'Buffet' gives sculpture students opportunity to showcase work

It took them a while to set up and a while to take it down, but the event itself only lasted a few hours. \nThough it was brief, the Centennial Buffet Friday at the McCalla School, 525 E. Ninth St., was of great importance to the 11 Master of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts sculpture students involved. This is the only showing most of these students get all year, and though it was short-lived, the exhibit was important to the artists.\n"Most of us are graduating soon, so this is one last chance for everyone to see our work," said senior Rachel Larsen. \nOut of the nearly 40 rooms in the school, 16 were opened as galleries for the event. The McCalla School is relatively small compared to other building on campus.\nLarsen said she enjoys the functionality of the building as both a gallery and studio.\n"It's safer to keep the art in one place," she said. "But mostly it allows us to enter our own little world where we can focus on our art."\nLarsen said the event was organized by the students and has been in progress since last fall.\nStudents setting up the event weren't ready as guests began arriving, partly because sculpture usually takes longer to set up when compared with two-dimensional art forms.\nStudents' art varied in topics from mimicking boat-like machines to a 3-foot femur made of gelatin. Graduate student Carlos Tobar fashioned the broken femur from red gelatin because the substance itself is made from bone. Tobar also made the steel table used to display the piece. \nProfessor of Fine Art Galo Moncayo said Tobar created the piece to reflect on making substances out of the material they themselves were originally constructed. He said the table was used to complete the piece and make it appear more clinical. \nJunior Hannah Walsh chose to focus on constructing sculptures by using uncommon materials. A few of her pieces included a rope made entirely of dirt gathered within the building, while another was a chain consisting of hollowed eggshells. \nMoncayo said her pieces focused on using natural everyday materials and finding a way to make them beautiful.\nAnother artist had a similar theme for her sculptures. Joni Younkins-Herzog said she used rigid materials such as fiberglass and steel to create an instrument she found sensuously pleasing to the eye and functional at the same time.\n"Because I'm also an herbalist I wanted to combine my love for sculpture with my love for flowers," she said. "My goal in creating the large pipes was to model them after a flower and also experience the sound within my own body."\nIn the past, the McCalla School functioned as an elementary school for Bloomington children but University acquired it years ago. Celebrating its 100th birthday, the facility serves as both a gallery and workspace for students, one of the reasons for the opening only lasting one night. \nGraduate student Ryan Mandell used his love for the McCalla School to fuel his artwork. He took one of the rooms in the school and remodeled it as part of a sculpture, tearing out an old built-in bookcase in the room's corner. Using the wood from the bookcase, Mandell reconstructed three shelves to complete the sculpture.\n"I was concerned with building certain architectural remnants that could be beautiful but were currently trapped by layers of old paint," he said. "The room had to go through a destruction phase before I could bring it back to being useful and beautiful." \nAs part of his artistic vision, Mandell also cuts out pieces of walls from one building in the middle of the night and transports them to new locations. Before daybreak he replaces the wall and paints it so no one will know it is missing. \n"For me, this is about having an experience in one environment and wanting to not only take it with you, but have it in the future to reflect on," he said. "It speaks to me about the separation between the object you look at and the environment surrounding you."\nThose in attendance were given a free buffet dinner and a tour of the gallery. Moncayo said the event allows parents a chance to view their children's work, as well as have the students' work viewed by the public. Other students featuring their work were: seniors Zachary Biberstine, Joshua Kreuzman, Tsuyoshi Miike, Andrea Rettig, Arrick Underhill and Gregg Witt.\nLarsen said it is nice for the artists to reflect on their work from the previous year.\n"Sometimes we get lost in our own worlds but taking a step back and realizing all the work we've done is beneficial because it drives new\ninspirations," she said. \n-- Contact Staff Writer Lynndi \nLockenour at llockeno@indiana.edu.