Students in the Ohio University School of Art are taking on a project of astronomical proportions and hoping to set a world record in the process.
The project is an interactive exhibition highlighted by an 86-foot-long drawing of the Milky Way Galaxy that might earn the students a spot in The Guinness Book of World Records.
We're out to make the world's largest pastel drawing
said Professor John Sabraw, who conceived the idea and organized the project. There is no record so we hope to get it.
To interest Guinness in the project, Sabraw said he and his students are documenting the entire process on film, which they hope will be compelling enough to merit them a place in the record book.
The drawing is being made by first covering 903 square feet of canvas with black pastel then erasing thousands of tiny, white circles to create a breathtaking view of the galaxy as seen from Earth. When finished, Sabraw estimates the drawing will contain 2 million stars, though in reality the Milky Way Galaxy is home to approximately 500 billion.
The project is not just about breaking records, Sabraw said, but also about blowing people's minds with the size of the universe.
The hope is that [people] are able to examine themselves and others around them and feel a little bit smaller he said. We're taking scientific information and ... turning it into a living experience.
Sabraw and his team of students began working on the drawing this fall. Preparation, however, has been going on for much longer. The ideation process began three years ago. After that, it took more than a year to write the project proposal. Sabraw received a grant from the OU Research Committee last spring, he said.
Numerous challenges have arisen since the idea's conception, including gathering supplies, hanging and displaying the drawing and finding a place big enough to house the artwork. Luckily, the project has received many donations, including an empty warehouse behind the University Mall on East State Street where Sabraw and his students work.
Student artists, both graduate and undergraduate, had the opportunity to become a part of this project by taking a course through the School of Art called Service Learning in Visual Art. Students receive actual studio elective credit hours for working on it, Sabraw said.
There are 22 students enrolled in the class, but Sabraw estimates that at least 70 people have contributed to the drawing thus far, including over a dozen Perkins Hall residents, who added to it as part of a residence hall program.
I feel really honored
said junior photography student Kate Fyffe, one of the RAs who organized the program. Not only did I make a mark on something that's record breaking; it also is conceptually outstanding.
Fyffe said she intends to do a follow-up program to visit the finished exhibition when it opens in the spring.
The show, tentatively titled Scale
will open to the public on May 8 at the Kennedy Museum of Art. In addition to the record-setting drawing, the exhibition will consist of several three-dimensional interactive pieces, including an 11-foot, 6-inch diameter telescope mockup, a globe documenting astronomical discoveries throughout history and a booth allowing viewers to leave video messages of their reactions to the show.
The team of artists hopes the exhibition will gain exposure outside of Athens as well.
Hopefully after the show at the Kennedy we can get it going all over the world
said junior art major Scott Sullivan, one of the students enrolled in the class.
Wherever it is displayed, Sabraw is confident that his work will have a profound effect on its viewers.
They'll never see anything like it
and they've never seen anything like it
he said.
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