Author: Lydia Wilson

Worshipping Sentimentality

In the beginning of October, Lenny Luchetti spoke in chapel on the virtues of worshipping God with the head as well as the heart. He explained that when he first began attending college, he loved to lose himself in the feeling of worship through praise songs, a semi-charismatic and hands-in-the-air kind of guy. He would observe with slight disdain the behaviors of others who sat quietly through worship services without actively taking part. Eventually, as he grew in his faith while at school, his perceptions changed, and the point he made was that God deeply values the efforts of the mind and the act of praise through academics and critical thought. What he left to be inferred, however, was that both methods of connection to God are equally worthwhile, and that it is merely a matter of personality which form of worship one chooses to employ. I would argue that this is not true, and that worshiping God with the “heart” is not really worship at all.

The other day while I was driving, Jamie Grace’s “Beautiful Day” came on the radio. The “It’s been ‘like’ a whole day” in the first verse managed to slip by me unnoticed the first time around, but the chorus left me incredulous and indignant. After a few bouncy lines about how happy God makes her, Grace sings, “This feeling can’t be wrong/ I’m about to get my worship on/ Take me away,” implying, or rather, explicitly stating that worship is some kind of altered state of being one enters into with the expectation that they will come away feeling blissful and transcendent, reminiscent of a drug-induced high or the rush of sexual intercourse. In her Grammy-nominated song “Hold Me,” Grace reinforces this interpretation with the lyrics, “I’ve had a long day, I just wanna relax … I know I should be working but I’m thinking of you” in which Jesus is essentially equated with a happy hour cocktail, and put at odds with “work,” which I can only assume Grace is not, in this case, using as a means to honor Him.

I do not mean to personally insult the no-doubt well-meaning Jamie Grace. What I do mean, however, is to question the ease with which Christian society accepts this kind of bubblegum Christian pop praise music without any basis in scripture or intentional theology. Worship is intended to be a thoughtful meditation on the grace and the goodness of God, a practice that should no doubt invite feelings of gratitude, joy, and peace, but that should nonetheless find its roots in concentrated study and reflection. The concept of worship as it is found in the majority of contemporary praise and worship songs is that of “chasing the feeling,” craving the joy without the contemplation, the intimacy without the commitment, the sex without the relationship.

People do worship in different ways. I would not try to take away from those who connect most fully with God through music the right to do so freely and with joy. But there cannot be a divide between innervation and cerebration. Those who worship through song must be able to count on the lyrics to be studied and deliberate. Difficult and far-reaching questions that exist within the Christian faith can have devastating effects on those seeped in the superficial, sensationalist theology of pop praise music. They are not taught to ask, and they are unprepared to answer. In the words of Grace, “I’ve got not need to worry, I’ve got no room for doubt,” but what exactly grants her such infallible certainty is unclear, and in a faith as encompassing and exacting as the Christian faith, there can be no room for sentiment without qualification. Impassioned worship without a strong grasp on the basics of Christian theology is meaningless and empty, and Christians brought up in the tradition of vacant worship are not worshipping God, they are worshipping a semblance of the side effects of God’s entity. They are worshipping titillation.

I want to reassure you that I recognize the usefulness and, in fact, necessity of music in worship. The Bible would not contain so many references to praising God with song if it was not an important aspect of our faith. But let us never fail to recognize the dependence of meaningful emotional connection with God on intelligent and critical examination of our beliefs.

Tags beautiful day, bible, equality, God, hear, jamie grace, lenny luchetti, radio, worship

Opinions

Doubt Suspended in Confidence

Post author By Lydia Wilson
Post date October 26, 2013
2 Comments on Doubt Suspended in Confidence

Season seven, episode seven of the Fox series Bones features a nine-month pregnant Dr. Temperance Brennan wading through a crowded fight in the cafeteria of a men’s prison without a care in the world. Her anxious partner, Booth, begs her to have some sense and not over-exert herself, but she casually states that hurting a child is one of the biggest prison taboos, and carries on. And she is right; the prisoners catch sight of her immense belly and fall over themselves to get out of her way. Her path is miraculously cleared in the midst of tackling bodies, headlocks, and thrown punches. She is aware of something cognitively and she fearlessly applies it to her physical life without a second thought. She is confident in her own mind.

I hoard my favorite quotes in notebooks and look over them periodically like a miser counting gemstones. Several oft-read quotes are pulled from Nietzsche’s The Gay Science. At the risk of being thought delusional, I in all honesty find that Nietzsche, “God is dead” Nietzsche, provides me with as much affirmation in my faith as any Christian writer ever has, if not more. Particularly these lines: “When we hear the news that ‘the old god is dead,’ as if a new dawn shone on us; our heart overflows with gratitude, amazement, premonitions, expectation. At long last the horizon appears free to us again, even if it should not be bright; at long last our ships may venture out again, venture out to face any danger; all the daring of the lover of knowledge is permitted again; the sea, our sea, lies open again; perhaps there has never yet been such an ‘open sea.’” Let me explain. I enter the crowded fight between Nietzsche and God with the knowledge that God is not dead, not anymore. And the crowd parts before me. “The old god is dead,” yes, and the new God has risen, and a new dawn shines on us. We can venture out without fear of sin. We can grow in our knowledge, knowing that the open sea of God’s forgiveness lies before us. Few things I have read have given me more hope. Of course, I am blatantly projecting my own personal beliefs and convictions upon the undoubtedly unwilling Nietzsche. I am being rude, perhaps; I am blaspheming, even. I have a habit of gathering hope from typically barren places such as this. Is it a unique and valuable form of faith, or am I over-confident and foolish? In the wise words of our own Houghton alumnus Gordon Brown, “Bad self-esteem and inflated self-esteem are two sides of the same coin.”

In season eight, episode ten of Bones, Dr. Brennan enters a ballroom dancing competition while undercover with Booth. She has never danced before, but she observes the other dancers and says with the same assuredness as before that she can translate the same movements that they make to the corresponding parts of her own body. She then proceeds to do so… and is dreadful. She believes that she is mimicking their motions exactly, but she does not have the practice that they have, and in actuality has no idea what she herself looks like in action. This kind of misguided confidence is seen all too often in the efforts of various evangelizers. The desire to appear infallible and have all the answers repeatedly overwhelms the real need for earnest seeking and authenticity. There is a delicate balance here. My fiancé Andy Nelson writes, “We should question our faith. We should express our views with humility. But we should not adopt a state of constant uncertainty and doubt.” Too much, honesty is replaced by bravado; but just as much, assertiveness is degraded by a kind of shrugging denial of confidence. Neither approach is effective in excess.

There is a poem by Denise Levertov titled “Suspended” that reads, “The ‘everlasting arms’ my sister loved to remember/ Must have upheld my leaden weight/ From falling, even so,/ For though I claw at empty air and feel/ Nothing, no embrace,/ I have not plummeted.” Whether or not complete confidence in every aspect of faith is possible, certainly I can be confident in the fact that I am suspended, that I float on the level with the core tenets of my Christian faith. While some value doubt and others value confidence, each cannot exist without the other. Faith, more than anything else, is a satisfaction in the self. If I, like Dr. Brennan, have confidence in my own mind, then I can feel free to doubt and question, to test my boundaries, to move fearlessly. After all, I have not plummeted.

Tags bones, booth, brennan, christian, denise levertov, dr. temperance, fox, gordon brown, nietzsche, suspended

Stories In Focus

The Home and the Heart

Post author By Lydia Wilson
Post date October 12, 2013

Fall break is just around the corner and masses of Houghton students will sojourn home for a few (we hope) homework-free days. I love going home. It is the only stress-free place I can escape to outside of school, where I can find homemade chili and overwhelming amounts of blankets and actual, real alone time. I was not one of those kids who were excited to leave town and move on to bigger and better things, who could care less if they ever saw any of the same old faces again. I did not spend my senior year of high school itchin g to shake the dust off, to turn my back and run. I spent senior year actively pretending that graduation was but a myth. Freshmen year at Houghton was one big conscious refusal to refer to my dorm room as “home.” Every break I would rush home at the earliest possible moment, not bothering to say goodbye to my friends and hardly talking to them while I was gone. Even as a kid, I would never let my parents send me off to summer camp. It got pretty ridiculous, but home was the place I loved to be.

Coming to Houghton wasn’t the first time I had left home, though. I was born in northern Indiana and lived there for four years before moving to Orchard Park, where I lived for a two years before moving back down to central Indiana. These moves were consistent and concise. We never lingered in one place for too long. I always had my parents and brother with me. Really, nothing changed.

We stayed in central Indiana for six years before my parents divorced. I moved to Long Lake with my mother, this time leaving behind not just a house, but half my belongings and half my family and all of my friends. I didn’t make things easy on myself. I insisted on calling Indiana my “true home.” Rather than exploring my new town and meeting the kids I would go to school with, I spent my first summer in Long Lake sitting indoors writing letters to my friends back home and talking to them on the phone.

As you probably guessed from my over-the-top reaction to leaving Long Lake to come to Houghton, things eventually changed. My visits back to Indiana became shorter and less frequent. I felt less and less connected to my old friends and to the things that went on there. I formed incredible bonds with the girls in my high school in Long Lake and grew more there than I probably ever would have, had I stayed in Indiana. The transition became fairly easy, actually. Indiana was always there, waiting for me—I never fully had to let go. I could have moved back in with my father whenever I wanted to, and in fact I considered it once or twice. I also thought about going to college in Indiana and living at home before I settled on coming to Houghton. And still, on breaks, I bounce back and forth between Indiana and Long Lake, keeping in touch with all of my old friends.

The transition to Houghton has turned out to be easy so far as well. Long Lake is but a (five hour) drive away. I still see most of my high school friends on breaks. And I’ve had wonderful experiences here at Houghton. But college is an accepted transitional phase of life—I came here with the expectation that I would learn and apply myself for four years and then move on. I do not think about my home in the same way. I did not move to Long Lake thinking to myself that it would be a nice place to be for high school, but afterwards I would move on without a second thought. I do not think that way about my bedroom at home, my friends’ signatures on the ceiling tiles, my mother. With the impending certainty of graduation, my time in Long Lake will come to a sudden and screeching halt. It is a small town. There are no jobs available. There is no going back.

Home will constantly be changing, and quite often sooner than expected. How was I to know that things would escalate so quickly, that the last time I would spend more than a few hours together with my brother would be when I was twelve, that after leaving for college I would see my cousin maybe once more in his life. Missionary kids are tossed between countries for their entire childhood and then greeted when they return to the States, “Welcome home,” home being a place where they have never lived or had any contacts beyond their conservative grandparents who think they dress strangely, and their weird cousins. People say ‘home is where the heart is’ as if to assist in choosing a singular place to belong, but when the people and things and places that I love are scattered to the four winds, ‘home is where the heart is’ seems more like an impossible puzzle than a reassuring mantra. In order to manage the fissures of my “homes” throughout my life, disconnection becomes necessary between the home and the heart. My heart is in my father’s house. My heart is in my mother’s house. My heart is in the house of my education. My home is wherever I am.

Tags fall break, freshmen year, heart, homework, long lake, missionary kids, orchard park

Opinions

Honesty is Not the Best Policy?

Post author By Lydia Wilson
Post date October 6, 2013

I started listening to Lorde recently. She is a sixteen-year-old musician from New Zealand who just released her first album in September. If you have not heard of her I am sure you have at least heard her hit song, “Royals”. She has a haunting voice and the hook is super catchy without becoming annoying. I like to listen to it when I run. It was the only song of hers that I had heard so far, though, so I decided to learn more about her. I stumbled across an interview in which she called out Selena Gomez, saying “I love pop music on a sonic level, but I’m a feminist and the theme of her song [“Come & Get It”] is, ‘When you’re ready, come and get it from me.’ I’m sick of women being portrayed this way.” When I first read this, I was on board. Without making a comment about the singer herself, I have long found the lyrics to “Come & Get It” to be damaging; “You ain’t gotta worry, it’s an open invitation. I’ll be sittin’ right here, real patient. All day, all night, I’ll be waitin’ standby.” This passive voice paves the way for responses like Robin Thicke’s horrendously rape-y “Blurred Lines” (a song that has been banned at five universities so far), which asserts that women are too coy to express their desire for sex, so men should go ahead and take it from them. Lorde was offended, and so was I.

Then, however, Lorde also mentioned Lana Del Rey, saying “She’s great, but … it’s so unhealthy for young girls to be listening to, you know: ‘I’m nothing without you’. This sort of shirt-tugging, desperate, don’t leave me stuff. That’s not a good thing for young girls, even young people, to hear.” I was a bit taken aback. While I like to think I agree with Lorde on an intellectual level, personally, I have always strongly related to Lana’s lyrics, so much so that I would never think to criticize her message. To me, her lyrics seem much more specific and thought-out as opposed to Selena’s general “come and get it” call to the world. After all, on an individual level, people really do feel intense longing and desperation. Are artists like Lana Del Rey supposed to sacrifice their candor and sincerity for the sake of idealism? Is it not just as important to be honest about your emotions as it is to be a good role model?

Oscar Wilde wrote, “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life,” and I am not entirely sure I agree with him. To me, it seems more like a cycle. Artists pick up on barely realized themes within culture, or invent idealized ones, society notices trends within art and embraces them, artists perpetuate the trends, society perpetuates the trends, and the cycle begins again. Perhaps I relate so strongly to Lana’s lyrics because I have grown up listening to these common themes in pop music my whole life, and the mentality has become ingrained in me. What would it look like if musicians began addressing issues of love and sex in a much healthier way? Several years down the road, would we relate just as strongly to those lyrics, having been slowly changing our viewpoints and our actions over time until we were all engaged in relatively healthier relationships?

Where is the line between being honest and being a good example—and how can we find a foothold in the relentless life-imitates-art, art-imitates-life cycle? After all, Lorde was right—these commonplace “I need a man” pop lyrics preserve negative gender stereotypes and continually affect the way young men and women see each other. But Lorde also qualified her opinion by adding, “People got the impression I thought writing about love was shameful. I don’t! I just haven’t found a way of doing it which is powerful and innovative.” I don’t think we need to throw out emotional honesty and vulnerability altogether. I think we can be honest about that fact that our dependence on romantic relationships is unhealthy. I think we can be honest about the fact that we need to find more constructive ways to communicate our desires and our boundaries. We can celebrate our independence without denying our occasional loneliness. Pop music has an incredible influence, and that does not have to be a bad thing.

Tags blurred lines, come & get it, lana, lana del rey, lorde, new zealand, oscar wilde, pop culture, robin thicke, royals, selena gomez

Opinions

“Slut” is Now a Compliment

Post author By Lydia Wilson
Post date September 28, 2013

Earlier in September a black woman named Brandi Johnson took her black boss to court after he called her the n-word several times in a rant about her professionalism. The court ruled in her favor, and she walked away with $280,000. Headlines in the aftermath read “Black boss’s n-word rant to black employee costs him” and “Lawsuit airs double-standard myths of the n-word,” proclamations that to me sounded a lot like a bunch of white people clapping and cheering and crying, “Take that, blacks!” Now, to be sure, the reactions have been much more varied than just these oddly smug headlines. Most notable were the contrasting views of Shayne Lee, professor of sociology at the University of Houston, and Tammie Campbell, founder of the Honey Brown Hope Foundation, who encouraged the use of the n-word and frowned upon it, respectively. But the majority sentiment throughout mainstream news sources has been that justice was served.

The reactions, though diverse, were all strong. Understandable, considering the word’s clear ties to times of slavery and oppression. Even though slavery in the United States was abolished over 140 years ago, racism is alive and well, there cannot be any doubt about that. Just recently my mixed race step-sister, while working as a hostess in a family restaurant, was told by a customer that he didn’t want a black girl touching his food. However, I grew up in a town where every person is the same color. Racism just is not something that I have personally experienced. I do not think I have ever even heard the n-word outside of a rap song (although I do listen to plenty of those). Forgive my sheltered life thus far, but the only point of view I can legitimately present is my own, right? So rather than discuss at length a word for which I have no context and therefore no right to opine on, I will focus on a word that I know too much about: slut.

Slut, like the n-word, is a word that induces a strong reaction. Also like the n-word, I tend to hear it in my rap songs. Brooke Candy’s self-defining anthem “Das Me” proclaims, “It’s time to take the word back; ‘slut’ is now a compliment … lady who on top of it, a female with a sex drive.” Candy’s rap echoes the growing movement among women to “take back” the word slut, as made famous by protests such as the SlutWalk, a march against victim-blaming in rape cases. The premise of the movement is similar to what started blacks using the n-word: this word has been used as a weapon to oppress us, so we will take the weapon away from our oppressors. We will negate its definition and we will nullify it. “Slut is now a compliment,” or in the words of Shayne Lee, “As smart, educated, modern people we can use our hermeneutics, our ability to interpret context, rather than just imposing in a blithe way meaning and degradation to a particular word.”

Certainly it is a positive goal to blunt the blades that would try to cut us down. For years, the so-called double standard that the headlines decried has worked in the opposite direction. Only whites called blacks the n-word. Now the tide has turned, and for slut, too, the tide is turning. Power over something that in the past has had power over me gives me hope, but it is not hope without reservations. I’m not alone in this; others have been slow to embrace the term. Melanie Klein writes for Ms. Magazine, “The word slut now brings up feelings I’ve developed over time about the hypersexualization of our culture … Collectively, this makes claiming the word slut, an effort I found revolutionary and exciting over a decade ago, now feel cliché, confusing and counterproductive.” The important factor, I believe, is how we then use our newly repurposed words. Brandi Johnson’s boss clearly was not using the n-word in a positive way. If, by claiming the word slut as our own, we assert that it will be used to empower women, we cannot turn around and then use it to degrade them. With so many ins and outs at stake, is it not better to simply put such words to rest? Are we really making a difference with how we choose to perceive one word, or are we, in the end, only embracing a reversed double standard, and perpetuating the same stereotypes we wish to erase?

Tags blacks, brandi johnson, court case, n-word, slut, tammie campbell, university of hougston

Opinions

The Passion of Miley Cyrus

Post author By Lydia Wilson
Post date September 21, 2013

Miley

I am very sure that you are tired of hearing people talk about Miley Cyrus. In the aftermath of the VMAs (the MTV Video Music Awards, a live performance in which Miley twerked on Robin Thicke (for the definition of twerking, please resort to your local Google machine (or not)), there was an outpouring of public response, both Christian and non-Christian. The Christian responses were comprised mainly of tender claims of tears on Miley’s behalf, praying that she find her true self and cast off her sinful ways. Her “true self,” they claim, can only be found in her eventual salvation. Blogger Rihanna Teixeira penned “A Letter to Miley Cyrus” that went viral soon after the VMAs. Teixeira felt “sad” for Miley, expressing concern for her continuing rebellion and encouraging her, “I know that there is something deeper in that little heart of yours and that’s what the world wants to see.” The prevailing sentiment in Christian reactions has been the poor Miley clearly has no idea what she is doing, she is not being true to herself, and some kind of dark outside force is pressuring her to do the things that she is doing.

But, according to Miley, she has never been more herself than she is now. In interviews surrounding the release of her upcoming album, Miley has stated numerous times that she finally feels able to express herself artistically. She told Billboard Magazine, “I want to start as a new artist… I actually found out more about who I am by making this music.” Like it or not, Miley is not being anything but herself. It is surprisingly hard news to conceptualize for many. Miley used to be so innocent and no one can believe that she really turned out this way. Christians in particular want to believe that if she came to follow Jesus, she would become a different person.

When Saul became Paul, he was in the midst of a Christian-slaying rampage. He was angry, passionate, and stubborn. Christians everywhere had heard of his rage and spoke the name Saul with fear. He was a dangerous person and I am sure they all wished that his craze would cease. He was quite literally on the warpath when he was stopped in his tracks and spoken to by Jesus, and came to follow Christ. Thus he became the Paul that we know: prolific, articulate, confident, and, yes, angry, passionate, and stubborn. Paul, in essence, did not change. He stopped killing Christians. But he himself did not change.

Miley Cyrus does not need to be saved. That is, no more than anyone else. Her actions may be grandiose, but her motives are no more so than any other average human being. Saul did not need to be saved any more than anyone else either. Saul was and Miley is on the same level of metaphysical priority as every other soul. And I think it is safe to say that if Miley were to start following Jesus tomorrow, she would not change. She would stop twerking, and posing nude, and singing about drugs, but she herself would not change. Her personality would remain very much the same.

We were created with unique personalities. The same characteristics that made Saul a great persecutor also made Paul a great evangelizer. He believed in himself. He had strong convictions. He was convincing and powerful and a hard worker. Those character traits were an intrinsic part of his self and his personality, and after he began following Jesus, those same traits that caused him to voraciously hunt Christians then caused him to be one of the greatest Christians in history, and the writer of a hefty chunk of the texts on which we base our faith.

Miley’s empire spreads far and wide. Starting with Hannah Montana and continuing on through Party in the USA, her haircut, twerking, the VMAs, and Wrecking Ball, she has been one of the most talked-about celebrities in history. Her personality is a large part of what has made that possible. She is a workaholic; she told Sunday People, “I work so much, I’m always on the road so I eat healthily. I have to give my body what it needs to keep going.” She’s passionate about what she does. “I have just put this music first,” she told Billboard Magazine, and to MTV News, “I have had to fight for what I want on this record.” Hard working, passionate, ambitious, prolific—Miley’s personality is something to be valued and not overlooked. It is thoughtless to assume that everything Miley has strived for and thrown her energy into is but a façade and some kind of leftover scrap of teenage rebellion. Yes, her actions are irresponsible and often in poor taste. Saul’s actions could have been described as irresponsible (if slaughtering human beings can be described so lightly), but no one would ever doubt that he was doing them intentionally and of his own volition.

It is a fine distinction between thinking of being saved as a transformation and thinking of it as a repurposing, but it is an important distinction. Talking about coming to Christ as being completely changed devalues the strengths and passions that we were born with and probably sounds, to those who are hearing the message of salvation for the first time, as if we must give up being ourselves in order to know Christ. Salvation is not an erasure of the self. Salvation is an acknowledgement of self-worth, and a strengthening of the natural personalities and gifts that God blessed us with in a way that brings glory to God.

Tags christian, hannah montana, miley cyrus, party in the usa, rihanna teixeira, robin thicke, video music awards, vmas

Opinions

Dichotomy in Discourse

Post author By Lydia Wilson
Post date September 14, 2013

Quote template

Few things are as important to Christians as language. Our faith and our characters are revealed in and defined by our choice of language. We judge based on the use of foul language. We approve

based on the use of “Christian” language littered with references to how blessed we are and what is “on our hearts.” Christian language norms inform the way we pray; do we start with Father-God

or Dear Jesus? Do we end with ‘in Jesus’ name’ or ‘all God’s children said’? Words are important to us. One word can either offend or define us. To be a Christian is to use a certain set of phrases and terms, because what we say to one another is influenced by a belief system in common with other Christians and different from non-Christians. Our entire religion is based on the text of a book. Pastors and speakers are constantly analyzing and re-analyzing paragraphs, sentences, words. If something is unclear, we look to the original Greek or Hebrew, and suddenly we understand; tiny reinterpretations make all the difference. Language matters.

Equality also matters. From the moment Jesus said “What you did for the least of these,” Christians have been rooting for the underdog. We feed the hungry. We house the homeless. We smuggle Bibles into places where Bibles are banned. Wesleyans in particular have been known to work towards equality on multiple levels, by opposing slavery and ordaining women. In these areas as well, Christians use certain language. When we go into missions it is because God called us to do so. When we encounter a situation we cannot control, we leave it in God’s hands. We care about the well-being of all, because all are God’s children.

There is nothing wrong with this way of speaking. Our belief system is different from others, so we talk differently than others. No matter if some of these phrases have become overused or spoken only out of habit, when they were first said, they were said because they were believed. However, Christians are not the only group of people who care about equality and justice. Obviously; just as much activism is carried out by secular organizations as is by Christian organizations. We’re nothing special, really. We are all working towards the same end. But there remains a disconnect between being a Christian who values equality, and being a secular person who values equality. This is due in large part to language. We both fight for justice, but we come from two completely different places, and therefore sometimes support opposing sides. For example, when the world says “It’s my body,” the Christian hears “I don’t care how my actions impact the lives of my child and those around me,” and when the Christian says “All are created in the image of God,” the world hears “God is a narcissist who doesn’t care about the long-term well-being of His children.” We speak different languages.

Christian language is an important part of our life and faith. It is also important to connect with others who share our same values and goals. With more people working together towards improving the world, more can be accomplished. Perhaps we need to address where our words are helpful to our faith, and where they only add confusion to those we might hope to reach.

Tags belief system, discourse, equality, religion

Arts

Senior Art Reception Tonight

Post author By Lydia Wilson
Post date April 27, 2013

At 7 p.m. tomorrow evening, the Ortlip Gallery will open to reveal the Senior Art Exhibition. This exhibit is one that art majors steadily work toward over the course of their four years at Houghton, and it is the culmination of their learning, experiences, and artistic efforts.

This show is unique in the fact that it is entirely student-run. “They install their work, set up the gallery space, and do advertising,” said Gallery Director Renee Roberts. “I do very little except help with small incidental questions and problems.”

This makes the display itself an integral part of each student’s vision for their work, and an added reason to attend the exhibit and experience how the work is presented. “It has been exciting to see the show being installed this week,” said Hannah Jennings. “Getting to see everyone’s hard work in the setting of the gallery is always really rewarding.”

This year, senior art students have the additional challenge, and excitement, of an exceptionally large graduating class. “I’m looking forward to the wide range of work that will be shown,” said Jennings.

Art majors this year have had concentrations in every possible area of study, and the show will surely express variety, with everything on display from ceramics and sculpture, painting and drawing, to photography and printmaking, digital art and graphic design. “I am proud of the work the seniors are exhibiting and think it reflects what a strong and healthy art department Houghton has,” said Roberts. “I am so pleased to be able to go and support and appreciate their work on a personal level.”

Students themselves have mixed feelings about pulling together the exhibit. “I feel like in putting up your senior show there is supposed to be this sense of closure,” said Tricia Powles, “but I am now more excited to keep working than I’ve ever been. I am putting up my pieces and showing them to the public for the first time, and that is awesome and I’m a little nervous about their reception. I treat my pieces as if they were my children, they’re really important to me, and so I’m going to be nervous.”

Seniors have been advertising the show and inviting their family and friends to come and see their work. Jennings said, “It is always encouraging for the seniors to be supported by their fellow students for this show.”

It has been an intense and trying year for these seniors, who are excited and proud to have their work finally on display. “Everyone should come see what we’ve done!” said Powles. “This is the beginning of everything.”

At the opening reception there will be music and refreshments, also provided by the seniors themselves. And in the words of Roberts, “There is no reason for students to not be here! This is such an excellent show! Come!”

Tags art department, ortlip gallery, senior art exhibition, senior art show

Arts

Student Juried Exhibition

Post author By Lydia Wilson
Post date March 22, 2013

Saturday, March 16 was the opening reception of the Student Juried Exhibition, a collection of artwork submitted by Houghton students and selected by visiting artist Kevin Shook. Shook is an Associate Professor of Art & Art History at Birmingham-Southern College, and specializes in printmaking and digital media. In addition to selecting which of the submitted artworks would be displayed in the show, Shook also chose at least ten pieces to be awarded with between $25 and $200. Additional awards were given by President Mullen, the First Gentleman, and various art faculty members.

Each student was allowed to submit up to five works, and many took full advantage. In the days preceding the show, canvases and prints could be seen through the windows of the gallery piled against walls and pedestals, awaiting Shook’s judgment and the skilled hands of Gallery Director Renee Roberts and her assistants to arrange the show. Submission was not limited to art majors; any students on campus interested in art could submit their pieces. The tremendous response from students, as well as the open submission policy, resulted in a full, vibrant, and incredibly diverse show.

Unlike Ortlip Gallery exhibitions in the past, including previous Student Juried Exhibitions, this year’s show possesses very few common threads throughout the pieces. The color schemes are varied and disconnected. The mediums range from woodworking and ceramics to painting and drawing, and from book-making and textile art to printmaking and graphic design. And the pieces vary in size; they are sketch-pad sized and teapot-sized, they are teeny tiny and they are monumental. So perhaps it is fitting that the central focus of the room—the movable wall containing the title of the show—is painted in flashy fuchsia, a color not found in any other piece in the room. And that hanging upon that wall is a lovely abstract oil painting by Lindsay Burgher, which is made up of greens, yellows, blues, pinks, and oranges—representing in one work the splashes of color seen in different works throughout the room.

The medley of submissions is also accurately represented by the array of awards presented. The Presidential Purchase Award and the First Gentleman’s Purchase Award went to pieces of two different media, Katelyn Kloos’ woodblock print Misty Morning in County Cork and Megan Loghry’s ceramics piece Great Balls of Fire, respectively. The Moss Award for 3rd Place went to a colorful oil painting entitled Bad Company by Kelly Ormsby. Rebecca Dygert’s sweet and wistful litho The

First Dance took home the Alumni Award for 2nd Place. Art Gallery, the witty watercolor by Megan Tennant, received the Paul Maxwell Memorial Award for 1st Place. And the Ortlip Award for Best in Show was presented to Alexandra Hood’s beautiful and elegiac litho, In Time. Several other awards were given, representing a small percentage of the assortment of submissions from package design all the way to photography.

The Student Juried Exhibition will be on display in the Ortlip Gallery until April 18. All students are encouraged to take the time to swing by and check it out. Find out which other submissions won awards, take in the beauty of all the pieces of art, and appreciate the talent and hard work of fellow Houghton students.

Tags art department, Houghton, ortlip gallery, prize, student juried