Lately, I have been exploring campus. My dorm room desk has no longer been cutting it for long study sessions. My adventures have led to the following discoveries. Studying alone in Robinson is the creepiest thing ever. I was fine with it until I was informed that there are dead bodies in there. The coffee shop is the best place for people-watching. Not a great studying place if you are easily distracted like I am. And the art in the Lied Center for the Visual Arts, also known as the art building, proves that Whitworth is home to some amazing artists.I love studying in the art building. There are incredible pieces all over, produced by some of Whitworth’s finest. But why don’t we get to see them more often?
This has been an issue that has come up recently. ASWU has voted to keep the collection in the new addition of the HUB. What I think a lot of students didn’t know, at least I sure didn’t, is that the paintings were done by a Whitworth professor and the subjects of the paintings are other Whitworth professors. I think that it’s really impressive that the Whitworth community is able to feature faculty art all over campus, but I think we should be able to see some student work as well.
Sophomore Ashton Skinner is an art major who says that it would be good to feature that part of our community.
“I think there is a lot of student work shown, but it’s all here in the art building, so that’s kind of tough because people don’t always go in here and the people who go in here are other artists,” Skinner said. “There is solidarity among the artists, but it’s not campus-wide.”
It would be interesting to see the art from upper-classmen rotate every year. Upon graduation, students could choose to donate their pieces, so that Whitworth could build a collection of alumni artwork. Also, I think that it would be fantastic if this was an expectation of the art program; it would give people something to look forward to and allow students to submit their artwork for consideration.
“[The art] is something that people are really proud of,” Skinner said, “They spend a lot of time on it and then usually it just goes in their dorm room and just sits there, and it’s kind of sad, but I would say that there’s a lot of work here to be proud of that people would be happy to see.”
From the courts to the classrooms and everywhere in between, Whitworth is a school that is overflowing with talent. I think we are missing the opportunity to highlight an integral part of our campus, and I would to love to celebrate my fellow students and see their work on display for years to come.
Contact Whitney Carter at [email protected]
