Knights for the Arts

A couple of weeks ago, I was privileged to spend an evening meeting student artists at UCF and enjoying their work at Knights for the Arts. This event, hosted by RUF, was the brainchild of my friend, Miranda, and I. The idea was born last semester over the course of several conversations as we mused over the often-hidden artistic passions of students and our own enjoyment of art. Four months (and many cups of coffee, frantic late night phone calls, and excited squeals of glee) later our idea came to life at Knights for the Arts. Thirty-five students contributed a total of seventy-pieces of artwork, including poetry, photography, mixed media, painting, short films, original music, drawings, and sculpture. We displayed the 2-D art in the main hallway of the Visual Arts Building and featured the performing arts in a large classroom during two performance segments throughout the evening. Outside, we strung white Christmas lights over tables to create a cozy café setting complete with coffee and pastries.

We had quite a turn-out: Over one-hundred fifty people came to hang out and enjoy the artwork. Though we created the event in order to serve and encourage student artists, I'd say that those of us planning it had just as much fun as anyone else. Here are a few pictures:


Artists arrive early to hang their artwork.


This 'sculpture' was made from old computer floppy disks!


Miranda and I pause for a moment in the midst of the mayhem.


The hallway at the height of busyness!

When I grow up, I want to be an artist. Yes, I know I’m technically “an adult” now. After all, last week I folded a fitted sheet neatly for the first time in my life! For some reason last week the elastic edges cooperated and the creases lined up just so. Coincidence? Or a subconsciously acquired skill that surfaces now as I prepare to graduate? A ship sank in my stomach as I slipped the sheets in my closet. I’m growing up. Please, someone douse me in cold water the day I become the super-organized-I-have-my-life-all-figured-out-and-everything-neatly-in-boxes grown-up. Of course, I say this now, but I’ll be the first to admit clutter wreaks havoc on my mental landscape. Still, messiness seems an inevitable state of being in this world. Hence, my artistic dreams of creating beauty from the madness:

Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messes are the artist’s true friend. What people somehow (inadvertently, I’m sure) forgot to mention when we were children was that we need to make messes in order to find out who we are and why we are here - and by extension, what we’re supposed to be writing.” (Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird)

So, here's to making messes, fighting ugliness, feeling heartache, creating beauty, looking below the surface, and running toward the light.