Grove City College’s ArtsFest 2020 features student artwork, a concert and talk about creativity by the art-folk band Lowland Hum, a live arts night and a faculty lecture about the subjective and objective definitions of beauty.
The festival runs Feb. 12 to 14 on campus.
“On an academically rigorous campus like Grove City’s, sometimes it’s easy to value and celebrate things that are tangible and measurable, like GPA, test scores, how many credits we’re taking, etc.,” Leah Day ’20, co-chair of the festival said. “ArtsFest is important because it gives us time and space to celebrate the intangible: creativity and beauty.”
Story, song and interactive art will fill the student-focused art festival that begins with a collaborative banner painting at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12 in Breen Student Union. The banner will serve as the background for the rest of the ArtsFest events in Ketler Rec, which will see its Oak Roam transformed into an art gallery featuring student-submitted work.
“My favorite part of ArtsFest has always been watching students’ reactions to our student art gallery,” Day said. “I’ve seen people walk up to their friends and say things like, ‘Wow, I didn’t know you could paint like that!’ or ‘You didn’t tell me you could make pottery!’ There’s always a sense of discovery and excitement that surrounds the student art gallery.”
In addition to the gallery, multiple events will fill the three days of ArtsFest, all held in Ketler Rec:
- Wednesday, at 7 p.m.: poetry reading
- Thursday, at 4 p.m.: Lowland Hum creativity talk; at 8 p.m. concert
- Friday at 4 p.m.: “Beauty Talk”; 7 to 10 p.m. live arts night
Lowland Hum’s name explains their soft, thoughtful music. The Charlottesville, Va.-based band consists of a married couple, Daniel Levi and Lauren Goans. They believe in creating quiet music that speaks to the soul while filling the ears and sung from the heart. The two will share their thoughts on creativity in the context of Christianity before their concert on Thursday.
The annual “Beauty Talk” is a discussion about the objectivity vs. subjectivity of what defines beauty. Dr. Paul A. Munson, professor of Music, will share his talk on this point and open the door for students to consider what beauty really means.
Students get a chance to interact with fine art in a hands-on way at live arts night, which will include stations with calligraphy, watercolor and wheel throwing. “Ultimately, we are recognizing that each of us is endowed with some of our own Creator’s creativity and figuring out ways to honor this privilege together in community,” Day said.
Last semester, the ArtsFest leaders decided they wanted future leaders to be able to do more than just the annual arts festival and formed the new Committee for the Arts so they can request finding for future events. “This way, future students will be able to host more art-related events beyond just ArtsFest, which they weren’t able to do before because we didn’t have a group on campus related to fine art,” Day said.