West campus art exhibit showcases student talents
<p>Creations in video, photography, painting and performance installation, highlighting the diverse interests and unique creativity of students at Arizona State University’s West campus, are on display now through March 5.</p><separator></separator><p>The Interdisciplinary Arts and Performance (IAP) Festival of Student Work, in the newly named ArtSpace West, is free and open to the public.</p><separator></separator><p>Works by Brandon Rice, Alexander Chapin, Chris Labadie, Nova Hall, Rebecca Martos, Anton Nowels, Shaina Churchfield and Francisco Flores are on display. The students are taking classes offered by the <a href="http://newcollege.asu.edu/divisions/harcs/">Division of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies</a> (HArCS) in ASU’s <a href="http://newcollege.asu.edu/">New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences</a>.</p><separator></separator><p>Through innovative art projects, Festival of Student Work participants explore biography, the American suburb, consumer culture, and the Amazon. “Besides celebrating the enormous talent of our students, we are recognizing them as thinking artists creatively wrestling with the complex world they inhabit,” says Festival curator Marianne Kim, an assistant professor in New College.</p><separator></separator><p>Student Anton Nowels says that in his paintings and video piece he “wanted to explore an anxiety that surrounds an issue of control, such as safety and fear, felt in the American suburb.” Francisco Flores presents a multimedia interactive installation that is a “play on words finding meanings of being.”</p><separator></separator><p>The <a href="http://newcollege.asu.edu/programs/interdisciplinary_arts_performance/"… Arts and Performance major</a> offers a Bachelor of Arts degree for students focused on an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach to the arts, technology and performance and is the only one of its kind in the Southwest. Courses are offered in Digital Media Arts, Music and Electronic Sound Art, Performance Studies, Theatre/Performance Practice, Digital Graphics and more.</p><separator></separator><p>“The IAP program includes courses on the traditions of 20th and 21st century interdisciplinary, avant-garde and experimental arts and aims toward providing students with an understanding of the genres and directions in contemporary art and performance,” says Monica Casper, HArCS division director.</p><separator></separator><p>“Students become versatile artists with skill sets that prepare them for significant careers and professional opportunities in the 21st century.”</p><separator></separator><p>The IAP Festival of Student Work is housed in ArtSpace West (University Center Building, Room 228). The show will run until March 5, with the gallery open on Mondays from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Wednesdays from noon to 5 p.m. </p><separator></separator><p>Arizona State University’s West campus is located at 4701 W. Thunderbird Road in Phoenix. For more information about the show and other campus arts events, call 602-543-2787.</p>