{"id":12314,"date":"2017-07-06T21:55:33","date_gmt":"2017-07-06T21:55:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=12314&post_type=story"},"modified":"2020-05-26T16:57:08","modified_gmt":"2020-05-26T16:57:08","slug":"more-than-meets-the-eye","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/more-than-meets-the-eye\/","title":{"rendered":"More Than Meets the Eye"},"content":{"rendered":"
Summer 2017 | By Nicole Dudenhoefer<\/em><\/p>\n [sidebar background=”#eeeeee” position=”right” content_align=”left”]<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n [\/sidebar]<\/p>\n More than 250 pieces of art can be seen throughout UCF\u2019s campus \u2013 from paintings hanging in the halls of administrative buildings to large sculptures adorning the lawns between classrooms. While many might stop for a few moment to admire the pieces, there are small groups of faculty and staff who put hundreds of hours into making this artwork available for public access.<\/p>\n When selecting and caring for public art, Kevin Haran, administrator of the UCF Art in State Buildings Program and associate professor of art, says many things must be considered: finding the right location for artwork, determining what type of art is appropriate for a space, following safety regulations for display and determining the level\u00a0of\u00a0maintenance needed. Although UCF has one of the largest college campuses in the nation, simply filling space with attractive or interesting things to look at is not the purpose of public art at UCF.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a School of Visual Art and Design<\/a> that is one of the biggest in the country, so art and design is part of the campus curriculum and culture,\u201d Haran says. \u201cI think any major campus has key, landmark sculpture or landmark artworks that enhance the landscape and the community.\u201d<\/p>\n While there are plenty of beautiful works adorning the campus, ranging from\u00a0the Trio<\/em> hanging mobile installation\u00a0in the Student Union to the dynamic Elliptic Lens<\/em> piece on the College of Optics & Photonics (CREOL)<\/a> building, Haran says it is a challenge for people to see the collection in its entirety. This is why he is working on developing an interactive tour that will allow users to see UCF\u2019s public art as a unified body, as well as learn about each piece\u2019s history, intent and creator.<\/p>\n Artwork at UCF isn\u2019t confined to the\u00a0outdoor spaces and\u00a0the walls of\u00a0academic building. Hundreds more works are carefully\u00a0tucked away in the\u00a0Special Collections and University Archives\u2019<\/a>\u00a0climate-controlled storage room on the fifth floor of the John C. Hitt Library. These pieces are organized into six distinct collections \u2013 Africana Americana<\/a><\/em>, Book Arts & Typography<\/a><\/em>, Caribbean West Indies<\/a><\/em>, Floridiana<\/a><\/em>, Travel & Tourism<\/em><\/a> and University Archives<\/em><\/a>, all of which David Benjamin, head of\u00a0the department, must care for with a small team. In addition to caring for\u00a0the large collection, Benjamin is working on rotating the art on display in the Libraries\u00a0and is working with an art history student to\u00a0curate an exhibit highlighting Haitian art within the Caribbean West Indies<\/em> collection.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s important to expose students to art,\u201d Benjamin says. \u201cI think it stimulates thinking. I just can\u2019t imagine not having art in the library. If you look around, there are art pieces that are just part of the permanent collections that hang in the building, and those are there because art beautifies. Art makes you think. Art, I think it helps you be creative. You see pieces, you think about them. How do you react to them?\u201d<\/p>\n