Emma Zuercher, a junior ASL interpreting major, has kept her hands busy this semester creating products for the soap business she co-owns with her sister.  Zuercher and her sister Rowena started the business HomeSaponified last year after discovering a passion for soapmaking. Rowena Zuercher got interested in soapmaking about four years ago, and Emma joined her in 2019.  “She did a lot of research on recipes and developing our formula for soapmaking,” said Zuercher, “and then in early 2020, we finally opened an Etsy shop after selling soap to friends and family.” HomeSaponified makes cold process soap with plant-based fragrances...

By Amelia Witmer-Rich • October 28, 2021 • Arts

Isabella Ruiz performing an original composition for voice and ukulele.   Dantaye Albert performing his comedy routine “Being Black at Goshen College.” Wendo Kisila delivers a poem on the video screen with an in person interpreter. The members of Howell House performing a “Mama Mia” dance medley, featuring lead singer Agusta Nafziger. The dance group tied for third place. Goshen Panic, an ensemble made up of Sam Scheele, Benjamin Good-Elliot, Isaac Fisher, Birch Baer, and Jonathan Orjala, trumpet. Bohan Lin and Julia Jun, performing “Peace is a Promise You Keep” by Addereth Worship.

By Gogo Liegise • October 14, 2021 • Arts

Current and retired faculty members of the art department are displaying their work in the Hershberger Art Gallery until October 29. The exhibition includes art from current Goshen College faculty Merrill Krabill, Randy Horst and John Mishler, along with art from retired faculty Marvin Bartel, John Blosser, Abner Hershberger and Judy Wenig-Horswell.  The exhibition is free and open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. It is located in the Hershberger Art Gallery in the Music Center, which is named for former GC art professor Abner Hershberger. One...

By Amelia Witmer-Rich • September 30, 2021 • Arts

Goshen Arts and Events hosted the annual Arts on the Millrace this weekend on  Saturday.  Upon arrival at Powerhouse Park, live music led the way to the trail of artist booths.  Event coordinator and Goshen College alum Adriene Nesbitt founded the event in 2014 as a “way to get artists excited about living in Goshen.” Nesbitt works as the Director of Events at Eyedart Creative Studio located in Goshen.  Last year, the event was held solely online due to COVID-19.  Nesbitt expressed excitement about the return to normalcy: “We were happy to be back in person; art sells a lot...

By Mariela Esparza • September 16, 2021 • Arts

Every year, senior art majors have the opportunity to showcase their work in the Hershberger Art Gallery of the Goshen College Music Center.  For this year’s showcase, eight students collaborated to curate two senior art exhibits. The first senior art exhibit of the year opened on March 21 with sculptures, posters, and mixed media self portraits by seniors Esmeralda Bucio, Dianna Campos, Melissa Ma and Jacob Sheppard. The gallery closed this past week. The second exhibit opened on April 7 and features seniors Meghna Das, Heather Gabel, Naomi Tolmachoff and Nathan Pauls. Meghna Das, an art and secondary education major,...

By Augusta Nafziger • April 9, 2021 • Arts

This semester, I’m taking the beginning photography course for my art major. Our most recent assignment was to take pictures about the experience of life. I found myself in the art building the night before the assignment was due, wondering what to take pictures of, when it hit me. Where do I spend most of my time? The basement of the building I was in. So I turned on my camera and walked down the stairs to the ceramics studio. That night, the beginning pottery class was having a work session, so I wandered around and snapped a few photos....

By Nathan Pauls • March 12, 2021 • Arts

Ten years ago, Randy Horst, professor of art, worked with art club members to propose the addition of a student exhibition to the Good Library basement gallery.  This year, the tradition continues with Goshen College’s latest art exhibition, titled Lion and Lamb. The gallery features ceramics, paintings, sculptures, photography and more – all created by Goshen College students. “We wanted more opportunit[ies] for students to get their work out there and for people to see it,” Horst said.  The next step in the process of creating an annual student exhibition was for the art department to choose several themes upon...

By Augusta Nafziger • February 11, 2021 • Arts

During the two weeks leading up to the start of this semester, I undertook the task of cleaning and organizing the ceramics studio, located in the basement of the Visual Arts building (1). I decided that, during the first week, I would organize the studio (2). The main area that needed attention was the wheel throwing shelves (3).  On the top shelf, I placed assorted tools, heat guns for drying clay, and chucks. The middle shelves held the splash trays, which are used for catching clay and water when throwing. Lastly, I put the colored clay slip – a material...

By Nathan Pauls • January 21, 2021 • Arts

As a photographer, adapting to new situations is almost a necessity.  With social distancing guidelines being implemented across the nation, you lose an intimate connection with people. This is especially detrimental when people tend to be used as subjects for photographers.  Once you lose that connection, you’re instantly forced to adapt and grow as a photographer.  During the early months of 2020, I had been documenting Notre Dame basketball games. I had also begun looking towards the spring, when I was expected to photograph “Idea Week” at the University of Notre Dame, a large event held every year which brings...

By Alex Koscher • November 5, 2020 • Features

After several nights of coronavirus-related insomnia, Anna Trella Ruth brought The Quaranzine to life. Ruth, who finds inspiration in the pairing of art and the written word, found herself both sleep-deprived and curious about how people were spending their time and what they were feeling or thinking as the world was shutting down back in March. “I often make art in reaction to stress and change,” Ruth said. “One morning after several nights of very little sleep I drew a little comic … I thought I might post it on Instagram, where I share a lot of my work …...

By Mackenzie Miller • October 22, 2020 • Features

Tucked away at the edge of campus, the Visual Arts Building is a mystery to many Goshen students.  Although it’s not the most spacious of buildings, the Visual Arts Building is home to students from early Monday mornings to late nights on the weekend, as students shape intricate pottery in the basement studio and create storyboards to be turned into animations using the computers on the top floor. It’s not uncommon for art students to spend so much time there that it can feel almost like a second home.  Dianna Campos, a senior art and communication major, is one of...

By Erica Gunden • October 15, 2020 • Arts

Benji Wall got coal for Christmas last year, and it wasn’t the first time.   But Wall, a sophomore communication major with an art minor, was not upset. The coal was merely a part of the “best Christmas gift a wannabe-blacksmith could ever get,” he said. Wall does not remember why he wanted to get into blacksmithing.  “But I just had this urge to, like, learn how to blacksmith,” he said. “I honestly cannot remember what sparked that; I guess curiosity.” Wall’s parents secretly spoke to his great-uncle, a retired blacksmith. His great-uncle gave his blacksmith workshop to Wall, which Wall...

By Patrick Webb • October 8, 2020 • Features

Photos by Alex Koscher When Laura Olsen, junior sign language interpreting major, enters the ceramics studio, she never actually sits at the wheel. While taking Ceramics I as a first-year, Olsen was given the assignment to come up with how to do a different type of ceramic. She had also recently learned to knit and so came up with the whimsical idea of combining the two mediums, a technique that she calls, “pottery of the scarves.”  Here [top left] she sits with a piece that is mid-way through the process, but for Laura, each piece starts with a regular piece...

By Kristin Jantzen • September 24, 2020 • Arts

When the U.S. hunkered down for quarantine at the beginning of March, the days seemed bleak. Time stretched like taffy: who knew when the COVID-19 threat would end? Not everyone saw quarantine as a stagnant period of time, however. Many people took to Pinterest, Youtube and Instagram to post about new languages learned, new crafts created or new organizational strategies set up.  Others went in search of something—anything—to do. Google Trends, a search tracker, found the query “Hobbies to pick up during quarantine” spiked 400% in the middle of May. That’s how Marius Norton, a freshman criminal and restorative justice...

By Claire Franz • September 17, 2020 • Arts

This past summer, Heather Gabel, a sustainable food systems and art double major, worked to bring her fields of study together through the Hickory Scholars program, an eight-week experience where students work with professors to conduct research related to Merry Lea Environmental Center’s mission of sustainability. Gabel worked with John Mishler, art gallery director and sculptor, and John Mischler, assistant professor of sustainability and environmental education to create two vibrant sculptures. After researching many topics including the role of art in sustainability efforts as well as welding techniques, she started brainstorming and designing for her own pieces, one of which...

By Erica Gunden • August 27, 2020 • Features