This Friday, during protected time, the Addison Gallery for American Art held an event titled, “Arts & Crafts in The Addison,” where students contributed to a collaborative city where each person selected a building that held meaning to them. Jamie Gibbons, Head of Education at the Addison, shared how the event evolved.
“I run the Addison Community Ambassadors program… The ambassadors think about community-building activities that they can plan using their connections at the museum and their knowledge of everything happening [there]. Alicia [Zhang ’24] and William [Lee ’24] decided that they wanted to plan a protected time activity in collaboration with The Addison Club and Art for Expression, so they were thinking about collaborative cities and the idea of documentation of place as inspired by the exhibitions right now,” said Gibbons.
One of the key elements of this event was that the buildings were meant to hold significance to the background of the individual. Zhang gave insight into the relationship between art, community, and collaboration.
“William was the one who came up with the idea but we just thought it would be fun to make a collaborative piece of art. Art itself is based on collaboration because people learn from other artists and get inspiration from other artists to make new art and art is always more fun, especially when you’re making it with other people,” said Zhang.
Collaboration and fun were certainly central elements of this event. Grace Hu ’24, one of the attendees, shared how she and her friend collaborated to make a building that merged a meaningful building with lighthearted enjoyment.
Hu said, “My friend made a building and then I put a cat on it, so then I made another building with cats in it. I think art, at least for these events. should just be making what you think is fun and whatever you like, and I like cats, so I’m just going to put them in a building.”
According to Gibbons, the idea of art being lighthearted is something that is often lost at Andover through the pressure of a grade or the striving of perfection. She aims to preserve this freedom through events like this.
“It’s important for students to have an outlet for creativity in a way that is more flexible. A lot of the time students are very pressured, including in their creativity… It’s nice to have an opportunity to think about what you’re seeing in the galleries and then make something inspired by it but [also] have it be something that you leave behind as opposed to something that [has] to be perfect and [handed] in for a grade… This [is] just… more of an opportunity to experiment,” said Gibbons.
Beyond experimentation, art can be a stress-reliever. Hu shared how art can be a form of communication and how through this event she gained insight into the way her peers perceive the buildings around them.
“It’s interesting to see everyone’s different interpretations of the buildings around their environment. I… don’t get to come to the Addison that often, so when they do have events, I think it’s a really good use of this space that we have but not a lot of people utilize… Personally, I’m not that good at communicating my feelings towards others, so I see art as a really good outlet for self-expression,” said Hu.
