"The Tile Project," which was sponsored by Student Art Association and Geneseo Late Knight, is the newest installation of student art that originated from the College Union.
The idea for the project was born during an SAA meeting, according to senior Alyssa D'Anna. In an e-mail, she said that the SAA members stumbled across discarded tiles left from an art project while searching for a new activity.
Realizing a great opportunity, on Nov. 13 SAA hosted a Late Knight event in the Union where students were given the opportunity to decorate tiles by spray painting, splattering paint, drawing and just plain old painting. "We were amazed at how much variation there was, especially since we only provided three main colors to work with," D'Anna said.
"The Tile Project" saw an impressive turnout. All of the tiles that were designed will be included in the finished display. "We haven't counted how many tiles were actually created but the numbers are easily in the hundreds," D'Anna said. "There's a lot of talent poured out on some of these squares."
D'Anna said that SAA wanted to keep the color choices limited: "The goal was to keep the tiles somewhat unified but show the infinite variations possible with only limited materials." The painted tiles were diverse - a broad spectrum of students filled them with words, quotations, pictures, symbols and colors.
Senior Rachel Svenson, who attended the event and painted several tiles, said in an e-mail, "The fact that we were all putting our own pieces into a larger project made me feel like part of a little community at the event … I'm excited to see the results on display."
Senior Yuki Kawae, the president of SAA, said in e-mail, "We are hoping to display these titles on a Union wall, as one piece of artwork," although SAA invites input on how the tiles should be shown.
Those interested should attend SAA's Tuesday meetings at 4:30 p.m. in Brodie 220. Students of all majors are welcome.