Art Around UD

There is art all over the University of Dayton. Over the past few weeks I have had several encounters with art, especially because I have a class located on Art Street. There is art among nearly every building across Dayton’s campus. Typically when I think of art, I think of paintings, pictures, and music. But at the University of Dayton there is art everywhere, in every form. I am grateful that I have the opportunity to experience art in my everyday surroundings. One encounter with art that I have had over the past few weeks stood out to me the most. This encounter was with the sculpture that is pictured above. My first encounter was during the first week of class, and I was walking back from English 101(located on art street). After crossing Kiefaber, I headed towards campus. Just being a freshman, I hardly knew my way anywhere. But I saw a random paved path, so I decided to see if it was some sort of secret short cut that I didn’t know about. As I was walking, I noticed this large assortment of metal. I stopped for a second to look at it, only to realize nobody else was fazed by this structure. I kept walking, so that I wasn’t late for philosophy, but I didn’t forget about this metal creation. Later that evening, I made my friend ,Dana, walk over with me to look at it again. She was just as confused; such a random place, for such a random structure. We began discussing what it was, and why it was there. Perhaps it was some sort of Dayton “Flyer” symbol. It is clearly Dayton’s colors- and the rigid pieces of metal resemble a plane in some sort. Perhaps it is some sort of engineering creating, seeing that it is located right behind the school of engineering. Well to be quite honest, I don’t know why this structure of metal has been created, painted, and paved around. But it certainly serves a purpose for me. Every Tuesday and Thursday I make sure I walk across Kiefaber, along the path, and past this Dayton Flyer structure. For me, this structure always makes me stop and think. It always catches my eye and makes me stop stressing about whatever test I have next class, whatever paper I have due tomorrow, and whatever else is on my mind. It makes me stop for a minute and just enjoy being on this campus. It continues to make me think, wondering why its there. But more importantly, it makes me stop for a minute in my busy life and crazy mind, and allows me to just take a breath and absorb what is around me. That to me is art. So even though this structure may not be a beautiful painting, it is art to me because it makes me stop, think, and question.