With a glass of wine and snacks in hand, people greeted each other with warm smiles last Thursday at the OSU Urban Arts Space with “The Monuments of Columbus” artists’ reception.
Students, faculty and collaborators from the Knowlton School of Architecture and its Landscape Architecture Program gathered together to discuss the work they created. All sorts of art, ranging in media from ink and pencil to spray paint and mixed media, were on display.
On the window were slides created by Jacob Boswell and Jason Brabbs, faculty members from the Knowlton School of Architecture. The slides explained to visitors that “‘The Monuments of Columbus’ are investigations, interpretations and figurations of obscure sites that comprise the fringes and fallow grounds of the city,” according to the Urban Arts Space Web site.
Slides at the entrance featured “Monuments of Rust,” explained only as “field recordings, found and salvaged materials.”
Liz Lagedrost, a recent graduate of the Landscape Architecture Program, was the first artist at the exhibition. She gave a presentation on her landscape architecture projects, “Southview Park I,” “Southview Park II” and “Softscape: Urban Camping, Columbus.” Lagedrost emphasized “reflections, re-conceptions” and “re-visualizations” when talking about her art.
“Southview Park is actually reflections of what I collected. Those particular sites [that were] abandoned need re-envisioning with [personal and emotional] interpretations,” she said.
“Softscape” was a 10-week final project for her studio class featuring paintings and other media for presentation, Lagedrost said.
The site of her project spanned from Interstate 670 to the rail line, chosen because of its lush vegetation combined with its empty areas.
Artists seemed to know each other very well. Some younger people would lead the way for the elders, introducing all the work. Some students chatted with each other, either about the work or about life and jobs. Others were faculty members, discussing the work and pointing out where improvement was needed.
Yvette van der Velde, a community artist who attended the event, said, “I’m always very interested in photography, and I want to see how people interpret it because there are not a lot of monuments here in Columbus.”
She said the work exhibited definitely looked better in person, and she enjoyed seeing the art.
At the end of the hallway was “Blurring the Edges- Phasing the Whittier Peninsula Over Time” by Eileen Ostermeier. With components of spacial organization, vegetation, water and circulation, the art piece was an attempt to respond to the context and history of the site, without resorting to stereotypes that might color interpretation.
“The Monuments of Columbus” included work by Chad Shepherd, Jason Kentner, Sarah Cowles, Jennifer Saunier, Courtney Keys, and Susan Noblet. Titles of the projects on display included “Flat,” “Road Salt from Cleveland Wrapped in Black Tarp,” “Quarry” and “Prospect and Production.” Landscape Architecture students also collaborated on the piece “Whittier Site.”
“The exhibition offers residents and visitors opportunities to position themselves in an alternative Columbus, as real as the one we inhabit daily,” according to the Urban Arts Space Web site. It is a chance to imagine a city full of possibilities.
“The Monuments of Columbus” exhibition runs from Oct. 27 to Dec. 12. The OSU Urban Arts Space is at 50 W.Town St.
