By Sophie Devincenti, Student Engagement Specialist
sdevincenti@wustl.edu
Take a second to feel where you are. Sitting, standing, walking. What are the sensations you are taking in? (At WashU’s campus in spring, it feels like buzzing lawn mowers, tilled mulch, the haze of pollen, and students picnicking or huddled over laptops on Mudd Field.) What do you notice?
The little things?
This is the question that inspired WashU junior, Laura Weil, to curate The Little Things Art Exhibition now on view at Stix House.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a few years now, the idea of finding beauty in the smaller things, the things we might usually think of as insignificant,” said Weil. “The idea was to make the artists and audience dial into that.”
When curating the show, Weil invited artists to respond to the open-ended prompt however they saw fit. Quilting, interactive sculpture, poetry, photography, websites. The response was diverse and eclectic. As the pieces came into conversation with each other, however, larger themes arose: mindfulness, community, and the personal as political.
The art also came into conversation with Stix House.
Adorned with beads, poems, and tapestries, Stix’s walls became living representations of the Institute’s values. The ideas of community and inquiry, in fact, are core to Gephardt’s Community Engagement Framework.
“We work to build students’ understanding of engagement as a process to be co-created with community partners,” said Associate Director of Community Engagement, Sam Babb, “a process that takes time, intentionality, and shared agreements.”
As visitors move through the exhibit, Weil hopes they are inspired to look at community with this mindful lens. “There is not much one person can do on their own, we have to act together. I hope this show encourages people to check in with others and ask ‘what are the little roles they can play together to make a change?’”
The Little Things is on view at Stix House (6470 Forsyth Blvd.) until Monday, May 1. Viewing hours are M-F 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. More information can be found here.