Light On Your Feet: Closing

(An en"light"ening dance choreographed by the chair of the fine arts department, Sheri Leigh O'Connor)

This past Thursday night the closing for the Light On Your Feet exhibition was held in the gallery. The space was full of lots of people, movement, break dancing, t-shirt selling, rapping, and many other activities one wouldn't expect to find in such a place.

(Shadow drawings by Jessica Hayworth)

While attending the opening Kasey and I had the opportunity to interview some students who had participated in creating artwork in the space, or who had collaborated with other students. Jessica Hayworth, who is currently working on her own BFA show, commented on how interesting it was to work in the gallery prior to her own installation. She said how "freeing" this experience was and enjoyed exploring other mediums. She's collaborated before, but never needed the involvement of participants to create the work – for instance, she traced the shadows of other students on the walls.

After spending time in the gallery we migrated into the lecture hall to hear Autumn Beck, the curator of the show, speak and recap on the happenings of the past month.

She described how exploration, synergy, and play in the gallery was vital to the success and concept behind the show.

She set the stage for interactive works, inviting others to join, and left the rest up to the students, visitors, and faculty here to participate while she was gone.

We worked well as a collaborative group, tapped into our friend base and faced challenges and created new ideas about how to activate the gallery space.