West Meets East

The "West Meets East - A Cultural Book Exchange", exhibiting in the Knight art gallery from September 14th to October 14th, began when CCRI alumni, sculptor, and mixed media artist Joanne Luongo applied for the prestigious Fullbright scholarship, which required an invitation and acceptance into the country of her choice.

She chose Romania, a lush, green, Eastern European country with a general lack of tourism. Luongo, a teacher at Worcester State college was frustrated with her school's lack of art majors and desired to see the world.

Inspired by Daniel Balanescu's painting and textile blog, she contacted him and was referred to Professor Daniela Frumuseanu from the National University of Art in Bucharest , the capital of Romania . The two became quick friends and shared an idea for a collaboration using mixed media and homemade blank books to express cultural diversity.

They ended up with a masterpiece of cultural harmony, 900 pages of art from two entirely different countries and student artists that share similar visions of love, life, and longing.

The art show, featuring the work of students and faculty from the National University of Art, Worcester State College, Quinsigamond Community College, and The Massachusetts College of Art & Design, is being held in the Knight Campus art gallery, a pristine hidden gem located right beside the library in room 3500.

Upon entering, viewers are greeted with masterfully crafted plywood shelves, built by Luongo's brother solely for the exhibit. Resting on the shelves are the twenty hand crafted books, and located above each shelf is a photo and introduction (both in Romanian and English) to each student artist and the two mentors.

Each book is masterfully put together, each page hand-crafted and worked separately. Students used media of every kind, from photos to fabric, watercolor to painted slides. Some Romanian students included labels from local products and clippings from magazines. One student, Sabrina Stan, chose to draw a story about the plight of an unfortunate snail for her project. The books appear almost ancient and primitive, the homemade pages tangible and fragile. "Everything is meant to be touched", Joanne explained at her artist talk during the Opening Reception on September 23rd. Viewers can find old correspondences in one book, photos of Providence and Romania in another, and a recreation of an entire fish skeleton in a third. Every project is a diverse work of art created in a mere 18 months, holding student's secrets, wishes, thoughts and feelings expressed on a unique canvas.

When the exhibit ends on October 14th, Joanne and the books will travel to Romania for a showing for five weeks. Students interested in participating in their own book sharing project can contact Joanne at Jo@papergirlsstudio.com.