Students and visiting artists turned the Architecture Building's atrium into a "musical loom" Monday afternoon in an effort to learn more about design and the scope of creativity.
"It's huge," freshman Casey Byrnes said of the finished product, a colorful web composed of intertwined yarn fibers stretching from the third floor balcony through the first floor doors and outside into the trees. "It encompasses the entire building. I hope as many people as possible get to see this."
The web was made under the direction of Robert and Rebecca Bluestone, a husband and wife duo who travel the country giving presentations that combine their respective talents: playing guitar and weaving.
The pair is in Muncie this week collaborating with the Ball State Department of Architecture and Planning to teach students about creativity, the scope of design and the importance of embracing what they love.
"In American education right now there is almost this cult of vocationality, where people are so career focused," Robert told students. "When people ask you what you want to do, it's okay not to know. People say the economy is bad, that it'll be hard to find a job. Don't pay attention to that. You're exploring your options right now. And there will be opportunities for you."
Rebecca's address to the three dozen or so students gathered beneath the web focused on innovation and the importance of embracing their passions.
"Creativity is something that happens in each moment of your life – not just in the classroom," Rebecca told students. "It's in every single thing you do, every choice you make. But you have to have structure too. When you work within a structure it gives you the freedom you need to be creative."
The structure for Monday's yarn web came from several armatures attached to the second and third floor balconies. The armatures were made by graduate students in a Design Thinking and Innovation Matters Seminar.
Under the direction of Maheesh Daas, instructor and chair of the department of architecture and planning, students in this course helped organize the Bluestone's visit following a visit the couple made to campus in the spring.
Derek Anger, a graduate student studying architecture and the lead organizer of Monday's project, said the event was about activating the space and taking advantage of the Bluestones' singular skills.
"We didn't have a solid idea of what this was going to look like until we got here and started doing it," Anger said. "We just knew we wanted to see how both artists can combine their talents and create this unique experience. Really the center of the whole thing was creativity and all the different forms it takes."
Students and interested passer-by helped form the web, running up and down the stairs with balls of yarn and tossing the yarn to each other to stretch it across the space. Smiles and laughter were frequent, especially as the work concluded and students released hundreds of paper airplanes.
Falling from the second and third floors of the building, the airplanes caught in the natural cradles of the web and added a new dimension to the piece.
"It was a way to end it with a lot of energy," Rebecca said. "Education doesn't have to be this tense thing. It can be a joyful experience."
Freshman Nathan Law said he certainly enjoyed the experience.
"The purpose was to show that you can have fun just by getting together and creating a work of art that most people wouldn't have thought of," Law said. "It's about letting people see something maybe they couldn't see before."
The event wasn't solely about weaving yarn, or even paper airplanes; it incorporated music too. Robert played the guitar while the web was being created, and the bell tower was played throughout the presentation.
"Weaving happens everywhere in life," Daas told students. "Today we've all worked together to weave moments and memories into our lives. We are even weaving the bell tower – who would have thought?"
Robert and Rebecca Bluestone will speak on creativity 7:30 p.m. Friday at Emens Auditorium. Their presentation will feature simultaneous weaving and guitar performances and is free and open to the public.
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