October is a big month for the North Carolina Museum of Art. The museum will be opening an M.C. Escher exhibit, a Leonardo da Vinci exhibit and hosting its annual College Night, a free event for college students.
“The Worlds of M.C. Escher”
A staircase that leads to its own beginning, hands that draw each other and tiny alligators who walk in and out of drawings of themselves—“The Worlds of M.C. Escher: Nature, Science, and Imagination” opens Saturday.
“It is the most comprehensive Escher exhibition ever presented in the United States,” said NCMA Communications Manager Emily Kowalski.
The exhibit, consisting of 131 of Escher’s works, illustrates the artistic progressions throughout his life. Parts of the display show evolutions of specific ideas, beginning with sketches and ending with finished works.
One example of this is with Escher’s famous work, “Hand with Reflecting Sphere,” in which he draws a self-portrait through a first person perspective looking into a spherical mirror.
Next to the portrait hangs one of his earlier drawings, which is also through a similar perspective. However, the viewer can clearly see that Escher improved his ability to draw himself in a mirrored perspective in the time between the two pieces.
Including lithographs, wood engravings, watercolors, mezzotints and many other media, the exhibit also explores a wide variety of Escher’s styles and ideas.
“No matter your background, you’re going to find something that relates to you,” Kowalski said.
Many appreciate the way in which Escher intersects the arts with different topics. Science and math in particular are among some of his key topics.
“Most of these works bring art and science together,” said Larry Wheeler, director of NCMA.
The math and geometrical structures of his work often convey a sense of logic and order amidst his own paradoxical environments. NCMA Curator of European Art David Steel said he thinks Escher “sought to bring order to a world around him.”
In doing so, many of his works evolve geometric shapes into something living. This idea can be seen in his piece “Double Planetoid,” in which he creates buildings and a living landscape from two intersecting triangular pyramids.
Escher is perhaps most famous for his optical illusions and paradoxes. He once said, “Are you sure that a floor cannot also be a ceiling?”
Steel said that although many ideas in his works contain self-contradictory perspectives, they still maintain a sense of reality. Referring to one of Escher’s paradoxes, Steel said, “You sort of believe it because it’s all in the same building.”
“He was very playful and very disciplined,” Kowalski said. “He played with what his viewers would be seeing.”
The “Infinity Cube”
The “Infinity Cube,” an electronic piece designed by four students from the NC State College of Engineering, will accompany the M.C. Escher exhibit.
The piece is made from several LED lights in the shape of a cube, which is then inside of a box made from two-way mirrors. The lights have a series of repeating patterns that, thanks to the mirrors, seem to continue into infinity [See page 1].
“Dazzling. It’s just a fabulous work of art,” Wheeler said.
This spring 2015 senior design project by recent graduates, Evan Heiman and Robert Jamison, and current seniors, Guerino Davi and Andrew Tong, has thematic ties to both the Escher exhibit and the upcoming Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit.
“What we were really trying to find was something with reflection, because Escher has a lot of reflection,” Jamison said.
“We pulled ideas from Escher’s products,” Davi said. “The use of infinity, reflection and things along those lines worked in well [with Escher’s artwork].”
NCMA College Night
The annual NCMA College Night will be held Friday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. The event is free with a college ID.
This year’s College Night focuses around “The Worlds of Escher,” granting free access to the exhibit and offering many Escher-themed activities.
Among the events, students from the NCSU College of Textiles will be holding a fashion show with clothing based on Escher’s art.
There will also be dance performances from dance students at East Carolina University and William Peace University, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro will have an art truck at the event.
Attendees will be able to explore their own creativity in the Beta Box, a travelling makerspace, in a shipping container. There, students can learn about 3-D printing, wood laser cutting and other ways to create projects of their own.
“We love it because it’s a great way for students from all over the state to get together,” Kowalski said.
However, College Night is not the only time the museum rewards students. The museum’s special exhibits, including “The Worlds of M.C. Escher,” offer free admission with a college ID every Friday night from 5 p.m. – 9 p.m.
The "Infinity Cube" created by four NC State engineering students sits in a room surrounded by the design ideas and progress of the project at the North Carolina Museum of Art.
