The Escalette Collection Unveils New Art Exhibition
- Lauren Delany
- Apr 4
- 3 min read
The Creative and Cultural Industries shape how we engage with the world around us. Art is a central component of CCI. Arguably, it is CCI in its most pure form - it is created to challenge the way the viewer thinks, thus shaping the viewers relationship with society.
Art is a creative industry. It gives artists the freedom to explore. Artists combine their emotions, perspectives, and technical skills to constantly forge new works.
Art is also a cultural industry. It captures a moment in time - the outlooks of the time from which it was created. Art captures historical events, political expressions, vulnerable experiences, and imaginative stories.
Governments and organizations fund artistic endeavors to ensure that we continue to express our creativity and to preserve our shared culture. Additionally, they are ensuring that everyone has an opportunity to learn about times, places, and ways of life they may otherwise not be familiar with.
Art exists frequently in connection with another CCI, museums. These are institutions that work to preserve the art under their care. They create exhibits, showcasing art in ways that provoke deep thought and consideration, while providing a robust educational experience for viewers.
Traditionally, museums function as a place for academic growth and cultural preservation. However, within the world of museums lies a wide array of possibilities. Museums today are more interactive and engaging than ever before. With an increase of technological capabilities, museums continue to evolve, creating one of a kind experiences.
The importance of preserving art can not be overstated. The value of art as a cultural industry lies in its preservation. Museums do the important work of ensuring future generations can understand the perspectives of today, while allowing current audiences to step into experiences of the past.
At Chapman University, students have an abundance of opportunities for students to engage with art in many forms. The Escalette Permanent Art Collection is known as the “Museum without walls”. The collection displays modern and contemporary art work throughout Chapman’s campus, allowing students to regularly come in contact with inspirational works.
On Saturday, May 22, The Escalette opened a new exhibition, Body of the World: The Californian Landscapes of Inna Jane Ray. Located in the Burra Community Room at the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University, this collection will be open to the public until August 9, 2025.
Inna Ray explored her spirituality and identity through her paintings, writings, and photography. In this exhibition, she showcases her depictions of California’s ecosystems. Ray created this collection on a trip to the Eastern Sierra Mountains; the collection's title was taken from a passage in her journal.
Body of the World explores the complex relationship between humanity and nature. Ray captures in her works the shared experiences we have with the landscapes around us. This exhibition is an intimate work, revealing pieces of life beyond the human experience.
Born in San Diego, California in 1949, Ray spent her childhood hiking and camping. This early found relationship with nature is what inspired her artwork to center around the wild world. Her landscape compositions combined linework with watercolor and gouache to create vivid imagery.
Like many artists, her work was born from her spiritual and ecological beliefs. Her art aims to raise awareness for the importance of environmental conservation. Body of the World is a perfect example of this; the collection showcases the beauty of nature inspiring audiences to want to protect it. It is these strong held passions that create great artists, and these convictions that make art such an effective creative and cultural industry.
The Hilbert Museum is open Tuesday - Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more on this exhibition or to learn about other art on campus, follow @escalettecollection on Instagram.
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