| Katzen draws praise 
Even the newly polished floors became sites for artistic inventiveness with this summer’s opening of the Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen Arts Center. In the inaugural exhibit, Soft Openings, Washington-area artists related to the gallery’s sweeping curves and airy spaciousness by creating pieces such as Christine Buckton Tillman’s “the forest through the trees,” whose wool-felt circles intrigued a crowd of visitors and art writers during a summer opening event. Throughout the summer, visitors, neighbors, and members of the AU community explored the 130,000-square foot complex, which is longer than the Kennedy Center and features paintings by famed artists, a state-of-the-art stage, and a seemingly endless array of classrooms, studios, and performance spaces to house all of AU’s arts faculties and students. Graphic design major Justine Hirshfeld ’07 was one of many who predicted the complex will draw many students to AU’s arts classes. “I’m just blown away by it,” she said. |
