Posted by Andrew Shi
LINE, Skidmore's student-run art review magazine, will be celebrating their release party at 7 to 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 17, at the Tang. The party will also note the closing of a year marked by changes to the publication.
In a short Q&A, LINE's Editor-in-Chief, Leila Farrer '16, and President, Lisa Fierstein '16, took the time to answer a few questions, including what changes the publication made this year.
SHI : LINE made several changes to the publication this year. Can you describe in more detail some of the larger changes that were made?
FIERSTEIN: This year, we revamped LINE by transforming it into an annual and more in-depth publication (LINE used to have new editions every semester). More than anything, we want students, faculty, and the greater community to know about LINE because it is where the diverse range of talents that exist on Skidmore's campus come together in a tangible form. Our first step to expand LINE was to increase the size of our talented staff of writers, editors, photographers, graphic designers, and artists. We hoped to create an atmosphere of inclusion and collaboration in our staff meetings, and we feel as though the 2013 - 2014 edition of LINE is a reflection of the cohesiveness of our staff members. Overall, the major changes we made this year was to expand the magazine, make the magazine be more cohesive, recruit new staff from all years and departments, increase staff participation and involvement, and create a collaborative environment.
SHI: You mentioned that LINE is a very interdisciplinary magazine. What departments does LINE work with?
FARRER: LINE doesn't work directly with any academic departments at Skidmore, although if I had to categorize it, I would say the Art and English departments. We did have Professor Jay Rogoff from the English department teach a workshop on how to write critical reviews about art in November that was very helpful. He recommended four keys to writing good articles: describe, interpret, evaluate, and contextualize. Beyond that, many of our articles cover student work in the Schick and Case galleries, so in that way we work with the art department. We've also had a lot of contact with the Tang by covering work in their galleries, accessing images of works to include in the magazine, and planning the release party.
SHI: Is there anything else you would like the Skidmore community to know about LINE?
FARRER: I guess I'd just say that we're really excited about this magazine. The staff has worked so hard over the course of this year and we've created something interesting and beautiful that shows the best side of the arts at Skidmore. The whole process has been a huge learning curve for all of us trying first to get people interested in the project and then writing good articles and then laying it all out. I give so much credit to our writers and graphic designers. LINE is a great way to show off the behind-the-scenes creative talent that Skidmore has.
Farrer and Fierstein also wanted to give special thanks to Treasurer Kai Inaba '16 for his hard work and leadership and also thank the rest of the managing editors and staff. This year's LINE will feature reviews of Classless Society, Schick Gallery's Charcoal exhibition, interviews, student artwork and more.
The release party to celebrate the 2013-2014 edition is from 7 to 9:30 p.m., Thursday, April 17, at the Tang Museum Atrium. There will be free food and drink, and performances including music from Skidmore band Otter, The Accents and Ethan Carpene with Mike Stein. There will also be spoken word from Jennifer Florence '15. Free copies of LINE will be distributed at the party. All are welcome.