Following strict competition and help from the Indiana Arts Commission, DePauw University's Peeler Art Center was awarded a unique exhibit traveling amongst America’s top colleges: sculptures by Lucy and Jorge Orta.
“We’re the only venue in the Midwest that will receive the exhibit,” said Craig Hadley, director and curator of DePauw’s university exhibits and collections. “This is the first time that their work has traveled extensively in the United States.”
Hadley explains that the exhibit will take up about 5,000 square feet. It will be shown in the upper and lower art galleries of the Peeler Art Center.
The exhibit contains sculptures of essential life tools in order to suggest ways to purify, prepare and transport food and water. The artwork echoes what artists Lucy and Jorge believe define issues in the 21st century.
“It’s a very unique type of art gallery," said first-year Samantha Ostreicher. "You do not normally see things such as life vests and kitchen utensils put together, so it would intrigue me to go.”
Hadley explains that the exhibition is part of bigger picture on DePauw’s campus.
The exhibit ties in with several events put forth by the DePauw community to push a central theme of sustainability. Such events include a Campus Farm dinner with ceramic plates made by DePauw students as well as a formal lecture with curator Judith Hoos Fox scheduled for early April. Not only has the Peeler Art Center been working with the Office of Sustainability, the events also tie in the DePauw Percussion Ensemble to perform Percussion@Peeler later this spring.
“It’s been a number of years since we’ve had a large scale sculptural installation like this,” Hadley said.
Students expressed excitement and optimism about the exhibit.
Senior art history major Taylor Zartman believes the exhibit will allow, “students [to] gain something, even if they don’t necessarily consider themselves an art student.”
The exhibit is expected to open February 6, 2015 and run through May 10.
- Brock Turner contributed to this article.