The Purchase Independent

By Mariel Loveland

SUNY Purchase’s campus has a long-standing reputation of unsightliness. Just last year it was rated as the third most ugly college in the Princeton Review’s annual list. In an attempt to beautify the campus, the administration drafted a plan that would add more greenery to the central mall, fix broken brick paths, and create additional outdoor eating areas. Many students were dismayed upon their arrival in August. While the plans to beautify the campus were underway, the mall had temporarily been transformed into a construction zone. In order to remedy unsightliness caused by the construction (which is projected to end in 2010) students have taken part in a community art project called “Art on the Fence.”

“Art on the Fence” began as a small idea that was sparked by graffiti on the construction fences and taken into action by senior, Kristina Colby. “I was inspired by the ugly spray paint face on the fence,” she says. “At first, I was appalled, but then I realized we should decorate it.”

Colby’s plan allotted for 98 plywood canvases to be decorated by volunteer students and hung on the fencing between Campus Center North and the Natural Sciences Building, as an outdoor art show. The project started at the end of the September when Colby e-mailed Provost, Damian Fernandez. This led to a meeting with the administration and an eventual proposal to the PSGA senate. After the Senate’s approval Mitchell Candreva and Chloe Drew, Co-Chairs of the Public Art Committee, began working with Colby to put the program together. Sculpture professor, Eric Wildrick, hopped on as the program’s faculty advisor, and after receiving a stipend from President Thomas Schwarz, “Art on the Fence” was well
underway.

Kristina Colby purchased ten large pieces of plywood, and five gallons of sealer and primer with the stipend, and carried them back to Purchase in a rented truck from Home Depot. She spent her Friday night transforming the plywood into canvases that ranged from 2’ by 2’, 2’ by 4’, 1’ by 1’, and 1’ by 2’. The panels were then available for students to pick up from the VA building on Wednesday, November 11th. The project, while still underway, has seen a huge success with interest from students of all majors, not just the Art Conservatory.

Kyle Parker, Journalism Junior, discovered “Art on the Fence” through Facebook.com. “The minute I heard that we had the opportunity to put our artwork onto the fences, it showed that we can make this campus look better than just a construction site,” he said.

Junior History Major, Cory Passet, was also excited at Colby’s plan to beautify the construction. “The construction is really making the campus look worse than it did. The whole entire point of it is to make the campus look nice. I’m not going to be here to see that. It’s nice that I have a chance to beautify the campus now,” he said.

“Art on the Fence” is an ongoing community art program that will continue throughout the duration of the construction. When Kristina Colby graduates in December, it will be taken over by Chloe Drew. The Artwork should be available for viewing on Thursday, November 19th.

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