Phoebe Lease ’21 | Arts Editor
“The answer.”
The room is abundant with mixed media, geometric patterns and vibrant colors, but this phrase is what stands out in particular while walking through the Nolen Art Lounge. It is on one of the several collages in the gallery, bold against a backdrop of urban architecture, floating limbs and plates of food. And the answer is just as ambiguous as the question artist Ronnie Schwaller seeks to ask with this collaborative exhibit, “Im(permanence).”
An engineering major and education minor, Schwaller has been a self-taught artist since starting collage work in high school. The “collection” wall of the exhibit features six collages from different parts of her college life, each containing memorabilia she collected over the years. She says it’s like an interactive scrapbook, capturing moments in her life that couldn’t be conveyed by words alone.
The adjacent wall is titled “composition” and expresses Schwaller’s more mathematical side. The series of paintings started when she inherited her grandfather’s drafting compass, inspiring her to explore the contrasts of colors within geometric patterns. This process is more methodical and allows her to fall into a state of “flow.” Although these paintings may seem uniform on the surface, there are tiny variations in value and depth the longer you look. They seem to be in a state of flux; tilt your head or get closer to the canvas and a new brushstroke or line is revealed.
A major theme that Schwaller stresses in this gallery is collaboration, which is showcased in ten of her pieces with other students and community members of various artistic background. Sometimes the theme is agreed upon before the artists start working, but other times, it is left up to the whims of each participant in the moment. Sharing the canvas with another person frees you from the worst parts of artist block, she says; when you’re stuck, you can always spin the paper around and start anew, breaking free from the stasis that sometimes comes with solitary work.
In the back of the exhibit is a space for visitors to add to the communal collage at the “creation station.” Schwaller originally supplied the craft corner with scraps and materials she collected from yard sales, but people have been bringing in their own material to share as well. It’s proven to be a popular activity, with detailed drawings interspersed between groups of clever photo cut-outs and montages. Much of the “creation station” speaks to the theme of impermanence as well: how does an ephemeral feeling change once it’s been captured by permanent materials? When pictures and words are taken out of context in order to be used for our own purposes in a collage, are we somehow altering the “normal” definitions of these objects and symbols? Schwaller prefers to leave the meaning up to interpretation, instead focusing on making the space enjoyable and inclusive to people of all artistic knowledge. As a student who has never taken an art class at Smith, she says: “You don’t need to study art to have fun with it.”
At its core, you can tell that the artists involved had fun with the process of their work, and that is what makes Im(permanence) a joy to view.
“Im(permanence)” will be on display at the Nolen Art Lounge in the Smith Campus Center until Oct. 23.
