[metaslider id=5916]
CLAIRE O’REILLY
Special to The Leader
Originally hailing from China and Canada respectively, artists Sala Wong and Peter Williams have brought a different sort of art experience to the Marion Art Gallery on campus this month.
“They interact with their audiences,” said animation illustration major Katie McDonough.
“They always have interactive pieces, and they go out and talk to people,” animation illustration major Katelyn Killoran agreed.
Despite the fact that attendance at these events is mandatory for art majors, Killoran wanted to come to the gallery opening because she found Wong and Williams to be interesting.
“I like that it’s interactive with the people that they interview and their surroundings,” said Killoran.
One particular piece that stood out to McDonough describes what the Japanese people lost and found after the Tsunami hit the country in 2011.
Both Wong and Williams talked about this piece in McEwen 209 on Thursday night. Williams said that “Lost and Found” was pivotal and significant for them.
When the artists arrived in Japan, they interviewed over 150 residents of Tokyo in order to turn their responses into an interactive installation.
“We were looking for lost and found experiences of residents in Tokyo,” said Wong. “We went out into the streets with a piece of paper with two questions and a space that they could draw in.”
The participants were asked to write down and draw sketches of what they had lost and what they found in their experiences with the tragedy.
“You can almost relate to it,” said McDonough.
McDonough believes this particular installation, and the gallery in general, sways from the ordinary.
“I think this is one of the more interesting ones because you can kinda dance around and have fun with this, unlike other ones where you just kinda look at it and you’re like, ‘Oh, it looks nice,’” she said.
Walking up the concrete steps leading to the Rockefeller Arts Center, students and staff will notice something a little new on the walls outside of the gallery — projections of areas around the communities of Dunkirk and Fredonia.
Many zipped up their coats and wrapped scarves around their necks on Friday night as they made their way out to view these projections.
These projections outdoors included the work of two Fredonia students: visual arts, media sculpture and communication studies triple major Tess Woodruff and animation and illustration major Dylan Scacchetti.
“We sent them the description of the project before we came,” said Wong. “They worked really hard; we were really impressed.”
Woodruff, Scacchetti and the other artists met for an hour three or four times to look at the progress of the project.
“Usually you have a teacher telling you how to do something, but working with the artists and other artists really allows you to kind of grow and learn,” said Woodruff. For the projection, Woodruff recorded video of Rockefeller Arts Center.
“I came early in the morning to shoot a lot because that was the only time that fit in my schedule,” she said. “But I got to see just the art in the morning light, and it was really beautiful under that light.”
The point of this projection was to go out and film the passage of time in a community.
“We chose the steam station in Dunkirk because that’s controversial lately; it’s impacted a lot of people in Dunkirk with all of the jobs that they’ve had there,” said Scacchetti.
Scacchetti documented the snow and ice melting at the steam station.
Also included in the projection is a combination of shots of downtown, the creek and different locations at different times. “They’re all aspects and areas of what makes Fredonia, Fredonia,” said Scacchetti.
Wong and Williams’ “Near and Far” will be on display until April 10.
The Marion Art Gallery hours are Tuesday through Thursday from noon to 4 p.m., Friday and Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.