Tables around the first floor were filled with colorful paper and art? supplies.
This was the scene of the IU Art Museum’s “From the HeART” event, which took place Friday in honor of both Valentine’s Day and the upcoming IU Theatre production of “Romeo and Juliet.”
Bianca Dutra, secretary of the Art Museum Student Organization, said the event falls in line with the ?objective of her student group.
“Our main goal of AMSO is to get more people into the museum, especially students, so we’re hoping that more students will come in,” Dutra said. “We try to bring them in with the events with the hopes that they will come back and see the ?exhibits.”
Dutra said this event is similar to the “Art After Dark” event AMSO hosts each year, as that particular event also includes collaboration ?between music and art.
“Usually we do those events at night or during off-hours so that people who wouldn’t get a chance to attend during the day can come in,” Dutra said. “We usually have crafts up there and we have bands playing, especially for ‘Art After Dark.’”
Dutra said the other departments involved took over much of the organizing for this event, so AMSO members ?advertised and helped set up.
“For this event, we only had to put up a table and do the crafts,” Dutra said. “We made fliers and posters to put up and hand out to ?people.”
The musicians played from the second floor, with pieces introduced by Sarah Huebch, music director and student in the Historical Performance Institute from the Jacobs School of Music. It was one of three IU departments involved in this event.
Another of the ?departments involved was IU Theatre and Drama. Actors Josh Krause and Marisa Eason played Romeo and Juliet, respectively, as they acted out the iconic balcony scene as a teaser for the IU Theatre production premiering Feb. 27.
Patrons watched from the first floor of the museum as the actors finished out the scene. Afterward, they returned to craft tables to make handmade valentines.
Nancy Quigle, IU Art ?Museum docent and longtime Bloomington community member, added an abstract artist’s flair to her valentine.
“This is one showing a chocolate cake that has been chopped into pieces,” Quigle said. “I know you would have a hard time believing that, but that’s what it’s supposed to look like. Needs a little more work. Sitting on a table, maybe.”
Quigle said she has been to many events like this.
“I just expected to have fun and visit with some of the other docents,” Quigle said. “Our professor came through a while ago. There are lots and lots of retired people in Bloomington, zillions. Most of us had gone to ?school here.”
As a docent, or a volunteer guide, Quigle said she is familiar with the incorporation of crafting into the art museum experience as she spends most of the year taking school children around for guided ?museum tours.
“I’d been a schoolteacher and I had a friend here and she said to me, ‘I’m a docent and they really like schoolteachers, they have a lot of kids here, you can’t believe it,’” Quigle said. “Over 17,000 people come through on guided tours every year and docents take them around.”
Quigle said her time at IU as a student was mostly spent studying and attending occasional musical events. Now, she is making up for lost time.
“It’s truly an education to be involved here,” Quigle said. “I went to all the music (and) sports events I could, and I was a science major so I was not on the art side of the campus as much.”
Quigle said she supports the IU Art Museum because she loves being able to have a widespread base of interests at the school.
“I wanted to be involved in the University other than just going to basketball,” Quigle said. “This is different.”
