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College of Arts and Sciences Creative Activities

The physics of fall

A pumpkin exploding as it collides with the earthWith murmurs and pointing, the crowd watches as a face and then hands—holding a large object—appear in the twelfth-story window of WSU’s Webster Physical Sciences Building.

On the ground, Butch T. Cougar begins a countdown: five, four, three, two… At one, the hands release a 10-pound, half-frozen pumpkin that rockets to the courtyard, exploding in a confetti-bomb of cheers, screams, and a thousand gooey fragments. So begins that nerdy-fun Dad’s Weekend tradition—the Pumpkin Drop. » More …

Viewing the ordinary with new eyes

Drawing by Avantika BawaSporting a Portland Trail Blazers jersey, artist and Washington State University Vancouver associate professor of fine arts Avantika Bawa is talking about her new solo show at the Portland Art Museum.

The show, which opened Aug. 18, includes almost two dozen drawings of the Veterans Memorial Coliseum where the Blazers won their most recent championship … in 1977. The drawings are inspired by Bawa’s fascination — her “obsession,” as she says — with the coliseum. “Some people find it extremely boring, but I chose to take this building and put it on a pedestal and » More …

Artist named an Oregon Hallie Ford Fellow

Avantika BawaThe Ford Family Foundation has named Avantika Bawa, associate professor of fine arts, as one of five Oregon Hallie Ford Fellows in the Visual Arts for 2018.

The foundation praised Bawa for her work “at the intersection of geographic, architectural and cultural differences in landscape, influenced by minimalism with an emphasis on reductive form, modularity and experimentation with scale. She is particularly known for her dedication to researching and responding to sites, often through wall drawings, paintings and » More …