Students' poetry, visual art, improv united at 'All Senses Go'

All senses were aroused in the Campion Ballroom Thursday in a kaleidoscope gathering of multimedia art. Spectators heard poetry at one side of the room and mingled among visual arts displays at another during "All Senses Go," the third edition of the Collision student art event put on by ArtsideOut and Fragments Literary Magazine.

"Seattle University is growing," said Laurie Murphy, senior creative writing major and editor-in-chief of Fragments. "The transition to D-I is great, but if we can go D-I in sports, why not go D-I in art as well?"


Murphy emceed the show. She also organized the event with Fragments art director Maddie Semet and ArtsideOut co-presidents Colleen Clement and Trevor Brown.

In organizing the event, the team wanted Collision to come straight from the artists and to reflect the variety of student art and talent at Seattle U. It was an attempt to create a space in which varying types of artists could gather to share, perceive and discuss art.

"It sounds cheesy, but the point of Collision is for art to collide," Murphy said. "The point is to get all types of artists together, in the same room."

In the ballroom, attendees encountered a table set up with a typewriter functioning as a guest list, a free-write station, Mad Lib books and other items. Beyond the arts displays, two volunteer models posed for students perched at easel boards, sketching away. In this way, Collision defined itself not just as a performance or a showcase, but a multimedia gathering of art, its creators and its admirers.

"The art community at Seattle U is very strong," said Anh Nguyen, sophomore English literature major and member of the Fragments editing staff. "There are a lot of talented people, but some are afraid to break out of their shells. Collision gives people a chance to do that."

Students work was showcased at an open mic in the corner and the adjacent visual arts display, which included contributions of social justice-themed art from Creative Justice. A slideshow on a projection screen showcased digital submissions.

"I'm amazed at how many hidden talents there are at our school," said Ethan Oddy, freshman international business and Spanish major. "I'm curious as to why it's hidden. But I guess that's art."

Though there are other open mic opportunities around campus, many of those events are located in loud, awkward places such as the Bistro and the Student Center Hearth. Attendees at Collision came of their own volition, able to gather in their own domain with fellow student artists and art supporters.

Some participants chose to use their medium to speak out on controversial issues. Under her stage name Queenie, Shannon Rucker, senior creative writing major, expressed in poetry a passionate sentiment against the Hedreen Gallery's new exhibit, "Intended Consequences," which depicts women and their children born from rape in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

"The history of exhibiting black women's bodies begins as far back as Sarah Baartman—further, even," she said.

Though Collision is not an entirely new event and happened during last year's fall and winter quarters, the some 100 students who attended throughout the evening illustrated the growing interest in establishing an art community on campus.

New to this quarter's Collision was a performance from Broadway Rejects, the campus improv team. Also among the performances were student bands including Painted Horses, a folk and Americana-oriented group, and Halcyon Daze, a student dance music collaboration that got the crowd on its feet and dancing to what they called their "Scheme-alicious" mixing.

Dalyce may be reached at lazarisd@seattleu.edu