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November 22, 2002
'More
Than Their Job Titles': First Staff Art Exhibition Launched
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Photo: Debbie Wright
Art
@ Work will showcase the varied artistic talents of
some two dozen MHC employees. Among the pieces on view will
be Sleeping Snail by Judith Cary-Glover.
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For
many MHC staff members, work isn't the only thing into which
they pour creativity. After work hours, they are busy shooting
photographs; wielding woodworking tools, paintbrushes, and sewing
needles, arranging flowers, quilting, and crocheting afghans;
and composing music.
These hidden talents
will emerge at the College's first exhibition of art created by
employees, Art @ Work. It opens December 2 in the Marion
Craig Potter '49 Atrium of Kendade Hall and continues through
December 13. An opening reception, with refreshments, a door prize,
and live music by harpist (and technician for the earth and environment
department) Jerry Marchand, is open to all from 4 to 6 pm on December
2 in Kendade.
Forty pieces by twenty-five
employees make up the show. Artworks run the gamut in medium—from
folded-paper origami to hammered copper sculpture—and in
artistic style—from hyperrealistic nature photographs to
otherworldly computer-generated graphics.
For human resources
payroll specialist Claudette Crochiere, creating art is more about
process than product: she enjoys the relaxation painting brings
her. Gayle Higgins, a senior administrative assistant in the psychology
and education department, says doing watercolors is "like
meditation." Ann Routhier, a human resources payroll specialist,
makes afghans and stuffed animals for the pleasure of giving them
to family and friends. Debbie Piotrowski's job as lab director
in the biological sciences department isn't overtly about
art, yet biological themes find their way into her mixed-media
pieces.
While for some staff
artwork is an absorbing hobby, others have turned it into a sideline
business. Judith Cary-Glover, development office director of information
and support services, sells her wood carvings on Nantucket. Singer-songwriter
(and assistant director of residential life) Jesse Harrison has
recorded eight cassettes and five CDs of his "post-rock"
music.
"I hope this
show will help faculty and students to recognize staff as a vital,
engaged, important part of the Mount Holyoke community,"
says watercolorist Sandra Suarez, a senior administrative assistant
in the president's office. "Whether we express ourselves
through watercolors, needlework, photography—whatever the
medium—we are more than our job titles." In Art @
Work, the whole campus can see just how far employees'
talents extend and share their fascination with light and shadow,
color, texture, and form.
The
counter is
2,781
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