For its fourth year, Stony Brook’s Art Crawl provided students, faculty and community members with guided tours of art exhibits scattered throughout campus. 

This year, the Art Crawl started at the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics. Nestled in a corner of campus, the building is home to the Simon Center Gallery, where the exhibit “Art of Science” is on display. The exhibit is a true reflection of the name where the intersection of art and science become jumbled together. 

Along the walls of the gallery, visitors are thrust into this world where artists and professors like Eric J. Heller are featured. His digitized prints are the visualization of quantum mechanics, work based on calculations he’s done. 

Next year the Simon Center will celebrate its 10th anniversary and there will be an art book of photography. “It’s about intellect and heart,” Director and Curator of the Simons Center, Lorraine Walsh, said. 

In a pack of around 50, people wandered across campus to the Frank Melville Jr. Memorial Library for the next exhibit. Here, they were introduced to 35 pieces of art and four students responsible for some of the artwork.  

Katherine Maier, a senior studio art major, was present. Her work loomed behind her as she explained the ruby red and black piece. She numbered her work to avoid preconceived notions that usually came with titles, an attempt to encourage the viewer to gather what they will from the work.

Maier appreciated the Art Crawl. “I think it’s really great to call attention to the fact that we have such a strong art program.”

Next was the Staller Center where “The View From Here: Contemporary Perspectives From Senegal” was displayed at the Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery. In three sections titled “Negotiated Identities,” “Urban Textures” and “Icons and Symbols,” the viewers were pushed into an experience shaped by the Senegalese perspective. 

Through drawing photographic parallels between the past and present, the idea of navigating identities became clear. 

At this point in the Art Crawl, the group had grown larger, composed of students, faculty and community members. Karen Warren, a staff member at the Consortium for Inter-Disciplinary Environmental Research (CIDER), was also present. 

“My favorite part is the insights that I get into such different types of artwork,” she said. “Especially when the students present their own work I love to hear them explain it and see their enthusiasm.” 

Karen Levitov, director and curator at the Zuccaire Gallery, has been part of the Art Crawl since its inception four years ago. The Art Crawl originated when Levitov and the directors of the Charles B. Wang Center and Simon Center — Jinyoung Jin and Lorraine Walsh — respectively, got together with the Student Affairs Department.

When asked about some of the challenges that could come from an event like this, Levitov insisted that the biggest challenge wasn’t so big anymore. 

“Its really been amazing you know when we first started we had a really tiny group, we had like eight or twelve people and the challenge was to let people know about it and figure out how to do that and it’s grown as you can see we have over fifty people on this one,” Levitov said.

Levitov wanted visitors to come away with a newfound affinity for art. 

“This is open to anybody. You don’t have to know about art or have any background in the art or cultures that are being talked about,” Levitov said.

The Art Crawl is a testimonial to the drive, vigor and support that goes into the arts here at Stony Brook. It provides an avenue of access to the exhibits on campus amongst a diverse group of people with one major thing in common — a love for art. 

Two curator talks by Joseph L. Underwood are taking place on Sept. 23 and 24 with an artist talk by Laylah Amatullah Barrayn on Thursday, Oct. 10. Check out zuccairegallery.stonybrook.edu for more information.

Correction:  Sept. 22, 2019
A previous version of this story’s photo caption misstated that it was the fourth art crawl. It was the 14th art crawl, which has been hosted since 2015, twice a semester. The article also misstated the number of people that showed up to the event. It was 50 people, not 30.