Jacob Lazen just wanted to grab a limeade from the College-in-the-Woods Night Owl when he ended up stopping to enjoy the student drawings and paintings hanging across the windows by the Woods Diner.
“At Binghamton, there’s a lot of emphasis on research, and art isn’t what [the University] is known for,” said Lazen, a freshman majoring in anthropology. “The artists in Binghamton aren’t given a spotlight very much. So, any art that anyone else is doing, I want to support.”
The second annual Artists-in-the-Woods, which was organized by residential assistants Bridget Kunz and David Sherlock, included 22 entries from CIW residents and members of the Binghamton University Fine Arts Society (BUFAS) that were hung on the second floor of the CIW dining hall. The art was showcased Thursday night and passing students could vote on their three favorites.
“In College-in-the-Woods, there are various traditions that allow our residents to show their pride for the community by displaying their talents and skills,” said Sherlock, a junior majoring in biology. “Bridget and I, both being involved in the art department, wanted to showcase the visual artistic talents that have largely gone unnoticed in our community.”
But Kunz, a junior majoring in human development, said that unlike other events, she and Sherlock hosted the contest in the dining hall because they wanted to make sure the artists’ hard work caught people’s attention.
“We wanted it to be in a location with a lot of traffic so that people would be able to walk by and just hop right into the action,” she said. “It has been our experience as RAs that if events are held in lounges or specific meeting rooms, students are less inclined to just pop by and see what is going on.”
Sean Lamberson, a sophomore majoring in biology, came in first place with 34 votes for a close-up painting of an eye and won a BU water bottle. He said the showcase was a welcome chance for students to express themselves.
“I think the show was a great idea,” Lamberson said. “It allowed students to show off their work and individual styles. Hopefully it inspired more people to try art and express themselves.”
Chyna Ly, a junior majoring in studio art, came in third place with a painting of a man’s torso and received a BU key chain. Adrian Perry, a junior majoring in biochemistry, came in second place with 25 votes with a drawing of a city collapsing in on itself into an abyss and received a BU drawstring bag.
Juliana Ramirez, a sophomore double-majoring in art and design and environmental studies, had two pieces entered in the event. One was a detailed woodblock print on which she carved the muscles and tendons in the human hand into a wooden block and placed it over a paper full of ink to create a depiction of what is underneath the skin. According to her, the print took a few hours.
“There’s different ways of expressing emotion and I feel like art is one of those ways,” Ramirez said. “I like the idea of getting art more known on campus because the art program here is not the biggest, but there’s definitely talent.”