Collegiate Times

Miguel Ortega Lopez's 3-D collage is on display in Norris Hall. Composed of 100 photos, the piece requires special glasses for proper viewing.

Gupta took up photography when he was an undergraduate student in India and feels that commemorating the ESM department's anniversary with an art gallery is a good idea.

"Education is not just research, research, research," Gupta said.

Art has always been a part of fifth-year senior ESM major Gina Om's life. Om liked how she was able to take a break from studying while she created her painting, "Fall." Om created a forest scene and used not only the traditional browns and greens to create her painting, but also a light blue color in the background and some oranges and pinks to paint the leaves.

Om used non-traditional colors for some of the leaves to emphasize how bright the leaves become as fall comes to Blacksburg.

"Fall is the season that defines Virginia Tech. I always appreciate how beautiful it is here in the fall," Om said.

While some students may be reluctant to see the gallery in Norris Hall since the shootings, Om goes there every day.

"This is an exhibit to showcase people within our department. Our department is really small. You might not know everyone, but you at least know who they are. It's nice to learn more about other people," Om said. "It's also nice because after 4/16 we became really close. Norris Hall is our home base. I spend every day in the computer lab and in the lounge,"

She also said the faculty worked hard to ensure that they were able to move back into Norris following the shootings.

Senior ESM major Dani Urdaneta placed four pictures she had taken of structures together to create one overall composition called "Engineering as Art." The black-and-white pictures are of the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre museum, The Guggenheim Museum in New York City, and the Guinness Factory Museum in Ireland. From an initial glance, it's not immediately apparent what is picture in each photo. Urdaneta wanted to focus on the structural uniqueness of each place.

"Architecture is a great way to combine art and engineering," Urdaneta said, who is also an art history minor. She used the Eiffel Tower in her creation because it is both an industrial symbol and a symbol of Paris.

Urdaneta said, "It's good to celebrate ESM for what it is."

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