BBCC marks National Coming Out Day with art dedication

BBCC marks National Coming Out Day with art dedication

MOSES LAKE — The Big Bend Community College Committee on Equity, Inclusion and Diversity celebrated National Coming Out Day this week with the unveiling and dedication of the recently completed art installation, “Dear Anonymous”.

Members of the campus community gathered outside the William C. Bonaudi Library Wednesday to see the piece up close. Attendees heard from Big Bend president Dr. Sara Thompson Tweedy, Librarian Rhonda Kitchens and Art instructor Dustin Regul.

“Dear Anonymous” is a powerful and thought-provoking piece that tells the story of self-discovery and the journey towards embracing one’s authentic self. From a distance, viewers see what looks like a large framed canvas covered in colorful sticky notes and frayed notebook paper with handwritten words of encouragement.

On closer inspection, you can see the individual elements are actually ceramic pieces.

The piece took a couple hands, and about 12-14 hours over the course of two weeks to complete.

“I am very interested in ceramic techniques that make the ceramics not look like ceramics. The materials are a white clay body (almost porcelain like) that I used masonry stains to create the different colored sticky notes,” said Regul. “Through research I found a ceramic company that makes underglaze pencils. This allowed the marks to fire in the kiln like a regular underglaze but with the look of a handwritten note.”

Although he was drawn to the creative challenge of the project, Regul said it was the ‘why’ behind the piece that was the bigger motivator to make it.

“The original ‘Dear Anonymous’ was such a beautiful outpour of support for a student struggling to be heard,” he said. “I hope, from the campus response, they know they are valid, cared for, and appreciated for who they are. This was something that needed a permanent memorialization.”

Last fall, a student left a rainbow sign by the water fountains closest to the library. It said that the student was coming out anonymously as their family wouldn’t accept them.

Kitchens said that people had begun to write notes back to that student— some on sticky notes and some on notebook paper. There were short messages of encouragement, longer notes with invitations to connect if the student wanted to, and a lot of hand-drawn hearts.

“Some of the original post-it notes fell off, some fell in the water fountain. (Director of Library Resources) Tim Fuhrman took it down and brought it to the library,” said Kitchens. “I was building the Gender, Sexuality, and Identity collection and decided to use it as a centerpiece.”

Kitchens decided she needed to do something to archive the original sign and sticky notes so she turned everything into an eBook, zine and hardcover book “Dear Anonymous, We Love You: Crowdsourced at a Water Fountain”. She also approached Regul with the idea to turn it into an art piece that could be placed over the same water fountain the original note was left at for all of campus to view.

“Sometimes we think we are alone in our feelings and thoughts, but we are surrounded by people who may be experiencing or experienced similar things,” she said. “The note left at the water fountains was a reminder of those fears that are actually often close to support and community.”

CEID members hope the art installation will serve as a symbol of the college’s commitment to creating a safe and inclusive space for all, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

View “Dear Anonymous” anytime ATEC 1800 Building is open. The hardcover book is available for viewing in the library’s special collections section.

A special thank-you to the Big Bend Committee on Equity, Inclusion and Diversity, President Dr. Sara Thompson Tweedy, Rhonda Kitchens, Dustin Regul, Tim Fuhrman, Dr. Allison Palumbo, the many members of the campus community who left sticky notes of support, and most importantly, to ‘Anonymous’.