While many Ephs choose to pass their Winter Study downtime playing Settlers of Catan or wallowing in winter’s woes, studio art majors Annie Scott ’25 and Dashiell Dugan ’27 spent January creating an art exhibition.
Our Catharsis, Scott and Dugan’s interactive exhibit, was on display in the Spencer Studio Art Building’s Wilde Gallery from Feb. 3 to Feb. 5. The multimedia show, composed mostly of charcoal and ink drawings, came with instructions: “Please Walk All Over Us!” signs on the floor exclaimed. Reminiscent of Laurie Anderson’s Four Talks, Scott and Dugan used the room itself as their canvas, with lines and markings running across the (paper-covered) floor and walls.
The artists said they were motivated by a desire for a non-academic creative outlet and a reconnection with what’s exciting about art. “A lot of that [desire] is the ability to play, I think,” Scott said. “Encouraging more people to literally walk on this thing we spent time creating. At the end, there were all these little charcoal footprints everywhere. That’s what you want.”
When they first entered the space, Scott and Dugan were confronted with a blank room. “[The project] came together all on its own,” Dugan said.
The body played a central role in Scott and Dugan’s show. Portraits of the two artists splayed across the room, connected by intestine-like linework. “We rolled a bunch of huge paper on the ground. I traced Annie and then Annie traced me, and from there it started,” Dugan said.
This message of interconnectedness aimed to highlight queer bodies. “Any sort of visibility or attention to [them] is unique, because everyone’s queerness manifests itself in different ways,” Scott said.
The differing styles of the two artists contributed to the fun of the show. “Something I’m really attracted to is messiness in art,” Scott said, citing Paul Thek and Meyer Lee as major influences.
Dugan’s style is generally more reserved. “I like a nice, quiet painting,” he said. “Once I can quiet the things going on in a painting and around it I feel like I’m in a nice place when it comes to making. I feel like I’ve started making a world.”
Not everything in the exhibition was intentional — Dugan and Scott kept some of their happy accidents around. Scott pointed to a part of the drawing-marked floor: “This paper towel, saturated in black ink, happened because we were spilling ink everywhere. We kept it because it was kind of intestinal, umbilical,” they said.
This serendipity added to the learning experiences of both artists. “I’m a little too structured, and I think there’s a lot of freedom in being unstructured,” Dugan said. “I learned that from [working with] Annie.”
The spontaneity explored in Our Catharsis came as a response to what the two artists have encountered as norms on campus. “I think there’s a lot of fear to do anything here,” Dugan said. “You have to be measured and precise and correct. And we are two people who are not measured precise or correct very often.”
Through their art, Scott and Dugan said they hoped to rebel against the College’s expectation for polish. “Williams is a very classical kind of place,” Dugan said.
“There’s this idea that art is sacred. In gallery settings, you can’t touch, or engage [with], or get too close to it,” Scott said. “That idea of resistance was interesting to me.”
In the future, the duo hopes to expand the scope of their work, involving different materials and new collaborators. “It’d be fun to do something like [this exhibition], but lay it out in Baxter — bringing art to the community,” Scott said. Dugan added that he hoped to include the broader College community in the art world beyond the semesterly show in Spencer. “I love Spencer — it’s like my second home,” he said.
Scott and Dugan envision a creative College community that takes more artistic risks. “There are a bunch of people on this campus who could draw circles around me,” Dugan said. “Personally, I’m just trying to work on letting go of fear.”
