A shadow cutting across a pebbled patch of cement.

Wooden coffee stirrers spiraled in a cup. 

A glimpse of clear blue sky through a curved window.

These are just a few of the atmospheric photos pinned up on the wall of the ground floor corridor in the All School Commons. The images are part of a crowd-sourced community photography project that was recently organized by the GFS Art Department.

In early December, Art Department Head Megan Culp sent out a campus-wide email calling for submissions of “a moment of beauty that you found in the All School Commons.” Everyone—students, faculty, staff, family, and visitors—are encouraged to take a photo (using a phone or camera) and email them to Culp. She prints out each one and adds them to the growing display on the pin-up wall.

The idea for this community art project started with GFS faculty Sarah Zwerling (visual art) and André Robert Lee ’89 (film). After they took their first walk-through of the Abigail R. Cohen Center for the Arts in the All School Commons last September, both were inspired by the new angles, vantage points, and views the building provides.

“They showed each other that they’d taken pictures of parts of the building, and André said, ‘Wouldn't it be cool if everyone brought in their perspectives of how beauty found them in this new space?’ Culp said. “Then Sarah and I talked about it and thought that having a very open community-based art project would be such a nice way to start putting things up on the walls.”

So far, submissions have come from faculty, students in Middle School photo classes, and a handful of community members who have responded to the QR code posted next to the photos. Culp said she expects more to come when the classrooms in the Abigail R. Cohen Center for the Arts opens in January. 

“We wanted to start the project now just to get it going, and while obviously the Dining Hall has been exciting and special, there are a lot more spaces for students to experience,” she said. “We’re hoping [the gallery] keeps building as they move in.”

The photo gallery will hang for another few months, and will grow and expand as more GFS community members get involved.

“The more, the better—it’s fun! Everyone takes pictures now and these photos are quick snapshots of really personal perspectives,” Culp noted.

Some of Culp’s favorite new perspectives that the All School Commons provides are the views of campus from the second and third floors. 

“There’s something about having that elevated view over that part of campus that feels so different and expansive,” she said. “I love the perspective that those two floors give, like in Sarah’s photo [above], with all of these roof lines that are striking. There really is something so interesting about changing your perspective on a space that you spend a lot of time in.“