image by Grayson Bagwell

There are a number of ways to get involved with the Interdisciplinary Arts community outside the classroom.

For the last 3 years (2 of which I have served as Vice President)  I have been involved in the Student Group Image Unit, a group of primarily media artists in the Interdisciplinary Arts department. The purpose of the group is to foster collaborative and individual creative excellence, within and beyond Columbia, by promoting the work of our members, improve community via creative exchange, and to empower emerging artists in professional development.  In this blog post I thought it would be fun to discuss three of the most popular events Image Unit is involved in:

Interarts Salons: These student run monthly salons provide space for students to show their work in any form—an idea, proof of concept, in progress, finished, etc. This is a wonderful place to get feedback on your work in a more casual crit environment. Though the majority of presenters are students, we have also tried to keep a slot or two open each month for faculty to present work as well.

Photo by Justin Botz

Photo By Justin Botz

Photo by Justin Botz

Peer-to-Peer:  was started 2 years ago by Media M.F.A. student Christopher Bednash. The peer-to-peer happens every Thursday at 6:30pm and is intended to serve as an opportunity for interarts students to hang out and share info. As Chris articulated,  “Making connections across the department, fostering cross pollination of ideas and collaboration are among the unique opportunities of being in the community of scholars of graduate school. I thought this idea could possibly bridge some gaps, and help keep the MFAs and MAs better connected as the semester moves ahead.”

Photo by Christopher Bednash.

Photo by BJ Allen

Photo by BJ Allen

Open Studios: Last year Image Unit and P.I.T. hosted the Interdisciplinary Art Department’s first Open Studio Event. Over 40 artists working in a rich variety of media were present to demonstrate their interdisciplinary practices in their studios, sharing completed projects, works in progress, documentation, sketches, performances, prototypes, and takeaways. the function was highly attended and we are looking forward to this becoming a yearly event.

Photo by Paul Catanese

If you are interested in learning more about the happenings of Image Unit, check out our facebook page here.