In preparation for the April 8 eclipse, students gathered in Torreyson Library on Feb. 6 to yarn bomb rails that will be on display during the eclipse festivities.
Associate Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Gayle Seymour describes yarn bombing as a “non-invasive” and “feminist” form of graffiti that often involves the spontaneous and sporadic covering of public surfaces with yarn.
Members of Rotaract International, Feminist Union, CAHSS, Schedler Honors College and library staff were all present to help with the yarn bombing.
Seymour said, “It takes the cold, hard urban environment and it makes itself inviting, and beautiful. And so that’s what we’re doing. We’re hoping that we can have this set up in the library and students can come by and can yarn bomb, they can wrap, they can crochet, they can do all kinds of things, to cover these gates.”
Emily Temple, a junior political science and public administration major said, “It’s just such a huge influx of people, we want our campus to look nice and this is one of the things that kind of shows that UCA is not like a cold hard campus. It makes UCA look more attractive, it makes UCA look more fun and involved and a lot of that stuff.”
Abby Bunch, a junior history and political science major said, “Aside from me managing to make every single knot possible in the yarn, it’s been a really busy day today so this was a good period to just decompress and relax.”
Two rails were placed in the library for students to adorn with their choice of yarn.
Seymour said that she plans for six barricade rails to be covered in total so they can be displayed at UCA’s dog-friendly eclipse-viewing party, the Dog Barkanalia, which Seymour has helped plan.
Seymour said the word “Barkanalia” was a play on the word “bacchanalia” which is an ancient Greek word for a “drunken party.”
The Dog Barkanalia will take place on the College of Business lawn from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 8.
Besides the viewing of the eclipse, there will also be several activities for dog owners to enjoy with their pets including a show ring, a dog kissing booth, a dog adoption area, games, food and main stage entertainment.
Seymour said, “I just feel like the eclipse is sort of like your wedding, the Olympics and all of those things that require so much time and effort for just a couple of minutes, but they’re the things that you remember in a lifetime and somehow or another those moments are few and far between.
“I’ll never see another total eclipse in my life and so I just feel like it’s a moment where for four minutes, all of this stuff that makes our world seem crazy is all gonna go away and everybody’s gonna be concentrating on exactly the same thing. So what else could make that happen? Literally? So I think that’s sort of the takeaway, and really the inspiration for all of this, you know, this is like preparing for a king’s visit or something like that, so we just want to make sure we do good,” Seymour said.
Besides the yarn bombing, Seymour and the CAHSS have several other artistic activities in store for those visiting campus April 8.
Seymour added that a custom giant inflatable will also preside over the event.
“She’s called Luna and she’s a woman, a person of color superhero who stands on the moon and she is being fabricated as we speak at an inflatable company in Ohio. She was designed by Morton Brown, who’s an alumnus,” she said.
Seymour said Luna will also make appearances in public schools, downtown Conway and other campus locations leading up to the Dog Barkanalia.
Seymour added that there will also be an eclipse festival Artists in Residence series which will display artists that fit into the eclipse theme.
Visiting artists include Sue Schroeder, Christian Meyer, Russell Crotty, Morton Brown, and Sean Ardoin and the Kreole Rock And Soul Band.
To find out more about the festivities in store for the eclipse visit https://uca.edu/eclipse/events/.
