When Dustin Kilgour was hired as executive director of Ohio University Event Services, some of the first conversations he had with students were about the decor in Baker University Center—or the lack thereof.
“The building is beautiful, but it’s somewhat sterile,” Kilgour said. “There’s not a lot of color in it. It’s a beautiful building, but it doesn’t have that OU feeling to it.”
The first phase to liven up Baker came last spring when Event Services organized the creation of the second floor mural that reads “Ohio,” and now they are looking for artists to line the Baker walls with canvases.
Kilgour said Event Services purchased 70 canvases to give to OU students and faculty for no charge. And in return, the artists must return the canvas in 30 days with a completed work of art in their medium of choice.
“We’ve had 12 students (accept canvases) so far,” Kilgour said. “We haven’t seen the art. … We don’t know if it will be oil, water, photography or a graphic.”
He added that his goal is to have 36 canvases lining the third, fourth and fifth floors of Baker.
Before the community’s art can be displayed it has to go through the Baker Advisory Board, which comprises undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty and administrators, who will evaluate the art to make sure it “reflects well on the building,” Kilgour said.
“Part of it is we don’t want any corporate logos or we don’t want to be promoting anyone’s businesses, but that being said, we don’t want to stifle the creativity of the artist,” Kilgour said. “We’d love to see stuff that reflects the culture of Ohio University.”
Right now, a passerby can enjoy an oil painting of Baker University Center from Athens resident Jerry Schaffer, a longtime artist and father of Jeremy Schaffer, Event Service’s associate director for production and operations.
“He’s painted since he was a little kid; he used to paint sets in high school for plays and whatnot,” Jeremy said of his father’s work. “We’re not looking for everyone to paint a portrait just like my dad did, we’re looking for whatever.”
He added though OU themed works are encouraged just about anything people submit for the first stage will go up. Art can come from community members of all ages, from art veterans to kindergarteners.
@WILBUR_HOFFMAN
wh092010@ohiou.edu
