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Hints to
eliminate
stress
By Donna Banse
The spring semester is in full swing
and the first round of exams is just
around the corner.
For most Texas A&M students, the
first round of exams can mean only
one thing — stress.
Dr. Maggie Olona, assistant direc
tor of counseling at Student Counsel
ing Services, said a university is an
extremely stressful environment.
"Most students are under stress be
cause of the sheer volume of work, as
signments, papers and research re
quired for Texas A&M Univeristy,”
Olona said.
School and classes cause a great
amount of stress, but are usually not
the only contributors to stress in a stu
dent’s life. Tense relationships with
roommates and career concerns
cause a student to experience stress,
Olona said.
High levels of stress are not
healthy, but some stress is good for
motivation.
"Students need to keep stress
someplace in the middle, where it is
an energizer and a motivator, rather
than a de-energizer and a de-motiva-
tor,” Olona said.
Students often begin to feel the
stress of school after they get behind
in their classes because of poor time
management techniques, Olona said.
Time management techniques can
help students avoid some of the
stress associated with college.
"Planning ahead this early in the se
mester will help to make life less
stressful later,” Olona said.
The Student Counseling Center of
fers help for students who have prob
lems with time management.
“Students often don't come into
counseling for time management be
cause they think we will take away
their social life," Olona said.
Olona stressed that time manage
ment means providing for a social life.
"We work on efficiency of study
time rather than the quantity of study
time," Olona said.
Olona offers tips to students to help
manage time and stress throughout
the semester:
•Keep a calendar of approaching
assignments, projects and exams to
use as a guide in planning activities
and study time
•Have a flexible schedule
•Get plenty of physical excercise
and sleep
•Eat a well balanced diet
•Use free time during the day or
between classes as study time
All of the clinics and workshops of
fered by the Student Counseling Serv
ice are free to students who are en
rolled at Texas A&M.
For more information, contact the
Student Counseling Service at 845-
4427 or 845-1651.
P9Qe14 January 24,1991
TONIGHT!
8:00 p.m.
Rudder Auditorium
Tickets: $3 Students $5 Public
Available now at the
MSC Box Office
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Psychedelia touches exhibit in Rudder
By John Mabry
Although you won’t see
any lava lamps or other ’60s
staple objects d’ arte, a touch
of psychedelia has found its
way into Rudder Tower’s
newest exhibit, “Catching the
Eye: Form, Color, Motion.”
The exhibit traces the his
tory of op (optically-
oriented)-art from the Impres
sionists of the early 20th cen
tury to contemporary artists
working in abstract forms and
using non-traditional medi
ums such as light, motors
and plexiglass rods.
The exhibit begins with a
sampling of the so-called “fa
thers” of op art —the Impres
sionists, Surrealists and Abs
tract Expressionists.
Included in this section of the
exhibit is an Impressionist oil
titled “Landscape” by Daw-
son-Watson, a Dali lithograph
called “Venus Arising” and
two large, colorful paintings
by George Appels.
The second half of the ex
hibit, the Rationalists, ex
plores the development of
op-art into works that directly
engage the viewer and alter
themselves either by their
own accord or depending
upon the viewer’s perspec
tive.
“Torsions,” for instance, by
the Belgian Constructivist
Walter LeBlanc, consists of a
plastic sheet, the bottom half
of which has been twisted
into several spirals that
change color depending
upon the observer’s position.
Two works by ’60s artist
Ann K. Shields are perhaps
the most engaging of the ex
hibit. Working in neon paint
over a white background,
Shields’ two works, “Diffu
sion” and “Ben-Day-Glo,” di
rectly induce retinal after
images in the viewer.
The idea of optical illusion
also is explored by the Ger
man artist Josef Albers in his
“White Line Square XII”
painted in 1966. In this work,
Albers demonstrates the use
of superimposed colors to
create deceiving optical ef
fects.
Works by artists Chuck
Prentiss and Frank J. Malina
represent the show-stoppers
of the exhibit. These works
combine light and motion.
Prentiss’ “#54” is a metal
box about the size of a large
toaster that contains four ro
tating bulbs. With the use of
gradual color changes in the
bulbs, Prentiss makes the box
seem about five times as
deep as its physical dimen
sions.
The two Malinas, “Motion
in Two Ellipses” and "Mole
cule I" are two rotary-driven
light boxes that experiment
with the effect of motion on
the viewer’s perception of
color.
Ending the exhibit are sev
eral pure sculpture works by
artists including Karel Rickey
and Buckminster Fuller, the
inventor of the geodesic
dome.
The works are graciously
accompanied with brief ex
planations of the artists’ back
grounds and intentions in
creating the pieces.
As curator Catherine Has-
tedt explains, “A lot of people
look at works of this nature
and say, ‘Hey, I could have
done that.’ They (the explana
tions) help the viewers to un
derstand what effect the artist
was trying to achieve.”
Even for those who don’t
appreciate the modern art
scene, “Form, Color, Motion”
is fun. And since many of the
works have no intellectual, re
ligious or historical basis, this
is an exhibit that can be acti
vely enjoyed by anyone, re
gardless of their age, inter
ests or background.
For more information on
the exhibit or to attend a tour
call (409) 845-8501.
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