For some, Baker University Center isn’t just a building to cut through on a walk to class, a place to grab a cup of coffee or a convenient spot to meet with friends. According to Dustin Kilgour, it is an “ongoing art project.”
When Kilgour, executive director of event services, earned his position in 2012, he had the idea to engage students, faculty and Athens locals in an effort to introduce art to a previously “sterile” building. Today 32 canvases flank the escalators in Baker.
“It just seemed like a natural location for some art,” Kilgour said.
Ryan Secord, a senior studying philosophy, submitted two canvases to be hung. Secord’s “free-flowing consciousness” approach to art lends itself to more abstract work.
“There is never an actual plan to make a painting. It just kind of happens,” Secord said. “Every time I’ve always had a plan for anything — not only in art but in life — it never goes exactly how I wanted it to go.”
Secord said when things go against an original plan, the final product is not as satisfying. So instead he chooses to go without one.
“That’s what consciousness looks like on canvas,” Secord said. “Ideas always evolve. You always have an idea, but then you brainstorm it, you work on it, you refine it. That’s just how consciousness is — it starts with an idea and moves on from there.”
Secord’s favorite of his two works in Baker features a kind of “psychedelic ripple effect.” He used every color of the rainbow at random, blending them with diagonal lines, criss crosses and arcs.
While Secord chose to focus on the abstract, others chose to display more realistic scenes.
“I think the majority of (artists) aren’t … necessarily in the art school. I think they’re just people who have a hobby,” Kilgour said. “Some of them that come in are phenomenal.”
Secord said comparing talent is like playing rock, paper, scissors.
“(The work in Baker) represents a wide array of people and what art represents to them,” he said.
Secord said he typically works all at once for about 12 hours. However, Kilgour said there is no real time frame.
If students are interested, they can visit room 347, request a canvas, paint it and bring it back. The artwork is constantly rotating, and the office keeps a stock of canvases on hand. Event Services just asks the canvas be returned. If it is not, a charge will be added to the student’s account for the price of the canvas.
Kilgour said all he considers is who the artist is, that they want a canvas and that they will bring it back. The office doesn’t ask for a description of the painting or request specific art.
“We want to give them as much artistic carte blanche as we can to do what they want,” Kilgour said. “We’re not a critical eye. We’re not trying to tell you your art’s not good. We just want stuff to provide some color to the building and provide some life.”
“It’s nothing other than an idea I had when I first came over,” Kilgour said.
Kilgour said he has heard positive responses to the initiative. The office has helped artists sell their work to interested buyers, and some of Kilgour’s colleagues have even purchased works they hung themselves.
Cheryl Mukosiku, a senior studying biological sciences, learned of the artwork when her friend painted one. Since then, she said when she goes through Baker, she takes time to notice the art.
One image that stood out to her was a painting of a black woman in a head wrap surrounded by a gradient. Color was a main attraction for Mukosiku.
“You can get to appreciate someone’s artistic talent,” Mukosiku said. “It gives you something to think about.”
Secord said the beauty of art is it makes people think.
“Baker is far less barren with art around, but I think that is true for everything,” Secord said.
Each painting along the escalators in Baker has its own details and intricacies.
“People can sit and wonder for an entire day what these (artists) were thinking and probably still get it wrong,” Secord said.
