Artwork in the humanities building

by Kailyn Fournier
As many have noticed over the past few weeks, the Steinhauer-Rogan-Black Humanities Building has some artwork scattered all throughout the building. All of the artwork has been done by present or past students. Some of the work dates back as far as 1987.
The bulletin board in the hallway on the second floor is decorated with artwork from the various art classes. The most recent art ranges from observation drawings to oil paintings.
Two of these older works are drawings and can be found in display cases in the same hallway as the bulletin board.
These display cases also hold sculptures as well. There is also an entire section of one of the display cases dedicated to a masking tape shoe project for a 3D design class.
One of these shoes is on the first floor of the Steinhauer-Rogan-Black Humanities Building, where there is an art gallery with various projects student have created using various types of media. It was Susan Dewey’s first assignment for the class.
It is a Dickies brand work boot made only from masking tape and paint. Her instructor, Nathaniel Smyth, gave the assignment on the first day of school and took approximately three weeks to complete. It paid off, because at the end of the project when it was compared to the original shoe, some could barely tell the project from the real thing.
The work boot may seem an odd choice to some, especially considering the type of shoe they modeled their masking tape after was each student’s choice; however, because it was on odd choice was part of the reason Dewey decided to do it.
“I picked a work boot because I thought no one else would pick it,” said Dewey, but that wasn’t the only reason.
Dewey says the shoe is particularly tied to the outdoors, and since she likes the outdoors she said, “I kind of thought it reflected my personality.”
Dewey also has some other pieces up in the still unnamed gallery. One depicts a gumball machine, the other shows a bird in its nest.
Both pieces were projects from her printmaking class last semester.
The Gumball machine is an example of a relief print, and the bird an example of a mono print.
She also has some ceramic mugs up on display in the gallery that she made using a slab technique.
The other pieces in the gallery are in a variety of mediums. One of the displays is a series of photographs of a worn baseball.
The previously mentioned art instructor, Nathaniel Smyth, said that these were done by John Ausbrooks for a photography class.
Another piece that Smyth pointed out was that of an octopus done by a now graduated student, Rio McKaskle, for an old 3D design class.
Aside from those, there were various prints, drawings, carvings, ceramics and paintings up on the walls or in display cases.
However, doors were being added to the entrance of the gallery, and “the construction might cause them to take everything down for a while,” said Smyth.
Sure enough, the gallery was closed off on Thursday as the preparations are being done for the construction.
“It will probably take a week or two,” said Abby Felber, who was the one taking down the artwork so it wouldn’t get damaged in the process.
Based on the equipment left in the gallery, Felber says she thinks the doors will be made of glass and be able to slide open or closed.
The artwork should be put back up when the construction is complete.