Art students open doors

The Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts Open Studio Event will take place from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday. This will be fifth time the bi-annual event will be held.\nFine Arts Associate Instructor Marc McCay, the event's creator and a participant, said the displays will give MFA and BFA art students the opportunity to open studio doors to the public and give people a chance to see their work and work space.\n"It is an opportunity for the students in fine arts to interact, because the department is so spread out," McCay said.\nThe event will open with Graphic Design Metals, Textiles and BFA photography in the Fine Arts building. During this time the artists in these categories will be in their work space talking to the public until 7 p.m. At that time, the ceramics students will be in their studios at Old Central Stores on the second floor and printmaking will be at Old Central Stores Annex. There painting students will be in their workspace in Morgan Hall (Fine Arts). These artists will remain at their work space until 9 p.m. \nConcluding the event will be digital media, sculpture and MFA photography until 11 p.m. in the McCalla Sculpture Center on Tenth Street. \nAll studios will be open from 5 to 11 p.m., but these specific times will be when the actual artist will be available to discuss his or her work.\n"People can get behind the scenes of where art is created," McCay said.\nAll IU students and the general public are invited to come and see the art and how art students operate everyday. It will include over 150 MFA and BFA student's works.\nFreshman Zoe Meier said she has never attended the Open Studio Event, but said it would be a learning experience.\n"I think an event like that would be awesome," Meier said. "You would get to see where they (artists) were coming from and fully understand what inspired them."\nThe Open Studio Event started in the fall 2000 and only displayed the work of print making students and has grown consistently since then.\nMcCay said the event was created to give people a chance for open communication with artists about their work in a much more informal setting than an art show. \n"I hope to be inspired by other people's work," said senior Gaberial Meldahl, who is also a participant in the event and will be showing his sculptures. \nThe show is free and the sale of the art can be negotiated on a person-to-artist basis. \nMcCay said the event response has been getting stronger. The show's attendance has more than doubled since the first event.\nMcCay said he hopes the event, which takes place every fall and spring, will continue after he leaves IU this year.\n"I hope to try and pass on (the responsibility) to another student to carry on the torch," McCay said.\n"I want the event to become as popular as the Lotus Music Festival, but those are high hopes"