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Interactive Exhibit Prompts Dialogue on Race

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With 82 percent of adults aged 18-29 using Facebook and a doubling of Pinterest and Instagram usage since 2012 according to the Pew Research Center, it is not surprising that Millennial college students want to share information using a variety of media, including art in a museum.

This is reflected in the interactive exhibition at the William Benton Museum of Art “IN-DIFFERENCE: Reflections on Race,” which was designed by students in the School of Fine Arts as a collaborative classroom response to the 2015- 2016 UConn Reads theme of “Race in America.” The exhibit continues through March 13.

UConn Reads exhibit: works by graphic design students on the issue of race at the Benton on Jan. 22, 2016. (Sean Flynn/UConn Photo)

UConn Reads exhibit: works by graphic design students on the issue of race at the Benton on Jan. 22, 2016. (Sean Flynn/UConn Photo)

UConn Reads exhibit: works by graphic design students on the issue of race at the Benton on Jan. 22, 2016. (Sean Flynn/UConn Photo)

With 82 percent of adults aged 18-29 using Facebook and a doubling of Pinterest and Instagram usage since 2012 according to the Pew Research Center, it is not surprising that Millennial college students want to share information using a variety of media, including art in a museum.

This is reflected in the interactive exhibition at the William Benton Museum of Art “IN-DIFFERENCE: Reflections on Race,” which was designed by students in the School of Fine Arts as a collaborative classroom response to the 2015- 2016 UConn Reads theme of “Race in America.” The exhibit continues through March 13.

To read the entire article, visit UConn Today!

“IN-DIFFERENCE: Reflections on Race” continues at the William Benton Museum of Art, 245 Glenbrook Road, Storrs, through March 13. Also at the museum is “Stark Imagery: The Male Nude in Art,” also through March 13. For more information go to the Benton website.

Day in the Life: Puppet Arts Major John Cody and the Art of Trickery

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The Daily Campus

By Christopher McDermott
November 18, 2015

The Puppet Arts Program is one of the University of Connecticut’s rare treasures. The women’s basketball team consistently makes headlines, but the distance UConn conquers basketball is peanuts to how far it dominates puppetry. Fifth-semester puppet arts major John Cody, whose previous work has included an eight-foot-tall Captain Condom mascot, explains his passion for the art form:

Cody has previously done work “wrangling mascots” for DreamWorks’ “Penguins of Madagascar” at Yankee Stadium and the Bronx Zoo. The job’s duties, Cody said, included “helping the actors put on the costumes, making sure they don’t break, repairing them if they do break, and making sure kids don’t punch them.”

“What’s fun about mascots is they have this element of fantasy to reality,” Cody added. “It’s this totally bizarre thing: a giant penguin who can’t move his face or talk just in the middle of the Bronx Zoo.”

UConn’s Student Health Services approached Cody and puppet arts graduate student Anatar Marmol-Gagne to assemble their “Stall Street News” character Captain Condom. Cody designed a maquette (a miniature model) and then built the full-size mascot while learning along the way.