Student takes art to new depths
Elizabeth Ayers '27 created an approxmiately 3' x 4' backdrop for a display of a fossil octopus that depicts the oceanscape in the Lebanese Sea where it would have lived so that someone coming to see it could immerse themselves in an environment way before their time.
When Elizabeth Ayers ’27 was finishing up high school, she couldn’t figure out where to go to college. So, she turned to the internet for help.
“I searched for colleges with good art programs and colleges with good business programs,” said Ayers. That’s when a school popped up 2,200 miles west of her hometown of Reedley, California. “I had never heard of Calvin. I was like, ‘wow, this is small, how did I find this?’”
She may never figure out “how” she found it, but it wouldn’t take her long to discover “why.”
Ayers began Calvin as a double major in art and business, but soon decided to focus in on art. “I didn’t come with a clear plan of what I wanted to do after college, but I came in knowing I loved to paint,” said Ayers.
Starting small
It's a love that started eight years ago when she decided to try her hand at painting a tiny 3”x3” canvas. “I ended up falling in love with painting. The more I do it, the more I love it.”
That love would grow and expand greatly at Calvin.
“I do still love to paint, but Calvin has given me more mediums to work on from ceramics to drawing to sewing,” said Ayers. “Calvin’s opened a lot more doors to try a lot of different things rather than what I am comfortable in.”
A year ago, an email from the head of the art department allowed her to take her artistic ability to even greater depths.
Accepting a challenge
“The assignment was to paint a landscape for something for Kent Ratajeski, the director of the Dice Mineralogical Museum,” recalls Ayers.
When she started to understand the scope of the project it was both exciting and intimidating.
“It was much larger than anything I had done before,” said Ayers.
The assignment was to create a backdrop for a display of a fossil octopus that depicts the oceanscape in the Lebanese Sea where it would have lived so that someone coming to see it could immerse themselves in an environment way before their time.
“When this project was presented to me, I knew it would be an oceanscape, so I know how to do that,” said Ayers. “But they wanted prehistoric fish swimming around which presents a challenge of ‘how do I paint something that doesn’t exist anymore?’ and so that led me to go back and forth with Kent and with the Dice Museum resident archaeologist.”
Showing off her work
Now, almost a year after the project was first assigned and with well over one hundred hours committed to it, Ayers is bringing a fossil octopus to life in the Dice Museum.
“It is so cool,” said Ayers of now seeing the approximately 3' x 4' landscape she painted affixed to the back of the fossil display. “Kent seemed really excited and I’m excited for everyone else to see it too. To have a hand painted landscape be part of the display allows you to connect more with the piece, it helps the fossils come alive a little bit more.”
The exhibit is now on display in the Dice Mineralogical Museum on the Calvin University campus.