Over Thanksgiving, a couple of friends and I spent our break in Chicago. Our plan was to get there by train, so when we missed our original train we had to wait around in the station for a couple of hours. In front of us was this little boy who was just as antsy as us to get out of there. He could not sit still and kept popping over his seat and staring. This is my favorite shot of him because it captures how intrigued he was with us. I enjoy taking pictures of a variety of things, but...

By Molly Kraybill • January 20, 2010 • Arts

To make this print, Annali Smucker, a senior, carved an image into a block of wood, pressed the block into ink and stamped it onto a piece of paper. The result was this print of a head; its detail formed by the contrast of black and white. “The strong lighting from underneath gives the stark shadows and defines the face. The smaller lines on the cheek are for a gray tone,” Smucker said. Because each piece of wood is different, wood-printmaking guarantees that the artwork will hold a unique texture. “I enjoy using wood for printmaking because the grain dictates...

By Becca Kraybill • December 2, 2009 • Arts

On Tuesday, December 8th, a hodgepodge of ceramics, photographs, jewelry, sculptures, CD’s, books and more will fill the hallway of the Union. Each student-created work will be on sale as part of the Student Art Sale, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The Student Art Sale is an opportunity for students to display and sell their creative works to peers, faculty and community members. It is typically held at the end of every semester on reading day. The art sale has been a running tradition since the fall of 1970. In the past, ceramics took up a majority of the...

By Becca Kraybill • December 2, 2009 • Arts

Goshen alumnus, Daryl Groff thought about getting a tattoo of the Goshen College seal for 25 years before he permanently marked his skin in honor of the college in 2007. Groff (Class of 1983) chose to get his tattoo on the outside of his left calf. His tattoo is literally an illustration of the current Goshen seal, a purple circle with an old-fashioned oil lamp (picture Aladdin’s lamp) on top of the college’s record book. “I was bored so I went and got the tattoo,” Groff said. The tattoo cost Groff $130 and two and a half hours of his...

By Katelyn Yoder • December 2, 2009 • Features

Alana Kenagy, a junior, remembers taking this ceramic pendant out of the raku smoking chamber her first year at Goshen College and thinking, “I am going to have to make more of these.” Since then, Kenagy has created and then sold or given away 60 pendants, each of which is unique. She says, “It has been amazing to see which pendants people choose and how that pendant seems to have been made specifically for them.” The distinctness of each pendant comes from the unpredictability involved in pendant-making. “I like the physicality of working with clay, and I love the guesswork...

By Sarah Rich • November 11, 2009 • Arts

It was the sacredly-quiet atmosphere of the Good Library that provided Ted Maust with the image for his woodcut relief print titled “Food for Thought.” Maust, a sophomore, was assigned in his Printmaking class to discover a “sacred” place and capture it from an unusual point of view. “I went [to the library] to see what I could see,” said Maust, “and was caught by the view of books through the spaces between other shelves. So I made a quick sketch of the books’ outlines.” Maust then transferred the image to a woodblock and developed the black and white areas...

By Becca Kraybill • November 4, 2009 • Arts

On Friday, four busy bees gathered in an Umble Center classroom to show off a year’s worth of hard work; but instead of honey, the fruit of their labors was a massive black and white poster, and instead of flowers, their intended audience was an eager crowd of Goshen students and faculty. These “bees” are members of The Beehive Design Collective, a 100% volunteer-driven, non-profit organization formed in 2000. The organization’s mission is to produce collaborative artwork that features images symbolic to current social and political issues. Since the artwork is non-copyrighted, it can be quickly distributed to schools and...

By Becca Kraybill • October 28, 2009 • Arts

For her Drawing course during last year’s May term, Melissa Kauffman was assigned to develop an art project that contrasted light and dark color. Recognizing the graceful movement that is often characteristic of flowers, the sophomore arranged a still-life containing a vase and flower and created this print. Kauffman brought color to the image by using varied ratios of water and India ink. By adding more water, the colors became lighter, but by adding more ink, the colors became darker. “I like how colors can be mixed so that they play off of each other to create an image,” said...

By Becca Kraybill • October 28, 2009 • Arts

It was a close friend’s happy, upbeat and “life-bringing” attitude that inspired first-year Matt Helmuth to create the graphic design he titles, “Tree of Life.” The colorful design features a tree rooted in the ground, its branches turning into hands that reach upward to catch a falling raindrop. “My friend just brought life to people—so she inspired me to make this,” Helmuth said. Helmuth started graphic designing his sophomore year of high school when he had the idea to create T-shirts and give them to friends as Christmas gifts. Since then, he has pursued designing in his free time, teaching...

By Becca Kraybill • October 14, 2009 • Arts

Emily Miller saw this old, decrepit schoolhouse across the street from her church in Waco, Tex. every Sunday this past summer.  The building was recently burned down as part of a string of arsonist felonies, but the “crackpot” lady who owns it, Miller explains, refused to let the city bulldoze it. The remnants of this building lie in the part of Waco that is rampant with prostitution and drug-addiction. Miller sees her photograph as emblematic of the fact that “no one is willing to clean up either the physical area or the crime in this part of the city.” Miller...

By Sarah Rich • October 7, 2009 • Arts

Julia Baker was biking along one fall day last year when she saw a red leaf stuck in the fence of the tennis courts at Bethany Christian High School. “I screeched to a halt,” said Baker, “knowing that I had to take a picture.” There were other groups of leaves strewn about nearby, but the fact that this single, brilliant red leaf stood in isolation intrigued Baker. That it was stuck in the metal wiring of this fence also seemed significant. Reflecting on her photograph, Baker says, “I love the juxtaposition and contrast of the natural, beautiful, and intricate crimson...

By Sarah Rich • September 30, 2009 • Arts

New faculty art members Randy Horst, Kristi Glick, and Anne Berry have more than just teaching to offer Goshen College. The three are currently displaying their artwork in the Hershberger Art Gallery, proving that the experience they bring to their new positions is based on a background of natural talent, creativity, and skill. Randy Horst graduated from Goshen College in 1983 with a major in art education. He received his Master of Fine Art in drawing from Bowling Green State University. He taught at Bowling Green and Goshen College before teaching art and art history for 15 years at The...

By Becca Kraybill • September 30, 2009 • Arts

This summer, freshman Lydia Yoder was sitting in her room at three in the morning when a random but inspirational image popped into her head. “It was one of those things where I thought I was going crazy,” Yoder said, “but I saw myself standing in the room with a bunch of colorful strings hanging down from the ceiling.” Yoder grabbed some old acrylic paint tubes from a drawer of her house and brought the image to life. The end result: a man, peeking out from behind a rainbow of hanging strings. Yoder entitled her painting, “The Search,” but the...

By Becca Kraybill • September 23, 2009 • Arts

First-years Erica Grasse and Corinne Jager are changing the world, bead by bead. Working with an organization called BeadforLife, the two have ordered over 350 strings of necklaces and bracelets, each consisting of paper beads handmade by Ugandan women. The profits made by selling the jewelry on campus will go directly back to the program, raising money for community development, health access, and housing in Uganda. The plan developed this summer at Mennonite Church USA’s Convention in Ohio, where a stand offered youth string bracelets made of BeadforLife beads. Grasse and Jager, who both attend Blooming Glen Mennonite Church in...

By Becca Kraybill • September 16, 2009 • Arts

“Clay Fish”, created by senior Alex Caskey, will be displayed in Java Junction sometime in the next year. “In making this piece,” says Caskey, “I often reflected on the process of creation, both in the studio and in the natural world. The natural world is full of imperfect beauty, and I would like to think that this piece falls into that category.” When Caskey originally removed his work from the kiln, he was slightly disappointed by the rough results that the kiln had yielded. “But after some time,” he admits now, “I grew to like the rustic and organic finish.”...

By Sarah Rich • September 16, 2009 • Arts