Art Among Friends

Video shoots, guerrilla choral groups, field trips,“comfort” stations—these events and more will be part of the 2009 Hurford Humanities Center Mellon Symposium thanks to among friends,  a project that is teaming four visiting artists with Haverford students in an unusual collaborative partnership.

While the Symposium runs March 23-26, work on among friends has already begun with students preparing the Haverford community for the artists' visits through blog posts and what they call“preliminary stunts,” events meant to preview the work of the four.

The project is spearheaded by Visiting Assistant Professor of Fine Arts and Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow John Muse. Interested in supplementing the fine arts offerings in the current Haverford curriculum, Muse invited four artists whose performance work and collaborative projects will bring something new to campus: William Pope.L., Nao Bustamante, Jennifer Delos Reyes, and Harrell Fletcher. Bustamante lives in New York; Delos Reyes and Fletcher are teaching at Portland State University in Oregon; and Pope.L. is a professor at Bates College in Maine. All four are known for creating multi-media, cross-disciplinary art that defies categorization.

“I didn't want to bring them here and have them show slides and answer questions,” says Muse.“I wanted to make the process of their coming here as much an event as their actually being here.” Therefore, he says, the eight students who volunteered for the project have the task of“throwing themselves into and at the work of these artists to prepare the ground for them coming.” The name“among friends,” says Muse, is meant to raise the question of“What kinds of relations do we all have with one another?”

The among friends blog (which can be found at www.haverford.edu/amongfriends) serves as the public face of the project.“It's a work in progress,” says Muse.“It's a dialogue not about the artists, but with their work, what they do and how they think.” Posts range from video chats with the artists, to sneak peeks of the planned March activities, to students' observations and experiences that mesh with the project's themes.

Ali King '09 and Eli Blood-Patterson '11 are helping organize the shoot of a multi-media film by William Pope.L. intertwining the story of E.T. the Extraterrestrial with 1950s lynching victim Emmett Till. After three days of open auditions in January, King and Blood-Patterson found 12 students with a variety of talents—singing, acting, yodeling, cello and accordion playing—to participate in the shoot. (The full cast list is posted on the blog.)

King is enjoying, among other things, the errands Pope.L. sometimes asks her to run:“I got an e-mail asking me to make a 10-foot curtain . That's pretty fun—in some ways I'd rather be figuring out how to make a curtain than doing homework.” Because she's exploring careers in arts administration, King likes working with an individual artist and figuring out“what's feasible for the audience for which we're performing.”

Jane Holloway '11 and Robin Riskin '12 are working with Nao Bustamante, who, during her visit, plans to set up a“comfort station” in the vein of a disaster relief station. Talismans, such as miniature hot water bottles or tiny felt shapes dipped in aromatic oil with healing properties, will be distributed to anyone who stops by; they'll be instructed to place the talisman on whatever part of the body ails them.

Generating ideas with Bustamante, Holloway says, makes her feel like an artist, something she never considered herself to be. “It's amazing that she wants to take us on this crazy adventure with her and include us as collaborators,” she says.

Julia Ryan BMC '12 and Charles Watanasutisas '10 are paired with Jennifer Delos Reyes. The artist's March plans haven't been finalized, but will probably include at least one rally—not to protest anything in particular, but simply to bring people together.“Solidarity transcends belief,” says Watanasutisas.“It's about supporting individuals.”

In the meantime, Ryan and Watanasutisas are planning preliminary stunts such as Valentine's Day caroling, when an a cappella chorus will sing popular love songs throughout campus. On Wednesday, February 11, the two were also part of a roving wall of people traveling across campus, hands clasped, looking to ensnare unsuspecting passerby in group hugs.“There's little interaction when people are just moving from place to place,” says Watanasutisas.“We wanted to burst that bubble.”

Sam Kaplan '10 and Duncan Cooper '09 are teaming with Harrell Fletcher. Kaplan isn't exactly sure yet what Fletcher will be doing, but believes it will involve a field trip:“He likes learning from non-artists, sharing experiences.”

For now, Kaplan and Cooper's goal is to round up as many people as possible to attend the symposium events.“We want to make community members participants in a gallery show,” says Kaplan.“We'll go around photographing, interviewing, making videos of people who will then become the exhibition. It gives people a vested interest in seeing what they helped produce.”

-Brenna McBride