ARTlab and the Taché Arts Complex were buzzing with activity on the night of Sept. 23 for the school of art and Desautels faculty of music homecoming. This is the first joint homecoming between the two faculties, according to Steven Runge, the dean of the faculty of music and director of the school of art.
The event included live art demonstrations of printmaking and life drawing, and open rehearsals by groups such as the U of M Symphony Orchestra and Concert Choir. It concluded with a faculty concert featuring repertoire from Bach to James Taylor, performed to a full house at the Desautels Concert Hall.
“The thing I’d like most people to realize is the breadth of the activities that happen here in music and in art, the kinds of courses we offer, the kind of programming that we can provide our students, and just the depth of experiences that our students have, but also how talented many of them are, and how they’re so supported by faculty,” said Runge.
Abigail Grenke, an honours student at the school of art, helped host the wheel-throwing demonstration outside ARTlab. The students showed passersby how to “throw off of the hump,” a technique used in ceramics to create multiple pieces out of one big clump of clay on the wheel. She explained she came to the U of M specifically to learn from the instructors at the ceramics program.
“The ceramics program here is great,” she said. “Our professors are so incredibly knowledgeable. We have awesome classes of [introductory] ceramics where you get to learn a bunch of techniques from hand building to wheel throwing.”
Also among the programming is Returning to the Ambience, a show at the student gallery curated by Zenna Weimar and the School of Fine Art Student Association about finding or returning to a familiar place. Third-year student Abigail Deibert presented the original ceramic pieces “States of Temporality” in the exhibit.
“I have three jars here, and they’re representing the [times of day], so daytime, twilight and then nighttime, and I was exploring how the time of day affects how we feel about the familiar or how we feel about being home,” the artist explained.
“In daytime, it’s a time of activity and you’re waking up, and then twilight you might be just arriving home, and then nighttime you’re getting cozy again and settling down, and then you restart the process.”
If Deibert could give a piece of advice to first-year students, it would be to go all out.
“Don’t hold back, ask your professors questions and really use the first year to explore all options available to you, because that’s what it’s for,” she said.
Despite the range of activities showcased on campus for homecoming, Runge also noted the importance for students to take advantage of opportunities outside the classroom.
“[Students are] here for their courses and for the coursework to make art, to practice music,” he said.
“But also […] so many things that are really important to development happen outside the classroom, attending concerts, going to art exhibits, just meeting faculty, getting to know each other as students as well.”
For upcoming events from the school of art and faculty of music, visit umanitoba.ca/art/exhibitions-and-events and umanitoba.ca/music/concert-hall-events.
