My Colby-Sawyer Experience
"Through sharing stories, connections large and small accumulate to form a network that unites — and expands — people and ideas, actions and results."
- Kate Seamans, College Communications
[ read more ]
NEW LONDON, N.H., Oct. 25, 2005 — The Colby-Sawyer College Fine and Performing Arts Department will host two New Orleans artists, Kyle “Bravo” Sirman and Jennifer LeBlanc, for A.R.M., (Art Ready to Make), a month-long art project in which participants from the community will join the artists in creating original works of art. Sirman and LeBlanc, whose art work, home business and art studios were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, will share their experiences and engage others in the process of re-creating their lives and their art in the wake of this life-altering storm.
The A.R.M. collaborative art project and performance will begin on Monday, Nov. 7, at 6:30 p.m., followed by an opening reception and gallery talk in the Marian Graves Mugar Art Gallery at the Sawyer Fine Arts Center. Those who attend may choose to observe or to participate in the project. Refreshments will be served, and admission is free. The art gallery is a handicapped-accessible location. The collaborative art projects on campus will continue through November.
“We saw what happened to people in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina through the media, but we're so far from it geographically that we didn't experience it directly,” says Rebekah Tolley, director of the Mugar Art Gallery. “Through this project, people will have a chance to hear from the artists and directly engage with them in the processes of putting our experiences into perspective and weaving them into a collective art project.”
Participants in the project will be given A.R.M. kits, which may contain water colors, a paint brush and paper with a simple drawing by one of the artists or sculptural materials. They will then be invited to use the artist toolkits to bring their own ideas, talents and experiences to the work. The drawings and sculpture will then be displayed around the gallery, and participants and the artists will engage in discussion of their collective works.
Sirman and LeBlanc's idea for A.R.M. came from M.R.E.s or Meals Ready to Eat, which they and others in the affected areas of New Orleans received from the U.S. Army soldiers who came to their aid. The M.R.E.s contained crackers or bread, various spreads, an entrée with condiments, and a drink mix and dessert, with which people could assemble their own full course meals.
“We got a bunch of M.R.E.s when we were [in New Orleans] and have been eating them. They're pretty good,” says Sirman. “Then we started talking about making art M.R.E.s. They'd be called A.R.M.s—art ready to make.”
Sirman and LeBlanc lived in the 9th Ward of New Orleans, where they ran their business, Hot Iron Press, a letterpress and silkscreen print shop and distributor of artists' books, zines, comics and other printed pieces. The artists were forced to leave their home due to Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed their artwork and nearly all of their printing presses, tools and other art-making equipment and supplies. They currently reside in Denton, Tex., where they teach in the School of Visual Art at the University of North Texas.
For Sirman, a mixed media artist who specializes in printmaking and graphic design, the idea of art as a participatory experience fits in well with his philosophy. In his artist's statement, he maintains that through art, he seeks to “engage viewers in a more direct and active form of experience.” He continues: “I endeavor to break viewers out of the role of passive art consumer, and instead have them actively participate in the creation of the work's meaning…I hope that through direct engagement with my work, viewers will come to recognize not only the freedom they possess as viewer-participants, but also the vast possibilities that exist in life as a whole, despite its inherent restrictions.”
Sirman challenges the traditional roles of art viewers and patrons, who are expected to passively view, rather than touch, the work of artists. This creates a separation between the viewer and the art work and its creator, he maintains, and establishes a hierarchy in which the status of the artist and artwork are placed above that of the viewer, who is reduced to mere consumer.
“I endeavor to break the viewer out of her role as passive art consumer and allow her to actively participate in the creation and meaning of the work,” Sirman says. “Through this interaction, I hope the viewer will come to realize the freedom and power she holds as an individual. I want the viewer to become directly engaged, and to be transformed from a mere spectator into a viewer-participant. Without her interaction and participation the art ceases to function.”
Sirman, who holds a master of fine arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.F.A. in studio art from Louisiana State University, has exhibited his work extensively around the country. In addition to his work with Hot Iron Press, he also serves as zine editor and art editor for Zine World: A Reader's Guide to the Underground Press.
LeBlanc earned an M.F.A. in sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University and a B.F.A. in studio art from Louisiana State University. Co-founder of Hot Iron Press, LeBlanc has also worked as a curator, muralist and instructor in sculpture. She has exhibited her work around the country and in Venice, Italy.
To learn more about the artists, visit their Web site at Hot Iron Press.
Colby-Sawyer, founded in 1837, is a comprehensive liberal arts college located in the scenic Lake Sunapee Region of central New Hampshire. Students from 25 states and seven foreign countries learn in small classes through a select array of programs that integrate the liberal arts and sciences with pre-professional experience.
Colby-Sawyer College, 541 Main Street, New London, N.H. 03257 (603) 526-3000 (phone)
