“Outside the Lines,” the new art exhibit that opened last week in Boliou, is unique: none of the students featured there are art majors.
Clare Jones ’10 organized the exhibit with the faculty advice of Dan Bruggeman, a professor in the Art Department. Clare herself is a non-art major (she chose English instead) who enjoys making art on her own time. She got the idea for the exhibit while on the studio art off-campus trip in the South Pacific. About two thirds of the students who go on this trip are non-majors, and they form deep bonds with each other while they are there. Clare wanted to find a way to showcase her fellow artists’ work.
Most of the work produced in Boliou is by students who aren’t art majors, says Bruggeman. Carls will make art while they are in a class they took out of personal interest. Some of the non-majors are so dedicated that they have taken five classes or more with the department. Their work encompasses a variety of media, and this diversity is reflected in the exhibit. “Outside the Lines” features works of photography, collage, bookbinding, prints, paintings, and 3D art.
Clare found artists to feature in the exhibit entirely through the Carleton grapevine. She asked friends if they wanted to be included, who in turn recruited their own friends. The exhibition wound up getting the participation of a large number of students from all sorts of backgrounds. “We have psych majors, SOAN majors, bio, even computer sci,” says Clare. Turnout at the exhibit’s opening reception was enthusiastic, too. Boliou’s lobby was crowded with students who’d come to look at their classmates’ work.
Though Clare is going to be graduating this June, she hopes “Outside the Lines” will turn into an every-other-year event. We at Carleton are such a multitalented bunch that there will still be plenty of students who pursue art on the side and deserve time in the limelight.
