Picturing Elmira College 2014

Picturing Elmira College 2014 The Second Annual Photo Contest for Elmira College Students

Compiled by Jan Kather

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Picturing Elmira College Awards Ceremony George Waters Gallery March 27, 2014 President Ron Champagne presented cash awards to winners of the second annual Picturing Elmira College Photo Contest in the George Waters Gallery. In his remarks he addressed the ways in which a photograph can capture the spirit of a campus, a moment in time that will be appreciated by future generations.

Dr. Champagne with First Prize winner Cat Langley’16

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Dr. Champagne with Second Prize winner: Rebecca Ackerman’17

Dr. Champagne with Honorable Mention winner: Christine Powers’17

Dr. Champagne initiated the Picturing Elmira College Photo Contest as part of the Arts Alive program, a month long celebration of the arts on the Elmira College campus. In 2013 seventeen students entered the competition, submitting a total of forty-two photographs. These numbers more than doubled in 2014, with twenty-eight entrants submitting eighty-eight photographs. The panel of eight judges included two students, three faculty and three administrators. One of the judges, Dr. Charlie Mitchell, prepared a response to the photographs entered into the 2014 contest. His reflections can be found on the pages that follow.

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A Message from One of the Judges

Scientists Make Shocking New Discovery: A Picture is Only Worth 719 Words Dr. Charlie Mitchell Associate Professor of American Studies The problem of course is saturation, over-exposure, a haystack of imagery from which to pluck the needle or needles (and why not the thread?) that reveal something new, the product of a distinct imagination, the thing we call art. We have come a long way, baby, since Walter Benjamin’s “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” What is art—especially photographic art—in an age of mechanical hyper-production? How many millions of digital images are generated every day? While that infinite number of monkeys sitting at an equal number of typewriters has not yet completed an error-free version of Shakespeare’s King Lear, we billions of the monkey’s homo more or less sapient cousins running the shutters ragged on our smart phones and digital cameras have almost certainly produced renditions of every image imaginable. So where does that leave us?

One of my favorite photographs (and by “favorite” I mean exemplary of its type) is Mark Klett’s Reading Powell’s book at the source: Horseshoe Curve, Utah. In the foreground we see an open copy of John Wesley Powell’s The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons, an account of the former Civil War general’s heroic 1869 expedition through the Grand Canyon in wooden boats and with no maps; an engraving of the scene—an incongruous ninety-degree bend in the Colorado River—is on the left hand page with Powell’s narrative on the right. In the background of the image is the scene itself as photographed by Klett in 1999. The photographer’s fingers reach into the frame, pointing to the image in the book, while the “real time” live image of the twisty Colorado shimmers in the background. “We are here” the photo seems to say, or perhaps only “Look what brought us here.” The book in the frame is a map—geographical and intellectual—to the place; the photo a record of its own inspiration and context in addition to (and secondarily to) an image of the place it was made.

There are no images without a maker and a map; there are no images without precedent.

So if every image is a variation on “been there, done that,” what do we look for? The twist on the banal, the clever variation on “seen that somewhere else before.” No writer can escape the shadow of influence; no artist is sui generis. It is what we do with that influence, how we reshape the banal into our own personal territory that is the measure of our work.

The submissions to the Picturing EC 2014 contest each wrestled gamely with this problem: how to reveal something of the essence of this fine old college in a way that addresses both the real and the ideal. The college, of course, is a little bit of everything: a collection of buildings and grounds (now officially known as facilities) linked by octagonal brick walkways; an expression of ideas about higher education—and thus ideas about the very nature of humankind—that are hundreds, even thousands of years old; an aura of memories accumulated over 160 years, rooted in individual experiences connected by shared traditions; an institution that is simultaneously local and universal in its purpose and mission; an institution that is increasingly at odds with the values and priorities of its society.

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Christine Powers’ autumnal encounter by the puddle with Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway most immediately calls Klett’s image to mind. This is, of course, the archetypal college moment: sitting outside, reading beneath a canopy of fall foliage, leaves already dropping to the ground, pond (in this case, puddle) fading into brick buildings in the background, the scene already rendered in the soft focus of nostalgia.

The text of the novel dramatically unsettles the idyllic scene, yet only to the degree

that you are familiar with it: the darkness at the heart of the novel grating against the bucolic setting in which it is being read. Or do we find here the breach, the unacknowledged dissonance, between the somber present of the mature characters in the novel—their tragedies and traumas and regretted choices, the stifling atmosphere of roads that can no longer be taken—and the innocence of the puddle-side setting? Perched between the two defining features of the College’s landscape—with Cowles Hall at her back and The Puddle straight ahead—the artist invites us to contemplate an exercise that is far more than “merely academic.”

Becca Ackerman’s path takes us toward and past Christine Powers’ perch, with the soft focus of a memory that is already morphing into a dream. The perspective feels slightly bent, unsteady, as if we are looking through a snow globe. Though it seems clear that we are being urged to move forward, the ground appears unstable, the way uncertain, bumpy. What, after all, is up ahead?

The arcing path that dissolves into no visible destination reflects one of Frederick Law Olmsted’s ideals. The master of American landscape design—claiming Central Park, Prospect Park, and scores of other designed spaces on his resume—Olmsted eschewed the straight line and saw the winding path and uncertain way as his mission. We do not know where this path leads and yet we will take it anyway: that is, in fact, the point. And then there is the fleeting nature of this moment—not just because Autumnal glory and the college days it heralds are by definition fleeting but because we here at EC know that outside of the frame wait armies of workers and their cacophony of leaf blowers and leaf vacuums poised to disrupt this bucolic scene in order to remove the evidence of the season. But then this is a new era here at Elmira College so perhaps that is an overly pessimistic view. Perhaps in this, our new world order, we can revel in this evidence of time passing, of inevitable decay and seasonal change, our paths strewn with red and gold after all.

I have been thinking a lot about the College’s mission lately and about the mission of colleges in general.

What is the purpose of this institution we call home? of the larger enterprise of which it is a part? I have always taken the answers to these questions for granted; they seemed obvious to me, like asking “what is the mission of air?” But nothing remains obvious for ever and articulating and defending the value of a college education has become a minor industry in itself. Cat Langley’s insouciant pairing of stethoscope and sheet music provides an elegantly powerful and succinct argument on the right side of that question.

The image does not speak of professional training with a perfunctory dash of general education for the sake of a credential; rather, it suggests an integrated person: a health professional and an artist, an engaged and engaging human being. It calls to mind three of the central figures in American modernism: William Carlos Williams, doctor and poet; Charles Ives, composer and actuary; Wallace Stevens, insurance executive and poet. These were not struggling artists who needed a day job to pay the bills but men who were both artists and professionals, who moved as fluidly through the boardroom and delivery room as they did through the world of culture.

In this image, the artist’s arrangement is casual, disarmingly matter of fact; the binaurals and earpieces of the stethoscope could easily be notes in a bar, the beats in the music the beats of a heart. The elements are harmonized; they are all of a piece.

If these are the ways we picture EC there may be cause for optimism yet.

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How Does Your Photo Reflect the Mission of Elmira College?

FIRST PRIZE “Pictured here is my stethoscope lying on top of a few sheets of piano music. As a sophomore nursing student and as a lifelong musician, I wanted to capture in this picture two of my favorite things in the world: my work toward becoming a nurse and my hobby of playing piano and singing. These aspects of my life together, while very different, make me who I am. This photo also represents the wonderful, well-rounded educational opportunities that Elmira College provides. This liberal arts college allows me to major in nursing, a rigorous science-based program, while also allowing me to explore the arts through writing, music, and art classes. The photography class I am currently taking, for example, lets me further my artistic side and provides an outlet for my creativity that my major does not always supply. It is a new skill I am learning and I absolutely love it. I am incredibly thankful to be working toward my dream career while continuing to participate in the hobbies that I cherish.”

Cat Langley ’16

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SECOND PRIZE “This is the path I walk to class each morning, but I see it as more than that.

It represents a path towards the future that Elmira College grants to each student. It is a journey that reminds me how far I have already come in my own career at Elmira and it is never faced alone, my new friends always by my side.

Elmira has taught me that we are all like the leaves scattered in this image: some are farther along the path, but we are all united and blowing in the right direction.”

Rebecca Ackerman’17

HONORABLE MENTION “Elmira College may not be a very large campus, but it has vast beauty. When the leaves start to change during fall, the campus becomes even more beautiful.

So why not sit outside and enjoy the gorgeous view and nice weather while we still can? I had to read a book for one of the classes and I did not want to sit inside when it is so picturesque outside.

Being outside helped transport me into the book I was reading. The book talked about a gorgeous garden in the mid 1800s and that reminded me of Elmira College.

Elmira College was founded in 1855, which is about the same time as my book was taking place. This really helped me transport myself into my book with Cowles Hall behind me and the stunning puddle in front of me, it was almost like I was transported back in time.”

Christine Powers ‘17

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Christine Powers’17 8

Rebecca Ackerman’17 9

Matthew Feldman’14

Cat Langley’16

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Nicole Knowlton’15

Nicole Knowlton’15

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Kasondra Reed’14

Miranda Satterly’17

Katelyn Slaver’17

Katey Hadlock’17

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Melissa Strauss’15

Cat Langley’16

Natasha Wagner’14

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Jennifer Kelly’14 14

Melinda Mondock’14

Kelsey Johnson’14

Rachel Norris’16 15

Jennifer Kelly’14

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Rui Arichiko’17

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Irina Ivanova’16 18

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Caitlin Dwyer’14

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Jill Bowron’15

Ayaka Yoshino’16

George Blackwelder’14

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Lauren Porter’15 22

Logan Hardy’17 23

Katie Dessert’16

Natasha Wagner’14

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Natasha Wagner’14

Jinel Holden’15

Eva Bouchard’15

Lauren Elliott’15 25

Lauren Elliott’15

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What is “Picturing Elmira College”?

From the 2014 website: <http://picturingelmira.weebly.com/index.html> : All full time Elmira College students are encouraged to enter a photograph that visually represents their personal view of the Elmira College mission <http://www. elmira.edu/admissions-aid/Share_tradition/Our_Mission.html>. From photos submitted by students from November 1, 2013 through February 14, 2014, a jury made up of Elmira College students, faculty and administrators will select three prize winners. All submissions will be posted at Picturing Elmira 2014.

First Prize $100 Second Prize $50 Honorable Mention $25 The Rules: To participate, students should upload one digital file no larger than 2MB in size with their name and class year as the title: Example: MarkTwain15.jpg What are my responsibilities and rights if I win?

The first-prize winner will provide the college with a digital file of the winning image (9MB or larger) to make an enlargement that can be matted and framed for the college’s permanent collection. See last year’s winning photograph in the corridor to the George Waters Gallery in the Campus Center.

The award winning student agrees to provide a statement that explains why they think their photo captures the mission of Elmira College. The student will retain the copyright to their image, with the agreement that Elmira College may use it freely in publications now and in the future.

How do I depict the mission of the college?

It could be captured in the dining hall, the art studio, the dormitory, the library, the science lab, basketball court, or in a picture of best friends at Octagon Fair or Holiday Banquet. Use your imagination!

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