On Nov. 12, the NYU Abu Dhabi Arts Center took on a new face, showcasing different exhibits, performances, workshops and demonstrations as it opened its doors to all members of the NYUAD community for the fourth annual Open Studios. From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., students, faculty and staff crowded the halls of the Arts Center for a night dedicated to celebrating the arts.

A feature that differentiates Open Studios from other exhibitions is that it primarily showcases works in process, allowing students and faculty to gain active feedback from audiences and spectators as they continue to polish and hone their craft.

“The thing is, Open Studios is always fun and exciting because it’s always unexpected and it’s a very playful thing. It’s not a gallery and it’s a really great way to see what people are working on,” said Laura Schneider, the Lecture of Visual Arts whose students exhibited various paintings and sketches in progress around the Mixed Media Studio.

Body painting, one of the most popular demonstrations, also took place in the Mixed Media Studio. Student volunteers crowded the space as artists painted swirls of intricate patterns ranging from lifelike animal imitations to floral and nature-inspired designs.

Virág Kiss, Class of 2022 and one of the many body painting volunteers said, “As a Computer Science major, this is really different from what I usually do. It’s a fun way to destress and a nice departure from my usual routine. I didn’t really want to volunteer at first but now I’m glad that I did.”

Similar to the mission of Open Studios, body painting was also an exercise in pushing the boundaries of art, which added a nice contrast to the program’s traditional mediums of art.

“It’s really different painting on a human body rather than on a canvas,” said Quim Paredes, Class of 2022 and a Visual Arts major. “It’s a completely different texture and it’s also harder to manipulate. It’s harder to bring out the colors because it’s not as saturated.”

The activity brought together students from a range of academic fields.

Image by Emily Broad

Kyle Hudson, Class of 2022 and a volunteer body model, commented, “Yeah, I don’t really come to the Arts Centre [normally].”

The evening featured continuous performances from different Student Interest Groups and classes throughout the Arts Center; from the main lobby, to the Blue Hall as well as the Howler Radio Booth. Attitude Dance put on an energetic Bollywood-inspired performance to start off the night, as faculty and student performances were ongoing in the Blue Hall. Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music Katherine Quayle performed a lively clarinet and piano duet piece, Concertino in E flat major, Opus 26 by Carl Maria von Weber, to thunderous applause. Following her performance, Quayle expressed her enthusiasm for being able to spread her love for music.

“Open Studios is a great informal setting to share and play music. It is always great to see students so excited to perform and share with the community the pieces they have been working on,” she said.

Howler Radio put on an impressive show with the band Hotwok, comprised of students Mark Penjueli, Jake Chouljian and Aaron Marcus-Willers, Class of 2022, playing a series of sets that lasted over two hours.

“I hope this brings more listeners on campus. We have a lot of DJs, but not much in terms of listeners. So, I hope this gets more people involved and listening to the radio here because we have so many great shows like Hotwok here,” said Savion Garcia, Class of 2022 and newly appointed General Manager of Howler Radio.

Beyond the performances, many students expressed appreciation towards Open Studios for enlightening them about the lesser-known resources that the Arts Center offers.

Ayarush Paudel, Class of 2022 and Film and New Media major said, “It feels good to see all the really great resources we have on campus. I saw a lot of things I didn’t even know existed on campus. [...] Did you know we have a [haze] machine?”

Open Studios also exhibited many ongoing art capstones, allowing fourth-year students the opportunity to receive real-time feedback on their academic projects.

“The capstones that people have on show here are so interesting and also the variety of academic fields that people are in was really cool to see,” added Paudel.

Speaking to the diversity of Open Studios, Goffredo Puccetti, Assistant Professor of Visual Arts, chimed in to provide some insight as to how Open Studios this year was different from previous iterations.

“This year’s exhibition was incredibly well-curated. You could really see a great range of projects and pieces that students and classes are working on. One thing I really loved was that exhibitions were on that are not regular classes. Bodypainting, for example, is enormously interesting and is something exciting and different from the norm,” he said.

Open Studios 2019 was a success in showcasing the Arts Center’s many facilities and activities, as well as exploring various works in progress by a great number of students and professors. Summing up the event perfectly, Vice Chancellor Mariët Westermann said, “[This was] one of the most fun nights I have had in Abu Dhabi so far. [It was] so great to see so much creativity released by dozens of student, faculty and staff.”