Messages in the Sky Art performs outside Grant Hall The lawn in front of Grant Hall was turned into artwork Monday as the United Catalysts presented "100 Messages Sent by a Crow," a performance art piece that lasted from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. United Catalysts is Kim Garrison and Steve Radosevich, UNLV MFA (Master of Fine Arts) students, who collaborate to make "concept-driven installations and interactive projects." A silent woman, Garrison, wearing a tribal-looking crow mask, top hat and sporadic feathers hanging off her arms spent the day of Halloween on the lawn on the Maryland Parkway side of Grant Hall. She was the one in charge of sending the messages up and away. The Grant Hall Gallery was turned into an office-like reception area with a magazine-strewn coffee table, couches and a desk complete with an ancient typewriter and black-clad woman playing receptionist. People interested in having their messages released to the sky wrote them on a special form, had the "receptionist" type them up and then returned outside to the grassy area and the crow. The crow then had to be summoned by a bell rung by a tall, mysterious gentleman (Radosevich). She would approach slowly, cocking her head, looking wary. Finally, she would take the message, then go about finding a balloon to tie it to. For such a simple thing, it could take some time as the crow pondered the fate of the message. When she made her decision, she would tie the message to the feathery string of the balloon, snip the string and let it float from her hand. All would watch as the message rose and disappeared. By Jennifer Allen |