Hendricks Chapel’s newly renovated Noble room will find a new identity as an art gallery as the first ‘Artists in Residence: A Celebration of the Artwork of the Employees of Hendricks Chapel,’ is displayed during the next few weeks.

An opening reception will be held Feb. 25, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., in the Noble room. The event will kick off the art exhibit which will feature the paintings, drawings, photos and sculptures of student employees at the chapel. The deadline for student employees to enter their artwork for review, however, is today. Pieces can be dropped off in the dean’s office located in the basement of Hendricks Chapel.

The group of exhibitors is largely composed of students who run and work at People’s Place, a coffee shop located in the chapel’s basement, said Ginny Yerdon, the administrative assistant and events coordinator at the chapel.

‘The dean noticed that a large majority of the workers here are in the (Visual and Performing Arts) program and thought it would be a great idea to show off some of their work here,’ Yerdon said. ‘These kids work so hard and it’s nice to give them a venue to show off what they do everyday.’

The event will run until March 7, 2002.

After a summer renovation, new carpets, furniture and fresh paint gave a renovated look to the room that will provide the space for the exhibit.

In addition to having an opportunity to showcase the student’s works, the chapel hopes that the exhibit will also attract customers to People’s Place, one of the only student-run businesses on campus.

‘People have the misconception that the chapel is only a religious edifice, when in fact it is so much more,’ said the Rev. Thomas Wolfe, dean of Hendricks Chapel. ‘We really want people to know that, through this program. At the same time, this gives us a wonderful opportunity to highlight the employee’s work as well as show them how much we appreciate them.’

About 15 student employees will each submit three pieces, which will be judged by chapel staff members and entered into the exhibit if selected. Most of the work being entered are preexisting pieces that the students have already done, not specifically for this exhibit, although many pieces being entered were never done with the intent to show them.

‘I would in no way define myself as an artist,’ said Alyssa German, a sophomore anthropology major. ‘I’m entering three photographs that I took a few years ago just for the fun of it.’

Pieces entered will be only displayed and not judged. No contest of the works will take place and prizes will not be awarded this year.

‘This is informal, and in no way competition. We’re doing it solely to bring awareness to the talents of these students who work so hard both in and out of the classroom,’ Yerdon said. ‘If the students wanted to have a contest, I suppose we could. If this goes as well as we’re planning on it going, we might look at doing that next year or later on down the road.’

In addition to the student employees art exhibit, other exhibits are scheduled to follow at the chapel. A quilting display will be set up in the Noble room directly after the art exhibit and the traveling Beauty Symposium exhibit, which is hosted by The College of Arts and Sciences, will be displayed for one month toward the end of the semester.

Much like the student employee art exhibit, the chapel also plans to later hold the second ‘On My Own Time,’ a showcase of artwork by employees of Syracuse University who are not students.

Wolfe said the artistic abilities of the workers is something that is not seen everyday.

‘This is actually one of the projects I’ve done at the chapel that I am the most proud of,’ Wolfe said.

Published on February 17, 2002 at 12:00 pm