Fragile Home Exhibit

New Exhibit, “Our Fragile Home,” Now in Housatonic Museum of Art

By Brenna McIntyre

Staff Writer

A new art exhibit that examines humanity’s relationship with the environment, entitled “Our Fragile Home”, is currently in the Housatonic Museum of Art. The show opened on September 5th and will remain here until October 20th. The Community Gallery is open Monday through Saturday from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM and closed Sundays.

“Our Fragile Home” was created by Pat Musick and Jerry Carr, a husband and wife duo. Carr did the engineer work while Musick worked on the artistic aspect of the show. Carr is a retired astronaut, most notable for his position as commander of Skylab 4, which was the longest manned flight in history.  In 1990, Carr and Musick were invited to an Earth Day assembly in which six astronauts from different countries were brought on stage to talk. The audience had translations of what was being said, but the astronauts had no idea what the other ones were saying. To the great surprise of everyone there, they all used the same nine words to describe the earth: sustain, protect, balance, harmony, nurture, fragile, steward, and beauty.

As the press release desribes it, “This exhibit, which exhorts us to take care of, nurture and respect our fragile planet, contains a message that has universal appeal. Based on inspiration from the words space travelers use to describe their first glimpse of the earth from outer space, it is a testament to a shared worldview and understanding of how vulnerable we all are. Amazingly, the sight of our earth from space inspires the same words no matter the differences in nationality, language, social, religious or political values of the viewer.”

In regards to what students and the general public should take away from the exhibit, Musick says  “My hope is that they ‘will get it.’ ‘It’ being the salvation of our planet-home. Each person brings their own interpretation to artwork, so there is no guarantee that they will feel what the artist feels. So I tried to make my feelings as clear as I could without compromising the work. We all have an obligation to care for our world...each in his or her own way.”

Lydia Viscardi, the collections manager and media coordinator of the Housatonic Museum of Art, says, “... It is pretty cool to have real artworks displayed everywhere on our college campus - this is most unusual for a college.  I hope that more students will exhibit the Burt Chernow Galleries to see ‘Our Fragile Home,’  and it would be great if they would ‘like us’ on Facebook. The show provides us with an opportunity to think about the world from the point of view of an astronaut who has witnessed the planet earth in its entirety from outer space.”

Housatonic student Teresa Wirtemburg says, “I thought it was really interesting how they tied the words together through the whole gallery. I think everyone should see the museum every time it changes because you never know what you are going to see.”

Housatonic puts an emphasis on art, as put in the mission statement of the museum, “Reflection of HCC Philosophy is that art is a daily part of life for every student and staff member. Paintings, drawings, sculpture, photographs, and artifacts are on display throughout the campus. The belief that the environment filled with visual art enhances learning, develops critical thinking, and sparks debate, remains the guiding principle of the museum”.

Musick has a similar feeling: “I think art is important in education, but also in our daily lives wherever we are. It was humankind's first form of communication and has not lost it's power for connection, one to another, throughout time.”

Musick says, that she has a long relationship with the College. “Our friend Dale Ward, who was a former professor at the College  gave a work that I created to the collection...we brought the piece to the college and that first visit was inspiring to us. In addition you are enriched by Bert Chernow's collection and the wonderful gallery space. Over the years we have told many about these riches. It is an honor to be asked to exhibit here,” she said.

Feeling A Little Shy?

By Sherly Montes

Editor

The nerves began as soon as my ride pulled up to the side entrance of Beacon Hall by the bookstore. I walked up the stairs, constantly reminding myself not to trip and make a fool of myself. As soon as I entered the building I felt awkward, maybe it was because every pair of eyes in that hallway shifted over to me. That definitely made me feel uncomfortable. I mean I know I’ve done that before to other people but because I was already nervous, that made me feel even more self-conscious. I quickly glanced down at my schedule and found that I was early and had some time to kill. I began to walk around the first floor of Beacon Hall, casually observing those around me.

I saw a lot of the same thing, people sitting alone and putting their bags next to them as to show that they didn’t want anyone to sit next to them, some students looking down at their cell phones or laptops to keep busy, others wandering around aimlessly with old friends or alone, and of course the ones standing right outside their classrooms by themselves hoping to see a friendly face to chat with.

As I continued to walk around the first floor of Beacon Hall, I saw a few familiar faces and smiled casually at them. It felt nice to see people I already knew and chat with them, I didn’t feel like such an outcast and I didn’t feel so alone then -- even if it was for a few short seconds.

With about ten minutes left for my first class to start, I headed down the hall to find my classroom. There were already several students waiting outside of our classroom. I didn’t know any of them. That’s got to be the worst, it being the first day of school and you don’t know anyone in your class.

Surely I’m not the only person who is shy like this.

According to a study done by LiveScience that was featured on NBC news in 2010, “About 20 percent of people are born with a personality trait called sensory perception sensitivity (SPS)”. This trait is what causes a person to be shy and act in certain ways. Shy people also think differently, compared to those who aren’t born with the SPS trait.

Standing in that busy hallway, I began to look at those that were standing outside of the classroom around me. It’s our human nature to study new people around us and so I looked at certain individuals, trying to sense what they were like.

Personally, I found talking to new people was a challenge because while I do get along with most people, I’m really quiet, shy, and I don’t normally like meeting new people. I don’t approach people that I don’t already know that often, and I prefer to just sit quietly on my own. I had just gotten to know and like those people in my classes last semester, and now I felt like I was being thrown into that same nerve wracking situation where I didn’t know a single person. I knew I was going to have to warm up to the new people in my classes and start conversations with them at some point. For someone like me, that’s not always easy because I’m naturally so shy and I often just observe the things that are going on around me without speaking.

“When in the company of other people, our minds automatically construct a map of the minds that surround us.” says Alex Lickerman, M.D. “We're constantly imagining and theorizing what other people are thinking—and making judgments about and having reactions to those imaginings.”

Lickerman is right, because that’s exactly what I was doing while I was standing outside of that classroom. The minutes were ticking by and I was just observing the people around me, being shy, not wanting to talk to anyone.

Shyness is one of those things that can have a lot of control over you, if you don’t control it. I’ve come to realize that many times, my shyness has held me back from doing the things that I want to do, it has also kept me from talking to people, and it has stopped me from voicing my opinions on several occasions.

Dealing with my shyness can be a challenge, but I know that eventually I’ll reach that level of comfort and my shyness won’t be a problem anymore.

In fact, you might find that it’s hard to shut me up after a while.