The artistic community at Dartmouth is small in size but large in stature.
From a hands-on jewelry making studio to the murals by Jose Clemente Orozco in the Reserve Corridor, the College is brimming with artistic opportunities.
"The College has placed a major amount of energy and commitment into developing a Dartmouth experience that goes far beyond the mere academic world we live in," said Erling Heistad, who runs the Claflin Jewelry Studio in the basement of the Hopkins Center for the Performing Arts.
The College also offers a studio art major, which includes classes in architecture, drawing, painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture.
"[The studio art department] is getting stronger and stronger even as the minutes tick," Kirsten Stromberg '94 a studio art major said. "It's becoming a priority rather than just a fluffy major at Dartmouth."
Stromberg, who took a year off to study painting in Italy, said, "The nicest thing about Dartmouth is that I've been able to create my own curriculum and do what's important to me."
Chuck Ross '95, a recent studio art major graduate, will be working as a teacher's assistant for the studio art department this fall.
His activities next year will include "monitoring the sculpture shop, helping out in the gallery, [being a teacher's assistant for] a couple of classes and being a liaison between students and professors," Ross said.
Ross said it is important that art majors don't neglect their other academic classes. "Art connects with other parts of life," he said.
"Even English and Physics classes are part of the training in art so students shouldn't shortchange their other classes," Ross said. "They are all in pursuit of the same goal."
But Ross also said that students who aren't studio art majors should take advantage of the workshops. "I think that it's important for everyone to experience the joy of making things. It's really good for the soul," he said.
Stromberg is participating in the senior fellow program in studio art, working on a project that allows her to combine her passion for music as well as art.
The senior fellow program funds student-proposed projects and excuses students from classes during their senior year to allow them to focus on their projects.
"You apply your junior spring," Stromberg said."You do a presentation, a paper, you prepare a budget and then you meet with the committee and go through an interview," she said.
Fifteen to 20 students normally apply, Stromberg said, and at most ten are selected each year.
"It's quite an amazing program," she said. "I'm surprised more people don't apply."
Stromberg said she is combining music and art in her project in three ways.First, she has built her own instruments, what she calls sound sculptures, including a drum and a string instrument.Secondly, her project will be accompanied by a pre-recorded tape of ambient electro-acoustic music.
Thirdly, she has built a suspended sculpture connected to piazo hookups so that when the sculpture is moved a microphone picks up the movement and plays music.
Stromberg's project will be on display in the Jaffe-Friede Gallery from July 27 until Aug. 18 in the Hopkins Center. This gallery displays student artwork as well as the work of the artists in residence who are selected by the Hopkins Center.
"Every year we bring three artists in residence," said Gerry Auten, director of studio art exhibitions for the Hopkins Center. "We try to get artists who are in different stages of their career, younger artists as well as the older and more established ones," he said.
These artists in residence teach classes, give lectures and do individual critiques, and they also allow students to come into their studios and watch them work.
"We want the students to witness what they do," Auten said."Students always have access."
The Hood Museum holds 60,000 objects in their permanent collection and also offers two changing exhibits each term. These exhibits are always kicked off with an opening lecture.
The Hopkins Center houses two theaters in which a variety of student productions take place: the recently converted Moore Theater on the first floor and the Warner Bentley Theater located downstairs.
The drama department sponsors one major production each term and auditions are open to all students.
"You don't have to take drama classes to try out and we generally take a lot of freshmen," said Drama Professor Sam Abel.
Abel said auditions take place early in the term, usually within the first two days, so interested students must be aware of the tryout dates.
This fall the drama department will be producing "Romeo and Juliet."
Student-written plays are also performed throughout the year.The Frost Play Festival takes place each spring, showcasing three one-act student-written plays which are submitted in the winter.
In addition, independent student groups put on their own performances. The Dog Day Players is a students comedy troupe.Other student groups are The Black Underground Theater Association (BUTA) and Nuestras Voices.
The Untamed Shrews is a feminist performance group that puts on shows in different student-oriented social spaces such as dormitories and fraternities.
Like the Shrews, a variety of student-run a cappella groups perform in these locations. Their performances usually function as a dorm-sponsored study-break or entertainment after fraternity or sorority meetings.
Dartmouth offers two all-female a cappella groups, the Decibelles and the Rockapellas, an all-male group called the Aires, as well as a coed group called the Dodecaphonics.
J.C. Martinez '97 enjoys the friendship and camaraderie that comes from being a member of the Aires."It's like a little fraternity," he said.
He feels that the chance to perform in front of groups of students as a study break gives the performances more intimacy."We relieve them, people are psyched to hear us and you can see that. We just pump a lot of energy and have them feed off that.It's a chance to be stupid on stage," Martinez said.
Both the Decibelles and the Aires were able to use their profits from concerts to travel.Last summer, the Decibelles performed on the Queen Elizabeth II as it traveled from New York to London.The Aires traveled to California last spring and to Florida this spring."We went to the Price is Right and one [of the Aires] got called down and won a trip to Australia," Martinez said.
In addition to singing with the Decibelles, Jen McCullough '97 and Sarah Eckels '97 perform at the Lone Pine Tavern, a student bar located in the basement of Collis.
McCullough said that performing at the Lone Pine is a lot different than Decibelles singing.
"There's not so much pressure," she said."It's very laid back and casual because people are there to hang out with their friends so we don't have to perform the same way.We can just sit up there and sing."
The Dartmouth Film Society presents a collection of movies each term based on a theme suggested by members at their weekly meetings.
"At meetings we discuss the movies that were shown during the past week and different students proposed ideas [for next term's theme]," said member Mike Ellenberg '97.
Ellenberg, who saw the film "The Piano" at Dartmouth's Loew Auditorium before it was even released in New York, said that Dartmouth does have a lot of resources in the film department.
"Bill Pence, [head of the Dartmouth Film Society] is head of the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado and he gets a lot of celebrities to come," Ellenberg said.
This past spring Johnny Depp came to campus to promote his new movie "Don Juan DiMarco."
"There were two seniors who interviewed him on stage. I guess he was a little nervous because he lit up on stage in Spaulding [Auditorium]," Ellenberg said. "He's probably the first one to smoke there in ten years."
James Ivory, from the film "The Remains of the Day," also came to Dartmouth. He visited classes and put on a student workshop.
At the jewelry studio students can design their own jewelry pieces or make repairs to an old piece. "A lot of engagement rings are made down here," Heistad said.
Heistad said most student projects cost under $10 to make but their is a wide range of expense represented. Some projects cost about a quarter to make but others are valued at over $12,000.
"What you do here is very different from what you do in classes," Heistad said. "Someone coming in here is in control of their educational process. It's not someone else presenting a problem and requiring you to solve it. You present yourself with the problem."
Jeanne Dilorio '97 used the jewelry studio to fix a broken earring. "It's a really incredible thing to have available to students," she said."Something like this is not available at most schools."
In addition to the jewelry studio, a woodworking and pottery studio are also available to interested students.
