COURTESY PHOTO BRIANNA STEVENS
On Wednesday, November 7th and Thursday, November 8th, the Art department hosted an array of events for all manner of art lovers. The department hosted a walkabout, a monthly scheduled event where downtown businesses hang art from students and members of the community. The Museum of the White Mountains also opened an exhibition featuring work from the faculty of the Art department, allowing their students to view the work that their teachers are making. In conjunction with the opening of the exhibition, the department also had a guest artist come to give a talk about being an artist and a teacher. Shanna Fliegel, an art teacher at Governor’s Academy in Byfield, Massachusetts, gave a presentation about the benefits of being an artist and a teacher. Fliegel is a ceramicist whose main focus is slab work with carvings and underglaze with which she creates images of human impact on nature. During her presentation, she spoke about how when she is working with her students, she “gets out of her head,” which allows her to view ideas in a different way. “I like to think of [art] as a way to create meaning,” she added, going on to describe the experience of working in and translating between different media. The Art department worked to make a colorful week for the students with a variety of events, providing things from everyone from art historians to art educators.
COURTESY PHOTO BRIANNA STEVENS