Paintings, prints and soapstone sculptures adorned the walls and display cases of the “Once Upon a Time” exhibition on Thursday evening at the LSU Museum of Art.
A guitar strummed in the background as guests enjoyed artwork portraying fairytale elements with a real-world twist.
The museum featured University graduate Holly Streekstra’s two-part piece based on Little Red Riding Hood, symbolizing her experience in a sexual attack while running the University lakes.
The diorama “View of Lakeshore Drive” showed the predator as the Big Bad Wolf peeking out from the trees on a scene of fairytale houses and a carriage surrounded by woods.
Streekstra’s other piece consisted of a red cape hanging on a coat rod titled “Woman’s Hood” and a small red suitcase containing survival items and a bear trap for trapping the Big Bad Wolf titled “Basketcase.”
A graphite and prism color image of purple and gold roses by Walter Rutkowski titled “Louisiana Roses” represented the “Beauty and the Beast” scene in which Beauty’s father tries to take a rose from the Beast and is thrown in captivity.
Another oil and acrylic piece by Kelli Scott Kelley titled “Pig Boy” represented the Three Little Pigs. A boy with a pig nose and ears and chains on his wrists posed while chains faded into DNA double helixes in the background, highlighting the human connection to the animal.
Kathryn Seal, architecture junior, said this marked the fourth time she had been to the LSU Museum of Art.
“I like art, and I like fairytales,” Seal said. “[The event] seemed interesting and fun.”
Elaine Giles, mass communication senior, said the event helped to raise University students’ awareness of the museum.
“We feel like we would best help the Museum of Art by getting students out to the museum,” Giles said. “We are telling all students that the museum is ‘uniquely theirs.’”
Giles said her public relations group set up a poster in Free Speech Plaza for students to write down something that was “uniquely theirs,” much like the LSU Museum of Art. They displayed the poster at the reference desk, reading phrases like “my huge family” and “my humor.”
LSU Museum of Art Marketing Director Renee’ Payton said the museum strives to bring in University students and faculty by allowing classes to visit and research for classwork. She said the museum admits all students for free.
“There are so many ways to bridge the gap between us and campus,” Payton said. “Just because we are not on campus it’s a big challenge, but we are [a part of] LSU.”
