Classes draw artists to IMU

Tucked in the back corner of the west wing of the Indiana Memorial Union is a studio awaiting photography lovers, clay-seekers and everyone in between.

Union Studios, located directly behind the Back Alley, is open to anyone interested in pottery or photography classes.

“We have students, past students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members,” said Adam Svoboda, Union Studio’s pottery instructor. “We’re always looking for new members and students.”

Freshman Sean Arata said he wants to sign up now that he knows about the classes.
“The Union seems like one of those places on campus that everybody should go to,” Arata said. “I’ve always wanted to take classes in it.”

Two photography and three pottery classes are available. The six-week classes are for beginners or those interested in brushing up on skills.

For 10-year member Libby Gwynn, the studio is the only place in town she said she can visit day, night or even on the weekends to work on her pottery.

“I actually did ceramics when I was younger, in college, so I’ve kind of kept it up off and on over the years,” Gwynn said. “It’s good to take a class every so often just to get your skills back and maybe learn some new techniques or decoration styles.”

The classes take place in the evening once a week. Svoboda said the studios are a relaxing way for students to take part in an extracurricular activity.

“It’s all recreational, so it’s not for a grade,” Svoboda said. “It’s not for a credit.”

In the beginning pottery course, students learn the basics of sculpting pottery and free form. Creating ceramics like bowls and mugs, the students learn hand-built and wheel-thrown methods. The intermediate courses are more involved, with different textures and glazes.

The class supplies a blazer and clay.

There’s no need to worry about self-taught photography books. The beginner’s photography class teaches newcomers everything from F-stops to filters.

Once a storage room, the darkroom was pieced together with some dividers and enlargers from the other darkrooms that shut down on campus. Located down the hall from the class, the darkroom allows for the old techniques of film to be practiced.

“Frankly, people get tired of being in front of a computer screen 24/7,” said Union Studios photography instructor David Derkacy. “It’s just so easy for it to say ‘error, disk unreadable,’ and it’s gone forever, whereas this, all you have to do is develop it.”

With glosine envelopes that keep the film strips preserved indefinitely, a negative can be seen only with a ray of light or an enlarger. The best part, Derkacy said, is that film never changes, unlike the continual updates of digital cameras.

“Enlargers haven’t changed for 50 years because it’s just a lens and a light bulb,” he said. “If digital came first, people would flock to film. Instant gratification is what drives digital, but then you lose the craftsmanship by seeing what they get, then thinking things through.”