Members of the ASU Modern and Contemporary Art Club meet in the Fletcher Library at the West Campus on Feb. 17, 2015. (Daniel Kwon/The State Press)The West campus is a quiet outpost in otherwise sprawling Glendale. Within the eerily quiet tan buildings that make up the center of West, there are some serious avant-garde and experimental artists and communities to support them.
The people involved in the Modern and Contemporary Art Club, founded in 2013, help add some extracurricular texture to this otherwise still campus.
Jeff Kennedy, the club's advisor and interdisciplinary arts and performance assistant professor, said that West is a smaller, more dedicated community within the behemoth of ASU.
"This is the first time, in fact, that the club has been involved in promoting a large artistic event, with the Oneohtrix Point Never show," Kennedy said. "I was able to then go and secure support from a lot of different places where we get support for artistic events in a way that a student club wouldn’t necessarily be able to do."
Support that helped bring Oneohtrix Point Never included cultural committees, the administration and, confusingly for those from Tempe, USGW. Some of this support comes in the form of money to make the show free.
"It’s free because our USGW completely supports us," Kennedy said. "That’s been a consistent partnership over the past few years as well."
As for continuing the club in the future, Kennedy is hopeful that club members can train and inspire others to take up the mantle once the current leadership graduates. For the time being, however, Kennedy doesn't see the club limiting what they can accomplish in terms of artistic expression.
"It seems like they’ve got some awesome ideas right now, and certainly they’ve put some great energy towards continuing this kind of work," Kennedy said.
Interdisciplinary arts and performance senior Michael Gelinas is president and co-founder of the club. The club concentrates on late 19th, 20th and 21st century works of all artistic expression, he said.
"As interdisciplinary arts and performance majors we like to look at all mediums of art and art making we both come from a very heavy music background," he said. "There tends to be a lot of interest in music, but it’s not limited to just music."
The club tends to have events geared toward club members as well as events open to the public. The club meets from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in Fletcher Library or in the Sands Building, room 135 at the West campus.
At these meetings, club members share music and other aspects of modern and contemporary art. As for the public events, film nights have been really popular with the club.
"We’ve been doing a few film nights here at the West campus, but we were starting to think about having a few of those in either Downtown or Tempe," he said.
Gelinas was also excited about the club's signature event this year, the Oneohtrix show.
"The highlight event is we’re having Oneohtrix Point Never come to the West campus to perform at our fitness center of all places, but we’ve been planning that event for quite some time," Gelinas said. "The fact that it’s happening is absolutely miraculous."
Interdisciplinary arts and performance junior Courtney James Burgmann is vice-president and co-founded the club. Burgmann was inspired to form the club to support a type of art that wasn't necessarily supported at a student-run level. He found the West vibes to fit perfectly with that ideal.
"It’s very small, it’s quiet, it’s a great place to express yourself, and focus on yourself without the distractions of a larger campus," he said.
Burgmann stressed that getting involved with the club means taking initiative within the community of supportive artists that the club has. All types of artists should be able to feel supported enough to be able to display their art and have a community to enjoy it.
"As art students, the ability to express themselves enlivens us because that is something that is pretty confusing as an artist," he said. "Where you’re not sure where to grow, or what to do or if you’re even allowed to perform somewhere, which is pretty horrible."
With the Modern and Contemporary Art Club, the dream of creating art within a supportive community is alive at the West campus.
Reach the reporter at pnorthfe@asu.edu or follow @peternorthfelt on Twitter
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