While it’s called Fright Night, the immersive experience by Old Dominion Arts students the week before Halloween isn’t so much scary as inspiring.
The free exhibition that will open with a festive reception on Friday, Oct. 25 from 7-9 p.m. shows off the creative thinking and collaboration from students enrolled in ODU arts, music and theater classes. The Barry Arts Building and both floors of its neighbor, the Hixon Studio Building, will celebrate the spooky season with original installations and a wealth of spirited activities.
This is the third year of the event dubbed the biggest, baddest yet.
“Fright Night was my idea,” said Kyle Kogut, lecturer and foundations coordinator for the ODU Arts Department. “When I came on, we wanted to create a big thing to bring the community together.”
The rest of the arts faculty jumped on board, with instructors and professors assigning projects related to the Halloween theme. The music and theater departments joined last year to create one giant exhibition.
“ODU is a commuter campus, so when we can bring students back to network and feed off of each other, it’s good,” said John Roth, who chairs the art department. “Any time the arts students can collaborate with dance and theater, that kind of interplay is very valuable.”
A haunted forest with supernatural beings in the trees made by Kogut’s Drawing I students features a graveyard of tombstones underneath, each dedicated to an experience rather than a person. A few memorialize the end of childhood; another is a stack of burning books. A TikTok tombstone is a hoot.
Three interactive puppet shows based on folklore will play out on a stage in the Barry Building rotunda. The walls of both buildings will be covered with paintings, sculptures, letterpress and digital posters.
Senior Mariposa Estrada used Photoshop to create her poster, “Lights Out.” She describes the graphic completed for her digital basics class as “a shipwrecked tourist thinking he’s safe,” on Japan’s uncharted islands. Lying in bed, he’s unaware that his light is attracting mutating moths.
“I had a different idea before that, but I couldn’t settle on one,” said the mixed materials study major. “I saw a random post about there being so many uncharted islands and decided to do something off of that. I like bugs and wanted to incorporate them.”
The evening will include live demonstrations from the Perry Glass Studio, a costume contest run by student clubs, a Monster Market from the Student Art League and live screen printing. The Naro will be showing a slasher movie and offer a selection of horror DVDs for checkout.
The Hofheimer Art Library upstairs in the Barry Building will host a scavenger hunt.
A separate area features contributions from The Governor’s School for the Arts and Salem High School arts students.
Theater students will engage the audience with a two-act murder mystery, and the percussion ensemble dressed as goblins and zombies will perform with brooms in the courtyard.
While families and children are welcome, Kogut said the opening night is geared toward college students “by them for them.”
The Fright Night exhibit will be on view through Nov. 7 at the Barry Arts Building and the Hixon Arts Studio. The Arts Studio is located behind the Barry Art Building , 4600 Monarch Way in Norfolk.
