by Julia Tilley, WTOP10-TV
Last Friday, November 11 at 10:00 a.m., the Faculty Art Exhibit opened in Tyler Hall. According to Michael Flanagan, the director of the gallery, the Faculty Art Exhibition tradition has been around since the 1960’s.
The exhibit in Tyler Hall is filled with art created with various mediums, some art actually being interactive. Rebecca Mushtare created a piece based off Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story ‘The Yellow Wallpaper,’ entitled ‘After the Yellow Wallpaper,’ where gallery attendees are encouraged to touch her piece. Their body warmth or the use of a provided “hand warmer” packet on her piece creates an endothermic reaction on the thermochromic pigments on her top pattern. The reaction caused her top design to disappear, and allows a hidden design to surface.
On the exhibit as a whole, Mushtare stated, “I love the faculty exhibit we have each year because it reflects the diversity of our practices and a wide range of creative process and techniques. This exhibition gives students insights into their faculty as creative beings who practice what they teach and beyond what they teach.”
Besides giving students and the Oswego community the ability to see an art exhibit when there aren’t many around, Flanagan also thinks it’s a great way to bring together the faculty. “I think it builds a sense of comradery. Often, professors are so busy teaching and researching and also making art that sometimes we don’t get to do things together,” said Flanagan.
The 2016 Faculty Art Exhibit is free to the public and will be open until November 22 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:0 p.m., with the exception of Mondays and school holidays. After this gallery, Flanagan predicts there will be a total of three galleries this fall semester and four more galleries in the spring semester.