Lecturer Robert Feintuch showed his paintings at the Akira Ikeda Gallery, Berlin.
The dance program “went major” in 20II, and the first Bates dance majors just graduated.
Sophy Min ’12 hangs her painting The Lady and the Ladder (left) and at right teams with Erica Long ’12 for an impromptu art sale in New Commons Building.
Why does she climb? Why does she jump? The woman in the painting is indeed her, Sophy Min ‘12 says, “but it should be open to interpretation.” During a junior semester in Florence on a Syracuse University program, Min won best in show for this oil painting, The Lady and the Ladder. As a Myanmar citizen moving through Italy and Europe, Min, an economics and studio art double major, had to travel carefully, and was subject to racial profiling by border authorities, sometimes mistaken for a Chinese citizen traveling illegally. In the painting, the Lady’s face is hidden — “as an artist I do not want to tell viewers who this is” — as she seems to advance slowly, rung by rung. She has to hike her native skirt, called a longyi, which is unsuited for climbing because it’s worn snugly by pulling the fabric to one side, then folding and tucking into the opposite side. As the Lady pulls up the skirt, she shows some of her leg. That’s still unusual in a country emerging from a 48-year military dictatorship. The Lady’s hair is a bit out of place. And she’s not wearing shoes. “But if she had been,” Min says, “I would’ve made her lose one shoe by the top, to show a struggle” At the top, the Lady jumps for joy. “It was a question for me,” Min admits. “How do I celebrate? I want her to be jubilant.” A friend served as the jump model, leaping happily over and over with Min taking pictures of each leap. “I knew what I wanted but it was hard getting it just right.” Spring 2012
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