One of the best things about Kenyon College is the impressive and devoted culture surrounding the Gund Art Gallery. Their exhibits are fascinating and well attended, and they have joined the trend of student art loans. Gund Gallery possesses a diverse collection of art pieces that they allow Kenyon students to display in their rooms. The pieces are installed by other students who work at the gallery. It is students helping other students have extraordinary pieces of art to class up a cinder block Bushnell double or give an adult air to an NCA.
Selected by a randomly drawn lottery, lucky students (like me!) are alerted via email of their good fortune and their standing in the drawing. There are no bad art pieces, really, so it is only whether you get one awesome painting versus another. With each piece, there is a notebook that is (as of now) blank, but that is intended for the student to document some of their time with the piece. The journal will travel with the art, and I think this is one of the most interesting parts of the process. The art experience is multidimensional and asks for full participation in the possession of the piece.
I was almost exactly the midpoint and so a mostly unsurprising selection of half the pieces were already chosen by students. The popular ones had already found pleasant and appreciative homes. I walked around the room with a Gund Gallery associate who provided me with some details about the various works still available. When we paused in front a largely black and white wall, I pointed at what looked like a pencil/charcoal sketch and said, “That one.” The piece that is now hanging above my desk is of a boy in an overcoat and brimmed hat, holding his hands up in a defensive posture. It is called, “Mon Enfant,” and is inkjet with charcoal pigment by Adel Abdessemed. The print is based on a famous photograph from a boy during the Holocaust.
The fascinating thing about art is that it is kind of unexplainable. One can document the process of creation, even learn the creative skill, but the emotional resonance of any art piece, visual or otherwise, is almost indescribable. When I saw the Adel Abdessemed picture, I was immediately attached. In me rose a reaction and I, as a Jewish person, did not even know that this image was a direct connection to one of the most horrifying acts of humanity that the world has ever seen. A monstrous time in history that I feel deeply affected by and connected to. Not every piece that a student chooses in Gund Gallery comes with a surprisingly intense spiritual moment. Every piece, however, has that potential. That’s why humans love art. It gives us the opportunity to go further, to see deeper into ourselves.
To be honest, the thing that baffled me about this process was the fact that the art installation required screws to be drilled into my wall in order for the piece to hang. Meanwhile, I am not even supposed to use strong adhesive to hang my personal things on the wall. One of the student installers helpfully pointed out that it is beneficial for the college’s image to be able to say that they have professional art pieces available for a loan. Regardless, I am now a huge supporter of this program. Having a formal and framed wall decoration makes my room feel like more of a semi-adult living space. I think there is something to be said for including a purposefully and intentionally mature element to a dorm room. It makes me feel a little less like this a temporary, “fake” world that I’m only inhabiting in order to reach my full potential in the “real” world. To put it simply, the Gund Gallery Art Loan has my full endorsement and recommendation, both for its ability to add another dimension to my dorm and how it allows students to personally experience the world of professional art.
Image Credit: Kenyon, Lily Alig, Blouin Art Info