{"id":74385,"date":"2020-09-16T10:12:46","date_gmt":"2020-09-16T14:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/?p=74385"},"modified":"2022-09-09T09:01:58","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T13:01:58","slug":"visual-conversation-piece-at-808-comm-ave-documents-student-voices","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/news\/articles\/2020\/visual-conversation-piece-at-808-comm-ave-documents-student-voices\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Visual Conversation Piece’ at 808 Comm Ave Documents Student Voices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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September 16, 2020<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\"What<\/p>\n

Two-Part Installation Shares Words of Inspiration<\/h3>\n

By Alex Ross (COM’22)<\/em><\/p>\n

Welcome Orientation. The first chance for incoming College of Fine Arts students of all ages to shed their former personas and begin growing into newly minted versions of their true selves.<\/p>\n

For this year\u2019s incoming CFA undergraduate and graduate students, the shedding and growing was relegated to the world of all things virtual. Still, Mary Yang<\/a>, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, knew this was a critical time to capture the voices of CFA\u2019s future. She teamed up with K\u00ednh T. V\u0169 <\/a>, Assistant Professor of Music & Dissertation Progress Coordinator of Music Education, to create what she calls a \u201cvisual conversation space.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so vital for artists to reflect on how our work can emerge from our own experiences,\u201d said Yang. \u201cIt\u2019s critical for us to consider how our own experiences can equip and inform the work we make and share. Although [K\u00ednh and I] come from different fields, I found that both our working processes started with simply listening and having an open dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result of their collaborative efforts? \u201cWhat Inspires You\u201d, a two-part installation named for the question first posed by V\u0169 during Orientation and composed of a selection of quotes typeset on colorful vinyl graphics and a projection of a website (buartsinspire.com<\/a><\/span>) that displays all the responses. The art display is being featured in the Howard Thurman Center\u2019s 808 Gallery through the end of September and into early October.<\/p>\n

\"What<\/p>\n

One of the main goals of the project from its inception over the summer included fostering a sense of community among the new students, said Yang. That meant the installation would need to be two-part: something available and accessible to every student, no matter if they were taking classes on-campus or remotely.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe students\u2019 quotes on the wall become a typographic portrait that captures the thoughts, hopes, dreams, and concerns during these confusing and uncertain times,\u201d said Yang. \u201cThe quotes that were selected are not necessarily more important, but perhaps more urgent and echoed among multiple students.\u201d<\/p>\n

The website, currently boasting more than 200 submissions, features all of the responses from students of various ages. And, while some students find inspiration in something quite specific: \u201cA perfectly poached egg,\u201d said Eric of CFA Class of 2023, others are motivated by things more abstract, like \u201cSearching for what is true,\u201d said an anonymous member of the Class of 2022.<\/p>\n

\"What<\/p>\n

The whole point of the project, after all, is to allow the responses of the students to be both the voice of the project and the project itself. And, just because she was the creative brains behind the operation doesn\u2019t mean Yang didn\u2019t connect with the content, too.<\/p>\n

As a teacher, she was drawn to Lena\u2019s (CFA’22) submission: \u201cAltering the canon to include voices that have been historically ignored, but should finally be heard.\u201d And, as an immigrant, Yang connected with Grecia (CFA’23) who said she was inspired by \u201c[Her] Mexican culture, [her] family and their stories, their hardships, and how they have gotten to where they are right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was important to me that the responses were honest and unedited,\u201d said Yang. \u201cMy hope is that the incoming students will find shared purpose among each other to discover their voice as artists, musicians, performers, designers, and makers while here at CFA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas and Kendall of CFA\u2019s newest Class of 2024 may have captured Yang\u2019s ultimate vision best. When asked what inspires them, they had but one thing to say.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe feeling of empowering people through our art.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mary Yang, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, teamed up with K\u00ednh T. V\u0169 , Assistant Professor of Music & Dissertation Progress Coordinator of Music Education, to create what she calls a \u201cvisual conversation space\u201d at 808 Comm Ave. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6270,"featured_media":74390,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[],"bu-publication":[192],"magazine-article-category":[],"magazine-topic":[],"news-article-category":[357,212,216],"news-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/74385"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6270"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74385"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/74385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92759,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/74385\/revisions\/92759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74385"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=74385"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-article-category?post=74385"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-topic?post=74385"},{"taxonomy":"news-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-article-category?post=74385"},{"taxonomy":"news-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topic?post=74385"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=74385"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=74385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}