All seniors at The College of Wooster engage in the Independent Study program, but not all students experience this process in quite the same way. Students in studio art, theatre and dance, music, and many in English are working on projects that require just as much critical thought, research and inspiration as projects in other majors, but their efforts will produce results that take a different form.
This year’s senior studio art majors are exploring a wide variety of topics in their work. Nina Dine’s project is a series of portraits of African American entertainers inspired by hip hop music and meant to represent the evolution of this genre.
“For me, the process for an art major is extremely fun…It’s about creating and changing as you go,” said Dine. “Nothing is set in stone when you start and the idea that you think you have in the beginning may ultimately change in the end. The fun part is having a direction but not really knowing how it’s going to turn out. My show will be just as much a surprise for you as it will for me.”
Studio art and communication studies double major Taylor Lamborn is creating a satirical marketing plan to sell organic bottled air.
“I draw inspiration from marketing magic exemplified in Pet Rocks, Bottled Water, and Paris Hilton’s fame,” said Lamborn.
Dale Seeds, professor and Chair of the Theatre and Dance Department subscribes to the belief that performance and scholarship are not mutually exclusive. He reveals that this department asks students to be both scholars and artists. Among this year’s projects are performance pieces by Jackie Komos, George Myatt, Lindsay Phillips, Owen Reynolds, and Nina Takacs. Komos’s devised performance piece entitled “Kuvugurura,” is based on the story of Immaculee Ilibagiza, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide and a best selling author and motivational speaker.
Sociology and dance double major Kait Yankello is examining people’s expectations about dance, society’s influence on these expectations and how these reactions may sometimes be counter to societal norms.
Among senior music majors, composition major Quinn Dizon is working on a large scale chorus and orchestra piece, currently titled, “Apotheosis.” The theme of the work is “The Hero’s Journey,” an idea that Dizon developed while studying Greek literature in high school.
As works of this scale typically take several years to compose, Dizon plans to submit the first two movements for his I.S. Dizon has also composed two choral works based on two poems by Sara Teasdale. These works will be performed by the Wooster Chorus later this spring.
Another music composition major, Paul Winchester, has composed a project titled “Skyscapes.” This project is a concerto for electric guitar and orchestra that will be performed by the Wooster Symphony Orchestra on Feb. 26.
“I wanted to write this piece because it’s a culmination of both worlds that have been part of my musical history,” said Winchester.
“I spent many years playing guitar in bands of various styles and have always loved the rock/metal musical language. †Over the past four years, I’ve also had intensive training in contemporary classical composition and have found lots of sounds in that world that I love as well.”
“This piece allows me to explore both sets of sounds that are particularly meaningful to me and also share those sounds with the audience and expose them to some sound combinations that they haven’t heard before and that they will hopefully find beautiful,” said Winchester.
While some English I.S. projects are critical projects, about 60 percent of English majors typically produce creative projects, according to Associate Professor and Chair Thomas Prendergast. This year’s creative works include memoirs, travel narratives, short stories and poetry.
Alison Hornbeck is writing a children’s novel in which two young children believe that their new neighbor could be a reincarnation of King Arthur. Though it might sound like a fantasy story, Hornbeck stated that her real interest is exploring “belief and the unexpected ways that people affect one another.”
Lindsay Neff, a philosophy and english double major, stated that she is “using philosophy of language to look at metaphor and its ability (or lack of ability) to have and create meaning, as well as the implications this has on poetry.”
Her English component of the project is a series of poems that are inspired by these philosophical concepts. Mallory Duriak is working on a poetry collection focusing on villainesses.
“Really, villainesses have just always been my favorites. I think they’re fascinating, the power they have and what they reflect about society’s expectations of women, and I wanted to explore that,” said Duriak.
While all of these projects are definitely unique in form and process, perhaps they are not really so different from all other senior Independent Study projects.
All seniors strive to pose thought provoking questions and explore new ideas through their Independent Studies, whether the end result is a novel, portrait, performance or research paper. And let’s face it, after a year of hard work, everyone’s I.S. could be considered a piece of art.