The Korver Visual Arts Center is in the boonies. If students wish to see the artwork displayed at the Te Paske Gallery, they must first muster the motivation to cross two crosswalks and wait for the stoplight. It’s simple enough, but add some wind to that equation, sprinkle in a little snow and a layer of ice, and the result is that student artwork goes unnoticed.
Last year Professor Carlson, along with senior Jordan Chambers and junior Becca Lokker, spearheaded the installation of students’ artwork in the Fern lobby. This year, due to construction at the cafeteria, the gallery was moved to its current location in the lobby by the east entrance of VPH.
This exhibit area creates a valuable platform for art majors/minors to display their handiwork as well as allowing other students to see the creations from the art building.
“I think it’s really important for the greater campus community to be aware of the visual work students are creating in the art building since we are on the ‘fringes’ of campus,” said Professor Emily Stokes.
The significance of the student gallery goes beyond the trudge to the art building.
“On a larger scale, there is a movement toward consciously integrating art into everyday, accessible spaces,” Stokes said. “The student gallery helps do that here on campus.”
Currently, four black and white paintings hang in the eastern VPH lobby from this semester’s painting class. The students were assigned to depict an interior space that held a special meaning for them. Using only black and white, they were to capture the ambiance of their special places and give them life without color.
With subjects that include a window view with a tree and a basement with a bar, these paintings speak volumes.
“You can see how each of us created something with the same idea behind it [the interior space], but we each had very different styles and ideas of what that interior space means and looks like,” said freshman Maria Vander Plaats.
Four different perspectives, those of Vander Plaats, senior Alyssa Ronchak, sophomore Karen Hutson and junior Ann Calsbeek, are available for viewing in VPH. They all have the same premise but different stories to tell.
“It’s pretty exciting to have our work in VPH since most of the time the only people who see our art are our professors and classmates,” Calsbeek said. “The gallery is a small reminder to Northwestern College that the art department still exists.”
Students can view the current paintings for the next few weeks. When that artwork is taken down, more will be available in the eastern VPH lobby.
