VISUAL ART: Fashion Show
Artwork by Julien Sanchez Levallois
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Ms. Wetmore's students participated in Lunarfest 2019: Year of the Pig!
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Mr. Cozzi's 2013 sculpture class commissioned by Shubert Theater.
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The Camera Obscura Project
Benie N’sumbu 10/18 On Friday, October 19th I was invited to Ms. Wetmore’s photography class to cover the amazing process of transforming her classroom into a camera obscura. Ms. Wetmore worked alongside local artist Colin Burke; her students said this is just one of the many guests that she brings into the classroom. A camera obscura, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, is, traditionally, a dark room with light being emitted into it through a “single tiny hole.” The image coming through would then be cast inverted on the opposite wall. It is known as the ancestor to our modern-day photographic camera. In ancient times it was used to view eclipses without hurting the eyes. Colin was a professional when it came to transforming spaces into camera obscuras so he expected it to be a breeze. Unfortunately, the architectural design of the classroom seemed to be hindering the progress. As Ms. Wetmore and Colin discussed the various methods they could use to complete the project, I asked some of the students to explain to me what exactly a camera obscura is and how it would work in such a large room. Amaya Corrin, a senior visual artist, first showed me a 3D model of an eyeball. Apparently the model was a camera. “The lens,” she explained while pointing to the center of the eye, “allows the light to come in and flips the image,” just like an actual eye. She then brought over a metal can that had a miniscule pinhole on the side. This was a simpler, miniature version of a camera obscura. Amaya also showed me another unorthodox camera obscura that Ms.Wetmore had brought in, this one in the form of a regular wooden box. This one was special because you could actually see the image on the outside through a thin sheet wall instead of having to wait and develop the image to see it. I gazed around the classroom, astonished that this is what our visual artists were studying and working on. It’s not every day that we get a peek into what other artists in the building are doing so I made sure to bask in the creativity. After the little lesson on camera obscuras, I moved to the back of the classroom where all the work was being done and was disappointed to find that Ms. Wetmore and Colin had reached a dilemma. The windows were too high for the ladders they had, which meant they wouldn’t be able to fully seal out all the sunlight so the image could come through as clearly as they wanted. When I asked Colin how long this usually takes, he said it shouldn’t have gone past 35 minutes, but our 90-minute period was 15 minutes from ending. The project would have to be postponed till further notice. When I arrived Monday morning, I was delighted to hear that Ms. Wetmore and Colin had reached a solution and completed the task. They had decided to section off a corner of the room using a black tarp to protect the image inside from the light outside. My eyes followed Ms. Wetmore as she passionately described how the process worked and how the inverted image of the New Haven Hotel came to be on the wall across from the window. We watched patiently as, slowly, only the image began to illuminate the room. Although the image wasn’t projected onto the entire room like they had originally wanted, it was still amazing to see. This experience has reaffirmed my belief that we need to expose ourselves to other arts, whether that means joining an after school club or coming to each other’s performances. We are all doing incredible things in our respective art majors, yet we don’t always have the opportunity to experience it all. So I challenge whoever is reading this to go out and visit another art, learn more about what they are doing, and encourage others to do the same.
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