If you have ever entered the Dittmar Gallery in Norris University Center, you may be surprised by the calm quiet exhibit. Compared to the Shake Smart’s blenders just outside, the gallery is a peaceful getaway for artist connoisseurs on Northwestern’s campus.
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And if you happen to visit right now, you will find Dittmar Gallery’s 2024 Community Collection, well versed. The exhibit opened on February 15, and includes artwork from undergraduate and graduate students, in addition to local community members.
MAGGIE MUNDAY ODOM: Usually we have solo exhibitions that are set. But this show is really unique because it allows us to showcase the talent and work of the Northwestern community.
That was Dittmar’s Exhibition assistant Maggie Munday Odom, one of the co-curators for the exhibit. According to the gallery’s site, the collection is “an invitation to explore the intertwining of art and language through the unique medium of poetry.” Students were asked to submit a piece of poetry alongside their piece of art.
ODOM: I’m particularly excited about this theme, because it allows Northwestern students to think interdisciplinarily between visual art and literature.
Odom said they had over 60 submissions for the community show.
ODOM: We selected 33. We had to cut down simply because we’re a small gallery and we only had so much space. I would have loved to have everyone. But this year we really focused on pieces that fit the theme particularly strongly.
In her second year curating for Dittmar Gallery, Odom broadly explained the process to curate for well versed.
ODOM: Curating basically means that we spearheaded the exhibition so we put out the open call for submissions, we selected which pieces out of the submissions we would choose for the show, and then we actually figure out where to hang the pieces on the wall.
In fact, Odom says the biggest part of curation is deciding what pieces beside will be in conversations with each other.
ODOM: If you start with one piece, what comes next and how does that inform your experience of looking at the previous piece and the latter piece? And then it also involves, like kindled art on the walls, which is cool, but also often challenging aspect of it.
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When you enter the gallery, you will find a variety of mediums there, ranging from collages, to sculptures to paintings.
Weinberg senior Matthias Neumann’s piece untitled(Dream) is an oil and acrylic painting on canvas. Your eye may fall towards the long black rectangle that juts out above the canvas. He shared that the piece was based on a dream he had.
MATTHIAS NEUMANN: Right now, I’m pretty interested in like, my own hyper awareness of my body and how exactly I can draw or paint it.
And Neumann said, he felt like the abstract dream he had connected to the body.
NEUMANN: In this dream, there was like this empty room with like, not empty, but like, bare, I guess with concrete floors. And like a doorway. And in the middle of this room, there was like two pairs of legs. And it was weird like forms with weird shapes on there and in this gigantic black bar, just like coming on top. That was pretty cool. It wasn’t like threatening or nothing.
Neumann then took the initiative to paint the dream. And the sonnet they selected? It was by Ella Longpre, the first line reading “I still have dreams of water.”
NEUMANN: She has a very specific but she has an abstract way of writing which I admire and a lot of her themes about houses and bodies and memory – there’s just a lot of things that I resonate with. But I found one online and I thought it fit in some ways.
However, Neumann created the artwork first. Therefore his piece is –
NEUMANN: not about the poem but I do think it fits well.
Meanwhile, Communications senior Jessica Vallan was inspired by one of her favorite poets, Sarah Kay.
JESSICA VALLAN: My piece Pre-Love was inspired by a poem by Sarah Kay called Hand Me Downs, that is about the kind of feelings that we inherit from our parents and the people that are around us. And so when the theme for the Dittmar community gallery came out this year, I knew that I wanted to revisit that piece specifically. So I’ve spent a lot of time like rereading it picking out pieces and images that were a part of the poem.
Vallan’s piece is a sculpture of a figure in front of a sink, looking into the mirror.
VALLAN: I collected a bunch of objects, I went to thrift stores and I also pulled for my own collections that are objects that are related to different memories that I’ve had. When I was listing the materials I called it mem ories from myself and from strangers. And I think that there’s something really interesting about taking objects that have histories that you don’t know about, but just are very visually striking and putting them together.
Vallan shared that going to the opening of the show and seeing other people’s interpretations of the theme was an exciting experience for her.
VALLAN: I think that I see lots of really cool art in my art classes, but I rarely get to see the kinds of art that people are making outside of the classroom. So I’m really glad that I got the opportunity to see and also share. It was really cool. I’ve never had a piece in a gallery. And so seeing people like standing next to my piece and taking pictures of my piece was a really proud moment for sure.
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Looking ahead, Odom said Dittmar’s team has collaborated with other groups on campus to increase this intersection between poetry and art.
On February 26th, Dittmar partnered with Helicon, Northwestern’s literary magazine for an open mic night for poets. Northwestern’s Black Poetry Society and Northwestern’s Asian Pacific American Coalition are collaborating to host a BIPOC Open Mic Night on March 7 with Dittmar. Northwestern Art Review is also doing a poetry arts and craft night as well.
ODOM: I think often it’s really easy for Northwestern students who get stuck in like the bubble of their major or the bubble of their extracurriculars. And so I think this show is a really unique opportunity to pop those bubbles and have folks who are interested in art, think about literature and those who are interested in literature, think about art, and like really just have these conversations.
well versed will remain open to the public until March 15th.
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From WNUR News, I’m Erica Schmitt.
