Offbeat projects take shape at Old Stone Mill

Author: Cloe Shasha

The Old Stone Mill is not a means to an end, according to its users. Instead, the space allows ideas to start off campus, outside of the context of students' everyday routines.

"This space is appealing for students who want to do things - things not only for college credit," said John Glouchevitch '10.5.

Glouchevitch is using the Old Stone Mill to host regularly occurring "Dinners with Strangers," where he brings together one student from each commons, a faculty member and conversation instigator Will Bellaimey '10.5. Glouchevitch received funding from the Tree House Fund and from the five commons to offset the food costs.

"I'm going to create a Gmail account and have students e-mail me a description of themselves in three sentences," he said. "As well as: what commons they're in, their year and if they have any food allergies."

General Manager of Retail Dining Operations of McCullough Student Center Steve Reigie has offered to help Glouchevitch prepare for his first dinner in late November. Reigie is willing to sell him spices from the Grille in small quantities and lend him pots and pans out of storage.

With its first slew of student users, the Old Stone Mill is taking on the character of its students as they cohabitate the space, according to Morgan Peach '09.

"The beauty of the Old Stone Mill is that the space is neutral," said Peach. "As we live in it, we infuse it with meaning and it takes on an aura."

In the past six weeks, Peach has been going to the building three nights a week to work on his project, "The Source."

His inspiration for "The Source" came from the thoughts that have been brewing in his mind throughout his college experience. He is fascinated by the number of energy demands that people have in this world. He commented that the word "energy" has become a pop culture term. As a response to his observation of this widespread need, he is building a source of energy in a confined architectural space, with the idea that people will be drawn towards it. He wants to juxtapose the energy of technology and the energy of human community.

"The Old Stone Mill is excellent for a guy like me because I'm not an art major, but I can do my artistic endeavors," he continued. "Kids laugh at me and ask me, 'what is this thing?' when they see the table. I usually play it down and say, 'it's just a table, with some light and some sound.'"

Since Taryn Tilton '11 started working in her space for her collage and painting project, she has grown attached to her space in the building.

"It's been amazing having a space off-campus," she said. "It's so much better than working in your room because you have so much space - I even have two windows. It's nice to separate this project from my academic life."

New Old Stone Mill applicants are applying for Winter Term and for Spring Term as well. Angela Evancie '09.5 was accepted to begin working over Winter Term on her photography project. She wants to bring every member of Middlebury's dining staff into the Old Stone Mill, where she will take portrait photographs of each person.

"I can't picture anywhere else on campus where I could do this project," she said. "I think that having an established space, one that is enclosed, will be important for the nature of what I'm doing - taking portraits of people - because it demands more privacy. I think that the portraiture process will be more comfortable for my subjects if they can be in a safe place."

Evancie wants to take the dining staff out of the context of their workplace and represent them in her portraits as the people they are in their off-campus lives. She believes that working in close proximity with other people doing interesting projects will be a stimulant for creating good work.

Molly Lincoln '11 was accepted to begin a fibers and fabrics project starting in Winter Term, including an online business.

"I will be designing knitting patterns to make things that may eventually end up in a kind of end-of-the-year exhibit, while also working on turning my patterns into an online business," Lincoln said. "Because I knit left-handed, which is, truly, 'backwards,' I will be offering classes and workshops for left-handed knitters from the College and the community. These will be aimed to help both beginning knitters and those who aren't sure how to read patterns in a left-handed way."

Other students have made enormous progress with their work this fall. Michael McCormick '09 and James Riddleberger '09 have regularly met in the building throughout the last six weeks to coordinate their plans for The Hunt. Since Nick Fager '09 moved into the Old Stone Mill to start his online arts magazine, he has brought together a team of students to collaborate with and has been working regularly with other students.

"Its glorious in there," Peach said. "I love going to the Old Stone Mill. It's my little sanctuary."