Art

By Earl Corp/MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

When Nathan Lewis came back from Iraq in 2004, he noticed things were different for him.
“You go to war, (and) you come back changed,” Lewis said.

Lewis didn’t let the change overcome him in a negative way. While he was a student at State University of New York at Potsdam, he became involved with the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), an advocacy group of active-duty U.S. military personnel, Iraq War veterans, Afghanistan War veterans and other veterans who have served since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks who were opposed to U.S. military in Iraq from 2003-11. On the weekends, the group came together and cut up uniforms to turn into paper for artwork and writing projects. It became a therapeutic outlet for Lewis and his group.

This week, Lewis has shared the paper making process with Allegheny College students as part of Combat Paper: Words Made Flesh. This week-long program is geared toward veterans issues, including art, dance, lectures and panels on a broad number of subjects such as psychology, returning home and military/civilian divide.

The combat paper making process may sound complex and timely, but it is for the most part unchanged since the paper making process began in China in 105 A.D.

Uniforms are cut into postage stamp-sized pieces, then moved into a beater. The beater is a trough filled with water which will turn the cloth pieces into pulp. The only change to the original process since 105 A.D. is Lewis has added a small electric motor to the beater.

The pulp is then moved to a tray, where a frame is dipped into it and sifted, similar to panning for gold. Once a layer of the pulp is gathered, the frame is removed, the water is drained and the paper is pulled off into a sheet onto a press. Once pressed, the sheet of paper is stuck to glass to dry into a sheet of usable paper.

Once the paper is dry, veterans, Allegheny College students and members of the community draw pictures, write poems or provide other artistic endeavors on the recycled uniforms. Lewis said paper making has been picked up as a therapeutic tool by military hospitals and the United Service Organization, a nonprofit organization also known as USO that provides programs, services and live entertainment to U.S. troops and their families.

“It helps vets to tell their story,” Lewis said. “They go through this intense experience (war), and it helps to listen.

“We’re not trained psychologists, we’re just guys who make paper.”

The paper making process ended Thursday, but veterans and community members are invited to design artwork today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Bowman-Penelec-Megahan Art Gallery inside the college’s Campus Center.

Allegheny College art professor Steve Prince was instrumental in bringing Lewis to campus for the week. Prince called Drew Cameron in California, director of the national Combat Paper Project, to schedule a workshop, and in turn was put in touch with Lewis, who is one of the project’s paper makers on the East Coast.

Prince said the week is an interdisciplinary approach with the art, dance and panels. The big question Prince had about veterans when planning the week was, “How do they get reintegrated back into society and how can we help with the process?”

A gallery of combat paper artwork begins on display Saturday through Oct. 28 at the Bowman-Penelec-Megahan Art Gallery. At the gallery opening on Saturday at 5 p.m. at center, there will also be performances by dance and movement studies students, and vocal and music students.

Prince said combat paper was sent to 26 renowned artists with a request to contribute artwork for the gallery. The pieces will be displayed prominently along with pieces done this week by students and community members.

Allegheny College senior Sam Stephenson is an English major from Portland, Ore., who plans to enter the Marine Corps as an officer following graduation. Stephenson was at the workshop as a member of one of Cheryl Hatch’s journalism classes. Stephenson said he could see where the combat paper would be useful to veterans in the healing process.

“(They are taking) a tool of the military and bridge that gap between military and civilian and make art,” Stephenson said.

“I like the way they’re taking something military and turning it from memorabilia and making something productive,” said sophomore Meghan Wilby, another member of one of Hatch’s classes, who is also participating in the workshop.

Colorado’s Kali Albern, an Allegheny art student, said she has made paper before but never from uniforms. But she enjoys the concept.

“Although it has symbology, because we don’t know what it will be used for, it has its original purpose and can now be used for beauty,” Albern said.

Though Lewis said he has gotten as much therapeutic benefits from making combat paper as he possibly could, he enjoys sharing the experience with students and other veterans and performs four workshops per year.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

by KEN LAHMERS | Aurora Advocate

In my travels, I’ve gazed upon many spectacular public art pieces in small towns and large cities. But this summer I encountered one of the most unique.

On my trip to Meadville, Pa., in Crawford County just across the Ohio border, I viewed a magnificent display called “Read Between the Signs,” which is made of discarded highway signs. It’s on a fence at the PennDOT maintenance building along Route 322 heading into the city from the west.

Since 2002, when Allegheny College art professor Amara Geffen and a former highway maintenance manager initiated the project, the display has expanded to 1,200 feet long.

It has been embraced by Allegheny’s Center for Economic and Environmental Development and PennDOT, and many Allegheny art students and PennDOT workers have collaborated.

The work, which continues to grow each year, depicts life in Crawford County. It includes images of landmarks such as the courthouse and Allegheny’s Bentley Hall, plus events such as the county fair and Thurston Balloon Classic.

There also are farm and seasonal scenes, and images of several buildings standing in the quaint town of 13,000 residents.

The fence isn’t the only part of the project. There are sculptures of flowers and posts in the corner of the parking lot — all made of worn out or damaged road signs. Instead of scrapping them, they have been used to create something which enhances pride in the community.

This art project is not the only one which attracts attention among visitors to Meadville.

An urban pedestrian walkway through Market Alley in the heart of town was completed in 2011, and across Park Avenue from the walkway is a colorful 12-by-73-foot mural comprised of 27, 4-by-8-foot panels painted by local residents and business owners.

It is titled “Streams Converging: Meadville at the Center.” Organized by 2007 Allegheny College graduate Berry Greene, it is on a brick wall and depicts the rich history of Meadville and Mill Run, a small stream which runs through town.

Meanwhile, a city-owned parking garage sports blue and white waves made of old street signs that focus on Mill Run. “Park Theater Memories,” completed in 2009 by Greene, is a 17-by-80-foot mural on the back wall of the former Park Theater.

Even the daily newspaper — the Meadville Tribune — got into the act with a sculpture series called “Blue Box Renaissance,” in which 11 newspaper vending boxes have been transformed into works of art.

Geffen also collaborated on many of the other art projects around town.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

by KEN LAHMERS | Aurora Advocate

In my travels, I’ve gazed upon many spectacular public art pieces in small towns and large cities. But this summer I encountered one of the most unique.

On my trip to Meadville, Pa., in Crawford County just across the Ohio border, I viewed a magnificent display called “Read Between the Signs,” which is made of discarded highway signs. It’s on a fence at the PennDOT maintenance building along Route 322 heading into the city from the west.

Since 2002, when Allegheny College art professor Amara Geffen and a former highway maintenance manager initiated the project, the display has expanded to 1,200 feet long.

It has been embraced by Allegheny’s Center for Economic and Environmental Development and PennDOT, and many Allegheny art students and PennDOT workers have collaborated.

The work, which continues to grow each year, depicts life in Crawford County. It includes images of landmarks such as the courthouse and Allegheny’s Bentley Hall, plus events such as the county fair and Thurston Balloon Classic.

There also are farm and seasonal scenes, and images of several buildings standing in the quaint town of 13,000 residents.

The fence isn’t the only part of the project. There are sculptures of flowers and posts in the corner of the parking lot — all made of worn out or damaged road signs. Instead of scrapping them, they have been used to create something which enhances pride in the community.

This art project is not the only one which attracts attention among visitors to Meadville.

An urban pedestrian walkway through Market Alley in the heart of town was completed in 2011, and across Park Avenue from the walkway is a colorful 12-by-73-foot mural comprised of 27, 4-by-8-foot panels painted by local residents and business owners.

It is titled “Streams Converging: Meadville at the Center.” Organized by 2007 Allegheny College graduate Berry Greene, it is on a brick wall and depicts the rich history of Meadville and Mill Run, a small stream which runs through town.

Meanwhile, a city-owned parking garage sports blue and white waves made of old street signs that focus on Mill Run. “Park Theater Memories,” completed in 2009 by Greene, is a 17-by-80-foot mural on the back wall of the former Park Theater.

Even the daily newspaper — the Meadville Tribune — got into the act with a sculpture series called “Blue Box Renaissance,” in which 11 newspaper vending boxes have been transformed into works of art.

Geffen also collaborated on many of the other art projects around town.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Adjunct Professor Steve Utz won 2014 Honorable Mention and Cash Prize for the 2014 Leicester B. Holland Prize, for his architectural drawing of Bentley Hall. The Holland Prize, an annual juried competition open to both students and professionals, recognizes the best single-sheet measured drawing of a historic site, structure, or landscape prepared by an individual(s) to HABS/HAER/HALS standards and guidelines. The prize is administered by the Heritage Documentation Programs and the Center for Architecture, Design & Engineering in the Library of Congress. The prize is intended to increase awareness, knowledge, and appreciation of historic resources throughout the United States while adding to the permanent HABS, HAER and HALS collection at the LOC, and to encourage the submission of drawings among professionals and students. By requiring only a single sheet, the competition challenges the delineator to capture the essence of the site through the presentation of key features that reflect its significance. Utz will be sponsoring a team of students interested in learning the skill of architectural documentation and submitting architectural drawings in national competitions.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Adjunct Professor Steve Utz won 2014 Honorable Mention and Cash Prize for the 2014 Leicester B. Holland Prize, for his architectural drawing of Bentley Hall. The Holland Prize, an annual juried competition open to both students and professionals, recognizes the best single-sheet measured drawing of a historic site, structure, or landscape prepared by an individual(s) to HABS/HAER/HALS standards and guidelines. The prize is administered by the Heritage Documentation Programs and the Center for Architecture, Design & Engineering in the Library of Congress. The prize is intended to increase awareness, knowledge, and appreciation of historic resources throughout the United States while adding to the permanent HABS, HAER and HALS collection at the LOC, and to encourage the submission of drawings among professionals and students. By requiring only a single sheet, the competition challenges the delineator to capture the essence of the site through the presentation of key features that reflect its significance. Utz will be sponsoring a team of students interested in learning the skill of architectural documentation and submitting architectural drawings in national competitions.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Conneaut Lake Borough, in collaboration with the Art & Environment Initiative, has received $75,000 from the Our Town Program of the National Endowment for the Arts. Professor of Art Amara Geffen will serve as the lead artist working in collaboration with Conneaut Lake residents and Artist-in-Residence Steve Prince, Ceramics and Sculpture Technician Ian Thomas, Assistant Professor of Communication Arts/Theatre Emily Yochim, and an Allegheny College student who will serve as an art apprentice during summer 2015. “Fostering Livability through Art, Nature and Culture” will involve two community arts engagement events for both year-round and summer residents at the lake. These events will be used to gather community stories and images, which will be integrated into design and implementation of a public art trail connecting Ice House Park and the central downtown business district to Fireman’s Beach. The grant provides funding for the arts-engagement events, a series of public sculptures that may feature opportunities to listen to/view some of the community stories, and a fully engineered and comprehensive design plan for completing the public art trail.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Conneaut Lake Borough, in collaboration with the Art & Environment Initiative, has received $75,000 from the Our Town Program of the National Endowment for the Arts. Professor of Art Amara Geffen will serve as the lead artist working in collaboration with Conneaut Lake residents and Artist-in-Residence Steve Prince, Ceramics and Sculpture Technician Ian Thomas, Assistant Professor of Communication Arts/Theatre Emily Yochim, and an Allegheny College student who will serve as an art apprentice during summer 2015. “Fostering Livability through Art, Nature and Culture” will involve two community arts engagement events for both year-round and summer residents at the lake. These events will be used to gather community stories and images, which will be integrated into design and implementation of a public art trail connecting Ice House Park and the central downtown business district to Fireman’s Beach. The grant provides funding for the arts-engagement events, a series of public sculptures that may feature opportunities to listen to/view some of the community stories, and a fully engineered and comprehensive design plan for completing the public art trail.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Story and photo by Mary Hill
mhill@titusvilleherald.com

Allegheny College student Joe Phelps, of Titusville, wanted to go outside his comfort zone by traveling to South Vietnam for a six-week stay, where he will work with children who have intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Phelps is heading to the former Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City, with a population of nine million people.

He is traveling to Vietnam as a member of the university’s Bonner Scholar program.

According to the Allegheny College website, the Bonner Scholar program follows a similar framework, over a four-year period as Bonner leaders who work with a local agency for two years. They are part of the national AmeriCorps program, receive financial compensation for their commitment and participate in a leadership development training series.

Phelps, who is a senior at Allegheny, is majoring in studio art and environmental science.

He said the Bonner Scholar program is one of the more well-known and prestigious programs at the college.

He said there are about 60 students in the program, and 12 students join the program each academic year.

He added that the Bonner Scholar program involves federal work/study for students.

“We have our own sites — some people are at [Tamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, Women’s Services and Active Aging],” he said.

Working at Meadville Council on the Arts

As a Bonner Scholar, Phelps has been working at Meadville Council on the Arts since his freshman year of college.

He chose the arts council, in part, he said, due to his past experience performing in theater productions while he was a student at Titusville High School.

However, since working with the arts council, he has been focusing on the visual arts.

Phelps said he directed a theater class with his friend, Katie Beck, who graduated from college this year.

“That was fun, [it was] a lot of improv and creative writing,” he said.

Phelps said he is the arts council’s webmaster, which is also part of the Bonner Scholar program.

Before becoming webmaster, Phelps focused on photography for the arts council.

“I was the picture guy,” he said. “I would take photos of arts council programs and those appeared in the Meadville Tribune and that led to the website.”

Phelps said that when he took over the arts council’s website, he used all the photos he took and placed them on the site.

“I make all the brochures, pamphlets, flyers and postcards for MCA [Meadville Council on the Arts] and I put them on the website,” he said.

Phelps said MCA has a Facebook page but some people don’t have Facebook and like to browse through MCA’s website.

He also noted that some people have problems locating MCA, which is housed on the second floor of Meadville’s historic Market House, at 910 Market St.

Heading to South Vietnam

Phelps said the Bonner Program requires that members travel at least 50 miles outside of Meadville.

But, instead of staying within the confines of the U.S., Phelps said he wanted to “go outside his comfort zone” by traveling to South Vietnam, through another program UBELONG.

“[UBELONG does] different projects in different countries and I saw that they did a program in Vietnam working with kids with intellectual and developmental disabilities,” he said.

Phelps will be staying in Ho Chi Minh City for six weeks, in a facility with beds and a communal bathroom.

The South Vietnam city of nine million people will be a big change for Phelps, but he is looking forward to working with the children while he is there.

He said some of children’s disabilities could be from the effects attributed to the war and Agent Orange.

“Some of the kids live in orphanages or temple settings and the parents send them there when they go to work,” Phelps said.

He added that he will also be working with children at facilities that have organic gardening and enrichment programs.

Phelps said he will be helping the children with hygiene and other skills.

When he returns to Allegheny in the fall, he will discuss his trip to Vietnam.

“There is a Bonner Retreat at Pymatuning Lake at the beginning of the school year,” he said. “We go there and become a community and we talk about experiences in foreign countries.”

Best Buddies

Phelps already has experience working with children who are intellectually- or developmentally-disabled when he worked at Camp Fitch over the summer while in high school; and also through his volunteerism with the Best Buddies program, which matches students with people from the Arc of Crawford County program.

He said this will be his second year serving as president of the Best Buddies program, “which is the reason for my recurring participation in the leadership conference” that is held each July at Indiana University, in Bloomington, Ind.

“It’s an international leadership conference and I will be going again, in July, after getting back from Vietnam,” Phelps said.

According to the Best Buddies website, the program was founded, in 1989, by Anthony K. Shriver. The organization is dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

According to Phelps, the Best Buddies program has about 15 students/matches participating annually at Allegheny College.

“It’s more individualized,” he said. “We’re pretty much offering the tools people need to create these relationships with [other] people.”

Phelps said Best Buddies’ members are upheld in their commitments.

“They have to talk to their ‘buddy’ four times a month, and two of those times [need to be person-to-person],” he said.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Story and photo by Mary Hill
mhill@titusvilleherald.com

Allegheny College student Joe Phelps, of Titusville, wanted to go outside his comfort zone by traveling to South Vietnam for a six-week stay, where he will work with children who have intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Phelps is heading to the former Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City, with a population of nine million people.

He is traveling to Vietnam as a member of the university’s Bonner Scholar program.

According to the Allegheny College website, the Bonner Scholar program follows a similar framework, over a four-year period as Bonner leaders who work with a local agency for two years. They are part of the national AmeriCorps program, receive financial compensation for their commitment and participate in a leadership development training series.

Phelps, who is a senior at Allegheny, is majoring in studio art and environmental science.

He said the Bonner Scholar program is one of the more well-known and prestigious programs at the college.

He said there are about 60 students in the program, and 12 students join the program each academic year.

He added that the Bonner Scholar program involves federal work/study for students.

“We have our own sites — some people are at [Tamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, Women’s Services and Active Aging],” he said.

Working at Meadville Council on the Arts

As a Bonner Scholar, Phelps has been working at Meadville Council on the Arts since his freshman year of college.

He chose the arts council, in part, he said, due to his past experience performing in theater productions while he was a student at Titusville High School.

However, since working with the arts council, he has been focusing on the visual arts.

Phelps said he directed a theater class with his friend, Katie Beck, who graduated from college this year.

“That was fun, [it was] a lot of improv and creative writing,” he said.

Phelps said he is the arts council’s webmaster, which is also part of the Bonner Scholar program.

Before becoming webmaster, Phelps focused on photography for the arts council.

“I was the picture guy,” he said. “I would take photos of arts council programs and those appeared in the Meadville Tribune and that led to the website.”

Phelps said that when he took over the arts council’s website, he used all the photos he took and placed them on the site.

“I make all the brochures, pamphlets, flyers and postcards for MCA [Meadville Council on the Arts] and I put them on the website,” he said.

Phelps said MCA has a Facebook page but some people don’t have Facebook and like to browse through MCA’s website.

He also noted that some people have problems locating MCA, which is housed on the second floor of Meadville’s historic Market House, at 910 Market St.

Heading to South Vietnam

Phelps said the Bonner Program requires that members travel at least 50 miles outside of Meadville.

But, instead of staying within the confines of the U.S., Phelps said he wanted to “go outside his comfort zone” by traveling to South Vietnam, through another program UBELONG.

“[UBELONG does] different projects in different countries and I saw that they did a program in Vietnam working with kids with intellectual and developmental disabilities,” he said.

Phelps will be staying in Ho Chi Minh City for six weeks, in a facility with beds and a communal bathroom.

The South Vietnam city of nine million people will be a big change for Phelps, but he is looking forward to working with the children while he is there.

He said some of children’s disabilities could be from the effects attributed to the war and Agent Orange.

“Some of the kids live in orphanages or temple settings and the parents send them there when they go to work,” Phelps said.

He added that he will also be working with children at facilities that have organic gardening and enrichment programs.

Phelps said he will be helping the children with hygiene and other skills.

When he returns to Allegheny in the fall, he will discuss his trip to Vietnam.

“There is a Bonner Retreat at Pymatuning Lake at the beginning of the school year,” he said. “We go there and become a community and we talk about experiences in foreign countries.”

Best Buddies

Phelps already has experience working with children who are intellectually- or developmentally-disabled when he worked at Camp Fitch over the summer while in high school; and also through his volunteerism with the Best Buddies program, which matches students with people from the Arc of Crawford County program.

He said this will be his second year serving as president of the Best Buddies program, “which is the reason for my recurring participation in the leadership conference” that is held each July at Indiana University, in Bloomington, Ind.

“It’s an international leadership conference and I will be going again, in July, after getting back from Vietnam,” Phelps said.

According to the Best Buddies website, the program was founded, in 1989, by Anthony K. Shriver. The organization is dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

According to Phelps, the Best Buddies program has about 15 students/matches participating annually at Allegheny College.

“It’s more individualized,” he said. “We’re pretty much offering the tools people need to create these relationships with [other] people.”

Phelps said Best Buddies’ members are upheld in their commitments.

“They have to talk to their ‘buddy’ four times a month, and two of those times [need to be person-to-person],” he said.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Studio art major Natalie Bensel ’15 had a work accepted into the 91st Annual Spring Show currently on view at the Erie Art Museum. Her performance art video “Burden” includes ten individual performances, playing simultaneously, that explore personal burdens in an effort to create an overwhelming feeling of the chaotic beauty of what it means to be alive. The exhibit will close on July 20.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research