Video courtesy of Megan Carroll
With the inauguration of Creighton’s new president, the Rev. Timothy R. Lannon, S.J., set for Sept. 30, the Inauguration Committee has planned various activities for the Creighton community to participate in.
Hosted by the Fine Arts Department, the opening reception for “Resonant Tide,” the faculty and alumni art exhibition, held Sept. 26, allowed Creighton community members to interact with and learn from the artists whose work will be on display until Nov. 4.
“The whole idea [of Resonant Tide] is to celebrate Jesuit eduction, arts and the history of it at Creighton,” the Rev. Michael Flecky, S.J., said. Flecky is an Arts & Sciences professor whose photography is featured in the exhibit.
“This is especially since Creighton is one of the few Jesuit institutions with such an in-depth fine and performing arts education,” he said.
Each year the Fine Arts Department puts on a show displaying the work of faculty members. This year, however, each faculty member also picked a Creighton graduate to display his or her work along with the faculty member’s own pieces as a way to make the exhibit different from past years’.
The artists represented in the exhibit are Flecky, associate Arts & Sciences professors John Thein, Tim Guthrie, Bob Bosco, Littleton Alston and Amy Nelson; 2009 Arts & Sciences graduates Joshua Hebbert and Angie Seykora; 2008 Arts & Sciences graduate Halley Gallagher; and 1985 Arts & Sciences graduate Allen Norris.
According to Nelson, the Inauguration Committee approached the Fine Arts Department about doing something special during the week preceding Lannon’s inauguration.
“The faculty always puts on a show,” Nelson said. “The addition of students [became] a celebration of arts and the foundation provided by the Jesuit education at Creighton.”
In putting on the exhibit and including former students’ work, the department was able to show how both the Jesuit mission and Creighton’s mission tied into the arts.
“[We provide] an education of people to use their abilities to work things out and have the ability of finding God,” Flecky said.
Nelson also said the arts enabled her to communicate her ideas on social justice and civic engagement.
“I don’t actually know how I would express my views and opinions on social justice without art,” Nelson said. “It’s become my means of expression.”
Hebbert, Nelson’s former student, agreed, and said he believed the exhibit allowed him to expand his artistic creation.
“For me, the exhibit is a way to put work out that I was still unsure how to think about,” Hebbert said. “It helped me realize that taking risks is important.”
According to Flecky, the exhibit allowed former students to reflect on what they remembered about their learning at Creighton and how it affected their future endeavors.
Students acknowledged this aspect and according to former students participating in the exhibit, Creighton’s education helped them in their artistic explorations.
“During my time at Creighton I learned more about my own artistic expression and definitely started conversations with myself about how to find it,” Hebbert said.
Just as the exhibit benefited the graduates involved, Flecky said he saw how it allowed the instructors to gain a greater awareness about their work in terms of the Jesuit missions involved with Creighton.
“It provides us teachers with an opportunity to reflect on what both the Jesuit and Creighton missions mean to us as teachers, and how we use it when relating with and teaching our students,” Flecky said.
According to Flecky, Jesuit ideas are constantly present in the artistic work. He considers art to be directly connected to these ideas as well as Creighton’s mission.
“We further the presence of God through the work. [It’s about the artist] discovering the wonders of God through their own creations.”
Flecky encouraged students’ attendance of “Resonant Tide” as a way to educate themselves about a unique aspect of Creighton.
“I hope people who visit this exhibit gain an appreciation for where students and faculty and tradition of the arts has been at Creighton,” Flecky said. “What we do here is rare and exceptional and a lot of students go through four years without seeing it and have no idea what goes on in this aspect of Creighton.”