In Silliman, a little-known home for Eli art

The buzz of students rushing in and out of the Silliman dining hall drifts up the stairs to the fourth floor, but while the sound may travel this far, few students are aware of the treasures here, high above them. Maya's Room, the fourth floor gallery named in memory of art student Maya Hanway, SM '82, is the only University art gallery run by undergraduate students for undergraduate artists.

KATIE ALDRICH/YH 'Wow, and I thought Yale art had evolved to its climax in the graffiti of the men's bathroom in Commons!'

Jonas Moody, SM '02, and Linda Rosenbury, DC '02, are the current coordinators of the gallery, and they plan to continue serving in these positions next year. Moody describes his job as "selecting artists that go well together, getting them together for dinner, and allowing them to come up with their own theme for the shows." The first dinner of the semester resulted in an exhibition entitled "In Aquarium." Aiming to "uncover the resonance between artists and the common experience of living in the sea," the exhibit featured sea prints by Sandra Kister, DC '02, a black and white photo installment by Ariel Bowman, BR '03, paintings about billboards, airports, speaking, and wishing by Danica Novgorodoff, SY '02, and a sculpture by Daniel McPhee, TD '01.

The show's opening, held on Fri., Jan. 19, turned the oft-neglected room into a place to meet and socialize with members of the Yale art community. In fact, the turnout was so much larger than the organizers anticipated that it was actually difficult to view the art. In order to avoid such chaos at subsequent openings, Moody mentioned the probability of moving exhibition openings to an earlier time on Thursday evenings. "In Aquarium" was originally scheduled to stay up for a week, but unfortunately the exhibition had to be taken down less than a week later, on Wed., Jan. 24, to allow students to submit their art for class assignments. Nevertheless, during the exhibit's brief run, it delivered on its promise to allow viewers "into the minds of the four exhibited artists."

Although they put on only one show last semester, the coordinators are planning two more Maya's Room shows by the end of this academic year, with one set to open right before spring break and a juried show towards the end of the semester. Moody and Rosenbury are attempting not only to bring people from the Yale art community together with the larger student body, faculty, and other New Haven residents, but also to project undergraduate work into the public eye.

Moody is enthusiastic about these new opportunities for student artists. "It is hard to be in the Yale art department, since it is centered around critique," Moody said. "Artists are always confronted with criticism—albeit constructive—but recognition, especially by other undergraduates, is important. Maya's Room serves as a place for this sort of acknowledgement, and we hope to continue with it in the future."

He hopes future shows will host more diverse forms of artwork, including genres that are not currently part of the University's art curriculum. Among these less recognized forms is video art, which Moody, who is a photographer, is excited about showing. He is also bringing other types of performance art into the space, currently negotiating with a performance and dance group for a future show. Next year, he and Rosenbury hope to host a crafts show to highlight potters and other craftspeople in the Yale art scene. Eventually they plan to make Maya's Room into "a medium where all art forms can be recognized, in which art students will come out of the department.

Unfortunately, thus far the artists featured in this year's exhibits have solely been people that the coordinators either know or have heard about. Many artists are not aware of the space and therefore do not approach Rosenbury or Moody about using it. The coordinators want to change this and encourage artists interested in the space to contact them; the purpose of the juried show at the end of the semester is to allow as many artists as possible to submit their work.

Moody and Rosenbury are working hard to give their gallery more exposure, despite the four-flight trek that they cite as a possible deterrent to visitors. However, the hike up to Maya's Room is well worth the effort for artists and audiences alike. As a place where art enthusiasts can come out to view, discuss, and display undergraduate projects, it is a vital resource for the Yale community.

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