The Great Wave of Furnald

If you missed out on Wavves, not to fear. Baccha-groupie Alexandra Svokos investigated a permanent on-campus wave breaking in our very own Furnald Hall.  In an unprecedented event, this is the second RoomHop of Will Hughes, CC ’13.

“There’s a Benjamin Moore on 103^rd and Broadway that I was told not to return to,” Will Hughes, CC’13 says with a sly smile.  “I had been smarter about it, but I just really wanted to work on it this one weekend so I took a stack.  They basically just said ‘come on man…’”

Walking down the 9^th floor of Furnald, one gets a preview of Will’s room: the nameplates on the doors are colorful paint chip strips.  Inside his room is a much more exquisite scene: Will, an RA and the new CCSC VP of Policy, recreated the Great Wave Off Kanagawa exclusively in paint chips on the entirety of his room’s corkboard.

It took two months to create and was completed in December, with some help from a friend.  Will sketched the image in pencil on the board before slowly compiling the chips, cutting some to size, and stapling them to the wall.  Curled pieces at the top of the wave stick out to create shadows.

“It’s the silliest thing to wake up to and just be like: yes, the Great Wave off Kanagawa.  Cool,” Will deadpans.

On the opposite wall are more paint chips, but in a simpler combination – just bright colors placed next to each other.  Covering the remaining wall space are tons of posters, postcards, drawings, and odds and ends.  Will is not a stranger to room decoration; he was RoomHopped in his freshman year for the odd array of wall décor.

That was a learning year for him.  He didn’t go too crazy with his room last year after fatigue from the first.  “As the Bwog commenters correctly predicted, it was a huge pain to take down.”

The collection on this year’s wall is a mixture of old and new, with a few features from freshman year still around.  A mask on the wall, bought at a Los Angeles flea market – though Will is quick to point out he is from the Bay (“NorCal pride!”) – was on the outside of his door freshman year.

Mask + more paint chips

He still has drawings and postcards from friends to keep him company.  His best friend, who is from LA, made most of the art.  “She’s a real person artist,” Will explains, referring to his lack of technical artistic skill.  “I’m not really a visual artist at all – I can’t sculpt, I can’t draw – but I like doing stuff like this.”  He waves at the wave.

For the third year in a row he decorated his ceiling with colorful strings that create playful shadows.  Contrary to the rest of the room, though, he giddily asserts that it’s very easy and fun to take down for move out.  He expects the wave to take about 3-4 hours to dismantle.

Off the walls are more interesting pieces, including a huge stack of records from home, a leopard print chair he dragged back off the street in Brooklyn, and some mirrors also found on the street.

And will we be seeing him again next year?  Will knows that he’s “gotta bring my A-game…we’re gonna be sittin’ pretty on EC 20 so I have to do something fun with that.”  For now his future suitemates and him have an email thread going with decoration ideas.  They definitely support his decorating abilities, but it “remains to be seen” if they’ll actually help the process.

In his new position on student council, CC should look forward to someone with zany ideas and the initiative to actually go through with them.  “I don’t think I have decorating skills; I think I just like silly ideas and I believe firmly enough in devoting time to those silly ideas.  I really believe that even though we live in these dorms for 8 months a year you should still do something with them.  It’s not just having this idea, it’s being the person crazy enough to do it.”