For many students at UCLA, the words “South Campus”
evoke images of sleep-deprived students laboring over calculus and
chemistry, enduring rigorous schedules in order to become future
doctors, engineers and mathematicians. Many associate these
students with equations and formulas, rather than paintings and
sculptures.
This is a stereotype that the Neuroscience Undergraduate Society
hopes to soon shatter with its upcoming art fair, held in Kerckhoff
Art Gallery from Feb. 19-25. The show will shine a spotlight on the
artistic talents of South Campus students.
Although hosted by NUS, the science art fair will showcase works
from students in various scientific courses of study. The exhibit
is currently set to include 15 artists, with submissions from
faculty members as well.
The art featured will include painting, sculpture, photography,
vases and even carved mandolins. On Feb. 22, NUS will host a
reception from 5-8 p.m. in the Kerckhoff Art Gallery and Salon
featuring hors d’oeuvres, a DJ and musical performances from
the students.
“It’s a great way to bring people together from
South Campus and North Campus,” said second-year neuroscience
student and NUS Secretary Cece Dong.
Support for the art fair has quickly grown, producing a number
of interested South Campus students.
“People are really excited about it. We’ve had a
great response,” said fourth-year neuroscience student
Maureen Hagan, finance chair of NUS. “It’s amazing how
many members of South Campus, both students and faculty, do art in
their spare time and never get a chance to display it like this. We
wanted to give them an opportunity to expose it to the rest of the
campus.”
Those involved with the event hope the exhibit will challenge
the usual perceptions of science and math students.
“It’s a stereotype that we deal with as scientists
that South Campus is the less creative side of UCLA, which is
completely untrue. Science and math require a lot of creativity and
a lot of abstract thinking. It’s all about forming new ideas,
and it’s the exact same thought process that goes into
creating a piece of art. The two go hand-in-hand; they’re
completely inextricable,” Hagan said. “There is this
huge community of artists here who are completely overlooked
because of their discipline.”
Not only are South Campus students often marginalized
artistically, but they also encounter difficulties balancing their
passion for art with the rigorous requirements of their majors.
“It’s something felt commonly throughout South
Campus that it is hard to find an outlet and a place to show your
work if you are not an art major,” Hagan said.
Third-year neuroscience student Erica Tolentino agreed that
there are constraints posed in pursuing both art and science.
“There’s definitely almost no free time for
art.”
Tolentino, both an officer of NUS and a participant in the art
fair, submitted an impressionist, acrylic painting of the Notre
Dame in Paris, which, when viewed from a different angle to the
right or left, makes the building tilt.
“I wanted to show that there are different ways to look at
things, and that just because something is fixed doesn’t mean
it can’t change,” she said.
The NUS art fair will likely have a similar effect on altering
peoples’ established perceptions about the talents and
interests of students throughout the campus, whether their course
of study is biochemistry or art history.