Application deadline Friday for JustArts exhibition

Talented members of the university faculty and staff will show their creative sides

Numerous talented individuals -- professors, chaplains, post office workers and countless other dedicated employees -- are essential to the functioning of the campus, but seldom does the community see the creative side of these people.

JustArts, an exhibition showcasing artwork by Brandeis faculty and staff that will be on display in the Dreitzer Gallery from November 16 to 23, aims to change that.

Friday, November 5, is the deadline for entries, which may be made by filling out an online form.

The exhibition is the brainchild of Ingrid Schorr, program administrator for the Office of the Arts, who wanted to create an event to celebrate artistic talent, bring people

together from different offices and departments and build community. It was first held in the Dreitzer Gallery of Springold Theater in January. The opening reception

drew hundreds of people, and more artists exhibited work than Schorr and the other members of the planning committee had ever expected.

“We said if we could get 20 people to exhibit, we’d be happy,” Schorr said. “Instead we got thirty-five.”

The artists came from a wide variety of departments and offices, ranging from the Chaplaincy to Library and Technology Services. Their works were equally varied.

Although the most common mediums were photography and painting, the exhibition also featured some less common pieces: stage costumes, a bejeweled chair and a chuppah -- the canopy a Jewish bride and groom stand under during their wedding ceremony.

Attendees left glowing reviews in the exhibition guestbook.

“It was a joyous occasion, with so many people truly paying attention to the art and talking about it,” Professor Mick Watson of the Department of Psychology wrote in an email to the organizers. “And the art work was good -- well worth looking at. Best of all, the works came from so many diverse members of the Brandeis community --  people who may have been doing art as a hobby, but who took it seriously and had created aesthetic and often moving pieces.”

Schorr said she enjoys the planning of the event, and loves to see the art and meet the artists behind it. “These are people who for the most part I don’t know yet, and now I’m connecting with them over their own artwork,” she said.

Categories: Arts, General

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