When walking on campus past Sherzer Hall, students may have noticed colorful crocheted squares hanging from one of the trees outside. Take a step closer to the tree and a sign will read: “Feel Free to interact but PLEASE don’t remove. Artwork in progress. Will be removed at the end of the semester.”
This art piece is one of the many semester-long projects in Eastern Michigan University’s Studio Concepts class taught by part-time lecturer Suzanne Boissy. Unlike other foundational courses in the art program, students do not start out learning specific materials. Instead the idea comes first and the students structure their materials around it. In this case, the first concept the students are focusing on is time.
“They are doing a project where they're going to document it [art project] every week throughout the whole semester to see how the environment that it is in alters the piece,” Boissy said.
This can come in multiple forms. In the case of senior Paige Anonick, she hopes to see how nature will affect her crochet granny squares over time.
“I just want to see how they change throughout the semester because since it did rain, some of them are curling a lot more based on the weather and some of them have strands that are coming out just based on the different materials… I just want to see how they react to the different elements that we have here, because we have literally everything all in one day too,” Annoick said.
The idea to use the granny squares was Anonick’s idea, but Boissy pitched the idea to hang it outside. These subtle pushes have helped students ideas come to fruition. The same can be said for senior Megan Shackelford, who took a different approach to the project.
“For my time project, I thought it would be really cool to see how not only something would interact with nature, but also how other people would interact with it," Shackelford said. "When I was thinking about this, I was thinking of nature versus nurture. And my idea was like, what's the perfect example of how to define nature versus nurture other than raising a baby?"
This led to the creation of a wool baby doll made by a technique called felting. Shackelford placed the doll on the windowsill outside the front entrance of Sherzer with a sign asking viewers to leave “gifts” for the doll. Some of these gifts have included fruit snacks, a bracelet, Taco Bell’s diablo sauce, and even a plush COVID-19 toy.
“To say the least, it's so fascinating watching people interact with everybody else's too, because there's a few other interactive pieces in the building," Shackelford said. "There's one on the second floor right now. People just come up and draw things. One of our friends, Jasmine, she's got a box that she puts on her head every week and has people write down what their mental illness is in one word or one picture."
Shackelford is not the only one enjoying watching all of these projects take place. Boissy says her favorite part of this whole activity has been observing her students.
“Just the fact that students are all doing something completely different," Boissy said. "Usually our classes, most students are doing the same or similar techniques and materials. And this time it's all over the place. So it's really fun. Lots of energy."
Students have noted how ecstatic and involved Boissy has been.
“I mean, Suzanne's great," Anonick said. "I love having access to all this. There's a lot of stuff that I want to try probably throughout the semester, and she'll absolutely help you and she'll be like, okay, just send me a text if you have any questions. And she's one of those teachers that's really good about that. A lot of the studio art teachers are like that, but she's one of my favorites.”
“Suzanne is great," Shackelford said. "Suzanne is the professor you want to have. She's super flexible, super open, down to create with you. She really took the idea that I had in my head and helped me make it into a real thing. She's amazing. She's very open and honest, but also really helpful just as far as helping students reach their full potential with what they're thinking in their head.”
Ultimately, Anonick and Shackelford not only hope people interact with their art, but that more students take notice of what is going on in the art department.
"We appreciate the art department exposure because I feel like art is a lot of times not taken very seriously and art has just as much importance as anything in STEM. It really should be STEAM,” Shackelford said.
People can view Anonick’s, Shackelford’s, and some of their classmates work in and around Sherzer Hall until the last week of the fall semester. Check back for more updates.
