Art at DePauw is not only found in Peeler. Art Union took it to the streets in their inaugural event on Sunday, “Let’s Chalk About It,” by chalking campus sidewalks with artistic depictions of social issues.
“[Art Union] is an edgy art club,” first-year Austin Lewis said. “It’s not like we’re going to tear anything up, but we want to start conversations and have commentary that gets people discussing.”
Lewis stands over a yin and yang symbol, colored green and red instead of the usual black and white. This artwork is meant to represent Green Dot training as a panacea for the sexual assault epidemic facing college campuses. Lewis said that Green Dot training is not bad, but it should be a supplement to a greater conversation.
“[Green Dot] may be a slight oversimplification of things. The program makes it seem like the problem is just in the moment and not something larger… Yes, there should be this type of education in college as a safety net, but primary prevention education should be happening way before then,” Lewis said. “Green Dot should not be the only sexual assault education students receive.”
As a compliment to the yin and yang symbol, Lewis chalked a tree with roots and bare limbs. Off the limbs hang red dots, the fruit that the tree bears. Lewis comments that in order to prevent the sexual assault “fruit” from growing, society must get to the root of the problem.
“You can pick off the red dots one-by-one, but if you uproot the tree, it will be a lot more effective in the long run,” Lewis said. He and first-year Suzanne Sim collaborated on “The Perfect Green” chalk drawing located near the turnaround between Harrison Hall and Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.
Near the entrance of the Lilly Center, first-year Summer Pappachen, vice president of Art Union, created a caricature of two DePauw traditions, the Monon Bell game and the Little Five bike races.
“Unity is never really established on campus unless it’s really big party weekends,” Pappachen said. “These are the only times you see all types of people coming together, and it’s funny because it’s not for political activism or any higher cause.”
Pappachen based “This American Unity” off of the painting “Vomitorium” by Jose Luis Lopez Galvan. The heathenist painting displays pigs sitting at a table eating smaller human-pigs and drinking wine, and it is meant to display that heathens would do anything for pleasure. Her rendition replaces the human-pigs for party paraphernalia, the Monon Bell, and bikers.
“People just want to have fun, black out, and dance, and that’s something that is universal in the human condition because [these traditions] can bring out that many people, all together,” Pappachen said.
Two images are chalked on the brick walls outside of the Union Building. “Invisible Walls” represents the disconnect students can have with each other even though they sit shoulder-to-shoulder in classes.
“While I obviously don’t want there to be invisible walls, sometimes they are felt. I have class with a person in a different house than me, and when we’re in class, we’re friends. When I say ‘hi’ to her outside of that, I do feel like there is a social barrier. How to tackle this issue is a another question,” said first-year Jodie Hutchins.
The other image, “Standing,” is a response to when Brother Jed came to campus twice in the past two years. It depicts outlines of people lined up next to each other. The artwork is meant to represent students of all backgrounds standing together against the evangelical group’s hate speech.
Art Union started this year, and its mission is to de-institutionalize art by bringing it outside of Peeler and into public spaces. “The union helps facilitate what people already have in their minds. People have all this creativity, passion, and drive, but they just can’t do it unless they’re in Peeler in art class,” Pappachen said.
Because this is a new club composed of mainly first-years, the members wanted to start with a smaller project that brings awareness of the club and its mission.
The organization’s chalk artwork can be found in three locations other than those mentioned: “The Beholder’s Gaze” outside of the former Delta Zeta house, “Breaking Borders” around the Green Center for Performing Arts, and “Bias Incident Casting” in front of Humbert. Print-out descriptions taped on the sidewalk accompany each artistic depiction.
Senior Claudia Monnett noticed “The Beholder’s Gaze” on her way home from studying at Roy. “I looked up and saw all of these eyes staring at me,” Monnett said. “It’s cool that the chalk art is a social comment on an issue that happened at DePauw.”