamilton community at large. “People don't realize how amazing the arts community is in Hamilton ... it's just sitting there and it's waiting to be realized.”
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Calculus class tends to involve more rational expressions than artistic ones. Then again, once math started involving more letters than numbers, maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised to find myself searching for other ways to pass time in grade 12 calc. Perhaps it was the transcendental caffeination I underwent before the 8:05 class, or the inspiring topography of my teacher’s ancient face, or just the result of boredom and a nice pen, but as we approached the end of limits, I began drawing instead of deriving.
Before I start to sound too artsy, I should admit that I’m not very good. Perhaps that was a good thing – should Mr. C peer over and see that I was obsessively scrawling his ear, rather that some theorem, I doubt he could have determined what it was. Yet that was what made it such a delightful creative exercise, I was expressing for the sake of creation, not consumption.
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Since arriving at Mac, I’ve stopped engaging in these personal acts of creation. Perhaps it just isn’t a priority, or my classes are simply too complex to while time away but I think that rather than have too few creative outlets, I have too many. If I want to write, there are endless places to be published (hello!), if I want to draw, there’s nothing preventing me from picking up a pen and doing it—no prof will halt a lecture to stop me from doodling.
But that’s the issue: there’s no secrecy, no silent thrill of stolen moments, just a pressing self-consciousness. It feels silly to actually set aside time to sit down and draw - it’s too deliberate. Before, I had an excuse to be bad; of course portraits come out wonky when the subject keeps moving; of course sketches won’t be perfect squeezed between equations.
When I gained the freedom to create, I lost the freedom to fail. This seems like an absurd complaint, that it is too easy to do the things I enjoy, but the issue is really that I am too diffident to enjoy the things I do not find easy. Earlier I said I was not an artist because I will not claim this part of myself without a disclaimer; I need to dash everyone’s expectations so that I can create my own. For some reason self-expression can come with a bizarre pretention, as if suddenly everyone will pounce and ask just who you think you are.
Of course, sometimes that self-consciousness disappears. Sometimes it is overcome with confidence, sometimes just giving up. For me, it came with the realization that I was sitting in another calc class at 1:30 p.m. in pyjamas and sandals, bearing witness to a boring proof. I realized that if no one had noticed my mismatched socks and Birkenstocks, then they’d probably ignore a few pen scratches to soothe my itchy fingers. I had the surprisingly glorious revelation that no one cared. I had held the irrational fear that someone walk up, squint at my scribbles, and ask that fearsome question, “Who do you think you are?”, when really, the only person asking was myself.
Sophia Topper
Staff Reporter
Student artists have added a splash of colour to the Wilson Hall construction site. Their mural in progress is a part of the Spotlight on the Arts, a yearlong festival generic viagra buy usa run by the School of the Arts. Students are transforming the plain white boarding surrounding the construction site into murals depicting themes related to Hamilton’s blue collar history.
Inspiration came from the vibrant public art movement, with its associated vulnerability, mystery and public accessibility as important components to the modern movement.
The work “raises questions with community…in a different kind of context,” said Beth Marquis, a lead coordinator of the festival. The murals continue Spotlight on the Arts’ September theme of community.
“It’s a collaborative effort,” explained third-year Studio Art student Kirby Tobin. “The designs were all by our class…we each have a few panels to work on in pairs, but we’re all working on it.”
The chosen media are stencils, latex paint and wheat pasted images, which are being used to represent the reassembled remnants of the students’ past work.
The idea arose from preliminary discussions about the Wilson Building, and the hope was to create an “interesting art project that could engage the community, instead of just a practical fence,” said Marquis.
Carmela Lagense, assitant professor in the School of the Arts, volunteered to adopt the project, using it as an assignment in her Painting and Drawing class. The festival worked with Facility Services and the Department of Public Relations to gain approval for the project.
"I think this project represents everything Wilson Hall is going to be about," Laganse told the Daily News. "It's community-driven, collaborative and innovative."
“I really like the opportunity to work outside and interact with the viewers during the process; that's something new in terms of putting the work up,” said third-year Studio Art student Natalie Richard, a member of Lagense’s class.
“I wouldn't say we do public art of this sort often,” she said. “Our work is open to the public but this sort of space is a lot more inviting, especially since going to see art can be intimidating.”
“This kind of public art is a unique opportunity this year,” echoed Tobin. “I think this is possible as an extension of the effort to get the arts community at McMaster more recognized.”
The murals will be up as long as the boards are, but after that, their fate remains uncertain. Some hope to preserve the murals, but the mural’s ephemeral nature could be an asset. “[Street art] pops up and engages the community for a period of time,” said Marquis.
While the bulk of the murals are found on the boards facing Sterling Street, other classes have contributed to collaged prints on the side facing Forsyth Avenue, and the students have been given permission to use the remaining blank space for their work, and will continue depending on remaining time and material.
