Inaugural Art Week presents exhibits, workshops, performances, visiting artists

By Katrina Staaf ’16

April 21 marks the start of Lewis & Clark’s inaugural Art Week, a series of events that are both exhibitory and educational. Art Week is entirely driven and created by students.

Deriving inspiration from Reed College’s Art Week and from a multipurpose arts space encountered during their overseas study program in Glasgow, Scotland, cofounders Maddie Foy ’14 and Rachel Wolfson ’14 felt compelled to fill a noticeable void.

“Our vision was to create a participatory space for contemporary art practices,” Foy explained.

Foy and Wolfson were set on witnessing the first Lewis & Clark Art Week before graduating. At the beginning of the academic year, they established Art Week as an official organization. Planning meetings commenced soon after.

Despite its recent beginnings, Art Week boasts a schedule as diverse and expansive as that of a well-established festival. It offers student artists the opportunity to share their work and processes with interested peers, while also facilitating interaction between students and innovative contemporary artists.

Performance pieces (both theatrical and musical) and workshops will uphold Art Week’s hallmarks of exhibition and education, and they will also provide a sense of accessibility. Students involved with Art Week hail from various academic departments, and the week’s events aim to be welcoming and inclusive of the entire campus community. As much as Art Week hopes to engage those who are already interested in artistic expression, it also aspires to draw individuals who may not typically attend arts events.

Art Week is ultimately connective: it intends to unify members of the community while linking the college to local and global artists who engage in new media art practices. Attendees will likely gain an understanding of art’s potential to transform and enliven campus spaces. But at the very least, they will witness history in the making.

A version of this article originally appeared in the Pioneer Log, Lewis & Clark’s student newspaper.

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