Visual Art Voyage to Vancouver

Approximately two dozen Studio Art and Art History students crawled out of their beds early on a Friday morning in June to embark on their last field trip of the year. Led by Mr. Luna and accompanied by Ms. Ramundi and Ms. Suderman, we headed up to the Nanaimo ferry in order to get to Vancouver to see the exhibit “MashUp” at the Vancouver Art Gallery.  Once downtown, we were given two hours to meander the streets in small groups before our noon scheduled walk through the gallery. This freedom was much appreciated as it was seized to seek out the ever elusive delicacy that is bubble tea. After regrouping, we huddled around Mr. Luna as he explained what we were about to see and experience, which was MashUp: The Birth of Modern Culture. Walking up the stairs to our destination of the 3rd and 4th floors, we were surrounded by Barbara Kruger’s site-specific installation comprised of very large typed words on the floor and walls. Mr. Luna explained the artist’s previous work experience as an advertiser, which put things in quite an explicable context. One of the first things we saw upon arriving at the 3rd floor was, among other things, Andy Warhol’s screen prints of Marilyn Monroe. It was agreed upon by several of us that it felt almost surreal to see these on the walls. There were several blank walls being projected with film segments, much to the delight of avid student Instagrammers searching for cool shots for their feed. On the whole, the exhibit sparked many intriguing and useful conversations among students and with Mr. Luna that aided our understanding of art and modern culture. Not only did we appreciate the novelty of travelling to Vancouver with school, but we quite appreciated putting our learning into action. A big thanks to Ms. Ramundi & Ms. Suderman for chaperoning and, of course, Mr. Luna for not only chaperoning, but making art accessible to us all. Jaclyn C, Alex ‘16