By Olivia Semsel, Arts Management Intern
Our fifth Student Response Exhibition, Outside the Box, is open, and you can come check out the unique creations of 34 students (and vote for your favorite)!
This is our next post in a series featuring the student artists who have created one or more pieces displayed in Outside the Box.
Meet our featured artist, Tom Myers!
Tom is a Senior Studio Art (Painting) Major with a minor in Plant Biology, from Wooster, OH!
He came to Miami because Miami is a Liberal arts school with great resources and funding; that he felt could support his multitude of interests and find just about anything that he wanted to be involved in. At Miami, Tom is a member of Inklings, Fencing Club, Visual Arts Club, and Stage Left. He enjoys designing and programming digital projects, writing music, drawing, and painting. He is a fan of many kinds of art, depending on the timing and experience, and enjoys impressionism and contemporary realist paintings.
The Student Response Exhibition asked students to think beyond physical limits with the concept of a box. For his social sculpture, titled BLOCKS: A Social Catalog, he states,
“In BLOCKS: A Social Catalog, the audience uses an accompanying document to help them make a contribution to a participatory “social sculpture.” I want to inspire a sense of whimsical curiosity through this simple combination of directed research and required action. This project is intended to show how something like an oddly shaped block can quickly become a conduit for sympathy. There is a certain tenderness involved in actions taken on sympathetic understanding that I want a participant to experience. Once a participant has brought a block into the world (by taking it out of the box), attempted to understand it (by reading the catalog), and then made an effort to satisfy its needs (by adding it to the sculpture with the catalog statements in mind), a kind of relationship has been developed.”
Come see the exhibition and vote for your top three favorites! Voting will continue until April 6 and the exhibition celebration and awards ceremony will be held on April 9, from 7-9 p.m.
