2008 Woodie Awards
Public art bike parade commences ArtsFest 2007: Art and the Environment
By: Troy Montigney
Issue date: 10/26/07 Section: News
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ArtsFest 2007: Art and the Environment kicked off Thursday with a parade featuring 75 decorated bicycles. The event was followed by a cookout and served as the culmination of a public art initiative called Re*Cycling Art.
Junior Luke Schooler serves as a student chairman of the Arts Coordinating Council. He said Re*Cycling Art reflects the group's desire to get the entire campus involved with ArtsFest.
"We came up with the idea to decorate bikes, similar to how we had the Tiger statues last year," he said. "We thought they would be a simple way for other people to express themselves while making a statement about sustainability at DePauw."
Theater professor Gigi Fenlon, chairwoman of the Arts Council, said she hopes that students will respect the artistic nature of the new mode of transportation.
"Students will be able to take advantage of the bikes from now until they can't make it any longer," she said. "The artistry that has gone into them and the fact that they are available for anyone to use is us saying 'You can respect this art and use it in the extent that it is meant to be used.'"
While the theme of the 11-day festival may seem fitting with the University's semester-long focus on issues concerning the environment and global sustainability, Fenlon said the overlap is somewhat coincidental. The Arts Council adopted the ArtsFest 2007 theme over two years ago, and wants to encourage students to think of the environment in a different sense of the word.
"Our interpretation of environment is not necessarily as narrow as the interpretation that was focused on at DePauw Discourse," Fenlon said. "We wanted to take the art out of its traditional environments and put it in non-traditional environments to challenge our ideas of what art is and where it should be experienced."
The notion of non-traditional artistic environments will be explored by two guest speakers during ArtsFest. Fenlon said local artist Susan Watt-Grade will create a sculpture for display outside of Peeler Art Center made of materials that are not reusable or recyclable. In addition, world-renowned sculptor Patrick Dougherty will install a creation made entirely from local saplings between East College and the Hub.
Junior Luke Schooler serves as a student chairman of the Arts Coordinating Council. He said Re*Cycling Art reflects the group's desire to get the entire campus involved with ArtsFest.
"We came up with the idea to decorate bikes, similar to how we had the Tiger statues last year," he said. "We thought they would be a simple way for other people to express themselves while making a statement about sustainability at DePauw."
Theater professor Gigi Fenlon, chairwoman of the Arts Council, said she hopes that students will respect the artistic nature of the new mode of transportation.
"Students will be able to take advantage of the bikes from now until they can't make it any longer," she said. "The artistry that has gone into them and the fact that they are available for anyone to use is us saying 'You can respect this art and use it in the extent that it is meant to be used.'"
While the theme of the 11-day festival may seem fitting with the University's semester-long focus on issues concerning the environment and global sustainability, Fenlon said the overlap is somewhat coincidental. The Arts Council adopted the ArtsFest 2007 theme over two years ago, and wants to encourage students to think of the environment in a different sense of the word.
"Our interpretation of environment is not necessarily as narrow as the interpretation that was focused on at DePauw Discourse," Fenlon said. "We wanted to take the art out of its traditional environments and put it in non-traditional environments to challenge our ideas of what art is and where it should be experienced."
The notion of non-traditional artistic environments will be explored by two guest speakers during ArtsFest. Fenlon said local artist Susan Watt-Grade will create a sculpture for display outside of Peeler Art Center made of materials that are not reusable or recyclable. In addition, world-renowned sculptor Patrick Dougherty will install a creation made entirely from local saplings between East College and the Hub.
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