135 ALLIE BOOTH SET-UP Midnight Oil Coffeehouse features junior’s paintings showcasing diversity. When junior Allie Booth was asked to create art to display on the Midnight Oil Coffeehouse stage, manager Eric Mount requested one thing: color. “There’s a lot of natural colors and tones outside, so the idea was to bring some color to see from the college and from the street,” Mount said. “She took that in her own direction, which I thought was awesome.” As Booth brainstormed ideas for her display, tensions arose over social injustice across the United States. “I felt like since my position was standing up for women, and the position that the world was taking on at the time was standing up for people of color,” Booth said. “I wanted to try to combine those two good things in a statement.” Booth experimented with painting racially diverse women. She talked to friends about amplifying images of women of color and how to use her voice for good. That is when her panels, titled “Women of Color in Color,” were conceived. Booth said associate professor of art and design Greg Clayton encouraged her to find a venue to display her work. “Allie’s current work explores a vibrance and an authenticity that is exciting, engaging and, sometimes, challenging,” Clayton said. “The energy in her images is refreshing.” As for the women in the paintings, Booth said they were not modeled after specific women. Rather, she wanted them to be faces without names to represent all women. Booth said the experience gave her an opportunity to use her voice. “I never really saw myself as someone with a big voice,” Booth said. “Whenever I talk through painting, that’s whenever people listen.” Booth’s voice received wide recognition from a diverse audience of students. The messages her art conveyed highlighted minority populations on campus in a respectful way. “I believe Allie’s paintings are a beautiful representation of women of color,” senior Jada Robison said. “In my conversations with her about the paintings, she told me that she hoped the women imitated those who saw them with their beauty and power. I believe that is exactly what she accomplished with these paintings. I hope this allows people to recognize beauty and power within women of color and to be uncomfortable with not recognizing it before.” story by Ava Galyean Set the stage! Allie Booth sits in front of her paintings. The art was displayed on the rear of the Midnight Oil stage. | photo by Chantel Ceaser BOOTH
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc5NA==