Three Northwestern departments came together to make a collaborative exhibit. NW’s Te Paske Art Gallery hosted “Into the Gloaming” on Monday, Oct. 26, where the art show featured the creativity of NW’s music, English and art departments.
“The event really captures the spirit of what a liberal arts experience can offer: finding connections among disciplines and collaborating creatively,” said art professor Emily Stokes.
Some of the mediums used included music, poetry, painting and ceramics. This was the first time the gallery has done a live exhibit showcasing NW student and staff work together, though similarly structured events have taken place on campus before.
“The Day of Learning last February included an event with a similar format,” Stokes said. “In the weeks following the event, the idea of trying a bigger version of it percolated in my mind as we tried to finalize our gallery schedule.”
Three musicians performed different compositions that were made to match the theme of the night, focusing on the seasonal shift from fall to winter. The musical aspect gave a different angle to traditional art gallerys.
“Into the Gloaming” differed from art shows in the Korver Visual Arts Center by having multiple artists featured, all the while creating their own pieces of art inspired from the music that was performed.
Sophomore Osiris Ordaz created a piece of art with clay as her medium.
Ordaz’s piece consisted of three different vases fused together with two vases forming the base and another vase on top. The graphite vases were deformed, as if they had begun to melt, forcing them to cave in and come together into one conglomerate piece on which the top vase rests.
“Gloaming is about twilight, and when I think of that on campus I think eery and fog,” Ordaz said. “I imagined the vases as deformed trees in a fog.”
Ordaz is a double majors in psychology and art and believes they go hand in hand.
“I get to study the brain while doing things that stimulate the brain at the same time,” Ordaz said.
She has been throwing clay for two years now.
“I get inspiration from stuff that’s miniscule,” Ordaz said. “I like to grab two elements that are different and put them together.”
Sophomore Alison Schutt attended the event and enjoyed witnessing how the artwork was created and how it all came together in the end.
“I really liked watching Osiris do pottery because it was a very quick-moving art form, and also I was expecting something way different from what she created,” Schutt said. “I was surprised when she ripped the first pot open, but then saw she was still creating something beautiful.”
Schutt has attended shows in the past but was unsure how the audience was supposed to act in the new format.
“I wish it had been [clearer] if we could walk around in the space,” Schutt said. “I would have liked to see the poetry aspect more.”
After positive feedback, there is a chance another event similar to this one could happen again in the spring.
“We hope to post some video highlights on the NWCArt Facebook page, and the work is now more cleanly installed in the gallery,” Stokes said.
Students are invited to walk through the gallery to observe the exhibit through Nov. 20.
