Mini Spotlight on... Ian Peach

Author: Melissa Marshall

Frequenters of the Gamut Room have Senior Ian Peach to thank for the recently added artistic ambience to the student-run space. Peach's contributions include under-developed photographs sporting super-imposed typed poetry and an innovative interpretation of the American Flag. Every month, the social space - as well as hosting student musical performances - highlights a new student artist, exhibiting his or her work among the already inspired and colorful walls. Peach, the Gamut Room's April Artist of the Month, paused from his creative endeavors to give The Middlebury Campus insight into the workings of his visionary process.

The Middlebury Campus: How did you first discover that you had artistic talent?
Ian Peach: It has been less about talent and more about a need to create, gather and celebrate imagination.
TC: Did you design the art specifically for the Gamut Room or was it a working process long beforehand?
IP: The entire gallery set up is an installation. Some parts express process and past ideas, others are hopeful for human interaction.
TC: What was your inspiration for the pieces?
IP: First and foremost they are inspired by the weather. After that - action, process and light.
TC: How do you feel about your work being displayed in an entirely student run space? What do you think it adds to the Gamut Room and what do you hope students will take from it?
IP: It was a joy to be in a space where the walls were painted by students and a place where I could walk into the kitchen and make a quesadilla. I hope that students will be encouraged to re-explore and re-invent the manicured campus, finding the dirty basements and leaving their marks on the lawns and rooftops.
TC: How would other student hopefuls go about getting their work displayed in the Gamut Room or other campus hot spots?
IP: To get your work displayed in the Gamut room you have to have dated the manager. Or steal them fruit from the dinning hall so they can sell it to customers for a profit. Art is for profit. Creativity is for capital.
TC: Do you have any other projects that you are working on? Are there any other artistic aspirations in the works??
IP: Lately I have been working with lampshades stacked into totems of light and internally illuminated. I plan on filling a dark basement with these poles of shaded light and seeing how that feels.