So I must admit….

I finally visited the Everson Museum of art for the first time ever.

You are probably thinking, well why is it bad that she went to a museum? It is embarrassing that I hadn’t visited yet because the Everson is a very important museum in Syracuse (more important than any other visual art space in Syracuse), and it is extremely easy to visit (ten minute bus ride and FREE admission!). I am shamed to say that I went an entire year as an art history major without visiting this place! I always knew I should, and last weekend I finally did!

            I have to say, I was quite impressed with the collection that they had (in “measly” Syracuse). Their collection of modern ceramic work is one of the largest in the US, if I am thinking correctly. Even though I am not a ceramics person, I have spent a lot of time working with clay (as my summer job, and through a few classes) and it made me really appreciate the amount of work that they had on view. I kind of felt like a know-it-all because I was acting like a tour guide to my friend who knows nothing about ceramics! It was fun!

            They also had a Gustav(e) Stickley exhibit on view- If you don’t know who that is, he was a major furniture designer in the (turn of the 20^th c.) American Arts and Crafts movement. Syracuse, oddly enough, was a hotspot for the short-lived (but very important) movement and Stickley furniture was based out of a town just a short drive away from Syracuse. Today, his company survives (with a different name) and is still producing furniture based on the hand-crafted aesthetic that he popularized.

            The Everson was also showing a group of sculptures by the 1960’s artist Tim Scott. Titled “When Color was Sculpture”, the exhibit shows his highly geometric and colorful room sized sculptures. I was amazed that the sculptures were in such great shape, considering their size. When you have pieces that large, the only place to store them is outdoors, or in a permanent museum setting. Sculptures outdoors do not typically fare well after 40 years of being outdoors, but they looked like they were made yesterday! Cool stuff.

           

Also last weekend, I went to a “red carpet” event at the Warehouse. My boyfriend (who is a 5^th year Industrial & Interaction Design student) made a video as part of COLAB’s work with the Syracuse Opera. COLAB is a group that tries to connect art and design at SU to the community and real world art opportunities. Next weekend, Syracuse Opera is performing “The Flying Dutchman” and they decided to work with COLAB to have students make videos to project behind the opera performers. Each student got one song, and was supposed to abstractly express the emotion of the song. The “red carpet event” was a celebration of the collaboration (isn’t that a mouthful!!) and they had champagne and everyone dressed up fancy! All of the students who made videos (and their dates- including me) were at the celebration, mingling with various professors, art critics and the dean of our college (Ann Clarke). Such a good experience! It is also nice to know that SU is really making an effort to have students create art for the ‘real world’- not just inside the hallways of Shaffer art building!