The King Creativity program provides funding to Southwestern students for innovative projects. It provides students the opportunity to explore ideas and interests that fall outside of the usual academic process and curriculum–ideas that may not have a lot to do with a student’s major, that combine interests in more than one area, or are extra-curricular in nature. 

This year four art related projects were selected to receive funding. Each project has a faculty advisor for guidance. The projects range from theatre, makeup and feminism, sculpture, and ceramic glaze. 

Audience Interactive Theatre
Allison Young ’15
Advisor: Justin Smith, Technical Director in Theatre

An audience interactive theatre performance to be held at Roots Bistro with the collaborative help of present and past Southwestern students across all majors. Together they will explore the process of writing an entirely new script, working in an avant-garde location, and creating interactive theatre that breaks down the preconceived barriers between actor and audience member. This project will be an excellent opportunity to bring together both the Georgetown and Southwestern communities, along with making theatre relatable through its interactivity. 

Conversations of Makeup and Feminism: Fostering Opportunities for Critical Engagement with and Between Makeup and Feminists Worlds
Carley Arnold ’14
Advisor: Kerry Bechtel, Associate Professor of Theatre, Department Chair

A year-long opportunity for the Southwestern community to critically engage with makeup and feminist worlds. It will create performance art events that organically encourage among SU community members conversations regarding commonly known ideas surrounding feminism and makeup. It will also utilize the lessons learned from this first prong of the project, combined with an in-depth academic study of both makeup artistry and feminist studies, to formalize a code of ethics. This code of ethics is intended to serve individuals who choose to engage with makeup—not just as an ideological framework, but more importantly as a practice—to help them more practically, ethically engage with it during and after the rest of their time at Southwestern University. 

Beyond Minimalism: Creating Organic Dynamic Movement with Static Geometric Forms
Charles Morris ’15
Advisor: Mary Visser, Professor of Art, Herman Brown Chair holder

A 15 to 20 foot steel sculpture for the series, One of Many. This series uses unit forms in a series of geometric splines in order to create unique sculptures that in some way appear to defy gravity. The unit forms placed in the complex splines create a dynamic organic movement. The size and permanence of the material will allow for a sculpture that may compete with the landscape and other large structures around the Southwestern University campus.

The Perfect Glaze: Using Evolutionary Computing to Format the Most Aesthetically Pleasing Glaze
Taylor Hutchison ’16
Victoria Jordan Hutchison ’14
Advisors: Patrick Veerkamp, Professor of Art
Steve Alexander, Professor of Physics
Walter Potter, Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science

Using evolutionary computing, a coding algorithm which evolves on its own when certain characteristics are inputted to eventually form an ideal solution, along with aesthetic decisions from the artist, we plan to formulate and create our version of a perfect glaze for ceramics. In order to reach this goal, we will start with the basic formula for a common glaze and begin manipulating the characteristics based upon what is possible for the glaze and what is aesthetically pleasing to most individuals; these glazes would then be fired on test tiles and displayed for careful observation and a further narrowing of the evolving formula.

 

To read more about the King Creativity Fund and see a full description of all 14 projects, click here.