Mather Hosts Reception for Two Art Installations

Visitors to Mather House face translucent gauze, string, and wooden bows suspended from the building’s columns from the moment they enter the foyer. This art exhibit, a part of a project called “Mather Build,” was celebrated in conjunction with the student photo campaign “In The Making” at a reception in Mather House’s Three Columns Gallery on Wednesday evening.

Mather Gallery curator Matthew R. Terry said “Mather Build” was meant to be “experimental and playful,” so that both artists and non-artists could participate.

Kevin Hong ’15, a Mather resident and assistant curator who assisted Terry in executing the project, described the project as “fun” because of its unique participatory creation process. Mather residents collectively created the displays directly onto the column walls within a span of several hours.

Hong also noted that the project attracts viewers to focus on distinct features of Mather’s architecture, such as its columns, adding that “the results change because of the daylight and conditions.”

According to Mather House Masters Christie A. McDonald and Michael D. Rosengarten, “Mather Build” is a continuation of earlier efforts to display Mather students’ collective work in the gallery, such as the previously exhibited student-created murals.

For Curtis L. Lahaie ’15 and Kyle J. McFadden ’18, creators of “In The Making,” the display in Mather is the culmination of their photo project to raise awareness on LGBTQ issues. On the walls of the gallery upstairs are five out of the 62 total portraits they took of Harvard students holding a blackboard, emblazoned with hand-written phrases including “I shouldn’t have to prove my bisexuality” and “No student should feel unsafe.”

The campaign, which kicked off in early November and included a sixty-day fundraiser, raised over $6,400 for organizations working on queer issues and spurred participation from various campuses nationwide, including the College of William & Mary, according to Lahaie. Neither Lahaie nor McFadden are Mather residents.

Both “Mather Build” and “In the Making” will be displayed in Mather’s art gallery until at least the end of February, Terry said.

—Staff writer Quynh-Nhu Le can be reached at quynhnhu.le@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @qnhule.