2024-2025 K-State Common Works of Art
Each year, the K-State Book Network selects a common reading for first year students, providing an intellectual experience they can share with other students and members of the university community. The 2024 K-State First Book, Deaf Utopia, is a memoir and celebration of Deaf culture by Nyle DiMarco, actor, producer, two-time reality show winner, and cultural icon of the international Deaf community. Beach Museum of Art staff have chosen two “Common Works of Art” to complement DiMarco’s book and stimulate discussion about communication.
Interwoven through DiMarco’s narrative are accounts of pivotal moments in Deaf history and culture that shaped him. He discusses some of the challenges he faced while developing the book, including converting American Sign Language (ASL) into written English. And he talks about his advocacy efforts aimed at diminishing the awareness gap between hearing and Deaf communities.
Chet Peters, Kansas State University’s first vice president of student affairs, used his woodwork art to encourage K-State students to use college to learn deeply, hone talents, develop meaningful relationships, and cement lifelong values. Communication addresses the notion of personal growth. With tree rings visible in its smooth, concave form, the sculpture might be understood as an aged face imparting advice. Peters crafted a variety of small forms that can be inserted into the work. One of these forms might be understood as an eye that is open; another can be read as an eye that is closed. Others appear to be ears. Through these contrasting constructions, a message from Peters emerges that the greatest life fulfillment comes to those who engage with—or open their eyes and ears—to the world around them.
Geraldine Craig’s The Back Side of Words is inspired by Hmong textiles. The work provides a space for considering language. Craig cites a Hmong belief that when the Chinese made the Hmong language illegal to speak or write, Hmong women hid the alphabet in the folds of their skirts. Members of their community could read in the abstract patterns references to home, ancestry, and animistic beliefs. Craig has written, “With twenty-four feet of cloth compressed into tiny pleats, these skirts seem to me an unexpected moment of grace, where personal and cultural history converge into an architecture of being, a landscape at the back side of words.”
Related event
K-State Student Welcome/First Book Celebration featuring the Common Works of Art
Thursday, September 5, 2024, 5-7 p.m.
Beach Museum of Art
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Chester (Chet ) E. Peters, |
Geraldine Craig, The Back Side of Words, 2009, |
