Art exhibits in museums are usually made to be seen and never touched. But that is not the case for artist and University of Texas professor Leslie Mutchler's fifth and last TrendFACTORY exhibit in the new Arts West Gallery at Elon University.
Mutchler said every time the show moves locations and has a new audience, it changes the type of experience the viewers receive.
Upon entering the gallery, a visitor would see huge, numbered instructions on the wall. Mutchler, who said she loves the idea of chaos, encourages people to follow them, but does not require it. There are various colors of recyclable flat papers with geometric designs filed in racks on the wall for students to fold, cut, make art and ultimately take it apart again.
“I’m always impressed with the amount of people that make something and put it on their head,” Mutchler said. “There’s always a hat in the group. But the way that people kind of relate it to their bodies and just kind of come in and relate to the idea of making something. I think I’m most fascinated with watching people that don’t have any making experience come in and utilize paper and tape and scissors and watching just people craft things with their own hands.”
Mutchler said she loves the way the piece’s setup forces a sense of community with the participants in one area of the room. Some students even work together. The workstations are in a small space, which forces people to work closely on one surface.
[quote] So often in our everyday lives we don’t craft things with our hands anymore. I watch them either struggle through it and get very frustrated or have a good success." - Leslie Mutchler, artist and professor at University of Texas at Austin [/quote]
Once the students complete their geometric artwork, they are encouraged to take it apart for someone else to enjoy. Mutchler said she is very passionate about recycling.
“Everyone is talking about sustainability,” Mutchler said. “Everyone is recycling everything.”
Mutchler shows her own love for being green in all of her shows by reusing the same paper from years of previous exhibits and finding new uses for them each time.
As soon as Mutchler finished her introduction speech, students in the audience scurried over to the wall to choose their future masterpiece.
“The experience of crafting to make something that is part of a larger piece was cool, especially getting to see the different things everyone made,” said senior Adrianne Hanson. “What she had said about people feeling attached to their work was true. Even though I have no reason to keep the piece I made, I still felt sad when I had to take it apart.”
Mutchler said she is interested in watching things build up and then come apart and the comparison of order versus chaos.
“So often in our everyday lives we don’t craft things with our hands anymore,” Mutchler said. “I watch them either struggle through it and get very frustrated or have a good success.”
The exhibit is currently in Arts West Gallery. Students are still invited to experiment with Mutchler’s exhibit. Once they make their own unique artwork, students are encouraged to send a photo to a Tumblr address for Mutchler to see Elon’s creativity. The exhibit is open until Nov. 26.