Ever since I entered the college world, my four year-old self has resurfaced.
A decent nap is the most glorious thing in the world. SpongeBob-shaped mac ‘n' cheese is the most sought-after food since...well, regular mac ‘n' cheese. And don't even get me started on those classic ‘90s Disney movies. But what is the one thing that my inner child and I love to do most in my (our) free time, one might ask?
COLORING.
Give me a 120-count box of crayons and a 400-page "My Little Pony" Jumbo Activity book and I will be amused for hours on end. And if it has stickers? Better let my professors know that I will be absent for the next week.
If I am alone in this love of doodling, scribbling and squiggling, you all need to put down that calculus or organic chemistry assignment and let it all hang loose via the magic of Crayola.
When the time comes to return to the land of much finer art, however, I tend to gravitate towards the exquisite and accessible collection of paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints and more at the recently renovated Chazen Museum of Art on the UW-Madison campus.
Luckily for us Badgers, the 34 current members of the faculty of the Art Department and 12 emeritus members will be hosting their very own exhibit Compendium 2012: Art Department Faculty Exhibition from February 4 to April 1.
This year in particular, there will be new faces and spaces among the masterpieces.
There are four new faculty members who joined the department this year alone, all who, with their colleagues, will be participating in 40-minute gallery talks about their own work during specific exhibit hours. These presentations will begin on February 7. There will also be a presentation on printmaking by Jack Damer, who works with lithography (a method of printing on a metal or stone surface). Reservations are recommended for this presentation.
In addition, the doubled size of the Chazen Museum has allowed the artists to use mediums and technologies they were unable to utilize in the past.
They are even enabled to plunge into various levels of cross-disciplinary concepts and innovative techniques such as 4-D technology. This diverse exhibit, in fact, will be the second-largest display since the remodeled Chazen Museum opened to the public in the fall of 2011, and will be held in both buildings of the museum.
This event is not one to be missed; The entire faculty's work is showcased just once every four years. Make sure to check out these pieces, which are hand-selected by the artists themselves, while they are still available for public viewing.
A preview reception will be held on February 3 from 5:30-7 p.m. featuring live music and refreshments.
Times of artist gallery talks as well as museum hours, presentation reservation information and the complete list of faculty members who will be showcasing their art in the exhibit can be found online at the Chazen Museum of Art website, www.chazen.wisc.edu.
I for one am eagerly awaiting the opening of this remarkable showcase of the faculty's masterpieces-I could definitely use some inspiration for my next crayon-on-coloring-book piece, "Fluttershy the Pony Frolics through Cupcake Meadow."
