Stevie Lane '15

Portrait of an artist: Nikhil Dasgupta '16

There’s more to Nikhil Dasgupta ’16 than blazers, khaki pants and barber shop tunes. A member of Bowdoin’s oldest a cappella group, the Meddiebempsters, Dasgupta has recently released an extended play (EP) recording.“It might be a little precocious to call it that,” said Dasgupta.Instead, he called the recording “more [of] just a collection of thoughts over the past years, so it’s not like anything specific. It’s more like what’s been going on in my head.”This summer Dasgupta and his roommate Zach Albert ’16 decided to get into the studio together and record an alternative folk EP, which they plan to share with people who are interested in their music. Albert played the drums and Dasgupta played all the other instruments for the recordings.The Circus, Dasgupta’s band at Bowdoin, mostly covers other bands, but also writes and performs some of its own original songs. The band consists of Dasgupta and Albert, as well as juniors Harry Rube, Chris MacDonald, Simon Moushabeck, and Shan Nagar.It all started two years ago with a group of friends who lived in same first-year dorm. “We got together and started playing,” said Dasgupta.The band likes “doing [its] own interpretation of songs…like old rock [and] songs that are upbeat and would work at a party,” said Dasgupta.Dasgupta has lived in many different places and went to high school at the American Embassy School in New Delhi, India, but now calls Dover, Mass. his home.Currently a mathematics major, he plays guitar and has played piano since age eight.He decided to continue his musical journey all the way into college, and auditioned for the Meddiebempsters as a first year. Dasgupta said he likes the different approach the Meddiebempsters take to collegiate a cappella, which tends to be very pop-oriented. The Meddiebempsters instead incorporate old-fashioned barbershop arrangements, and Dasgupta said he enjoys getting to take a break from the music he hears elsewhere every day.His participation in the Meddiebempsters has defined his Bowdoin experience. All of his closest friends are from the Meddies, and Dasgupta finds it “musically very fulfilling as well.”In the future, Dasgupta hopes to continue with music by working as a sound engineer or by working for a record label.“I always wanted to go somewhere with it, [but] that probably doesn’t mean playing in a band on stage,” he said.Dasgupta said he loves the feeling he gets when performing on stage with his band.“It’s easy to feed off the audience getting really excited,” he said.“Some of the most fun I’ve had at Bowdoin has been on stage.” Dasgupta says that performing with the Meddiebempsters is different because of the dynamic of the large group. “We are all sort of supporting each other in a sense,” he said.“It’s like we are just hanging out and making jokes with ourselves and singing.”Although Dasgupta’s schedule can be hectic—with mathematics and computer science courses taking up much of his time—he enjoys keeping busy.“It’s dangerous for me to not have something to do,” he said.

Portrait of an artist: Miranda Hall '18

Miranda Hall ’18 began writing music at the age of 13 and has since become an accomplished and passionate singer-songwriter.
“Some people need to play sports. Some people need to paint. I need to sing,” she said. “I wouldn’t be completely living if I weren’t singing.”
When she was younger, Hall also taught herself to play the acoustic guitar with help from her father.
While Hall has been writing for a long time, she has always been nervous to perform her music.
This summer, however, Hall tested her courage by performing on the streets of Seattle.
“When I first started writing I would show [my songs] to my friends, but I was too nervous to perform in front of people,” she said.
“Performing on the street this summer was a challenge that I gave to myself. I wanted to see if I was brave enough to perform for people who had never met me.”
Hall stood on the streets and opened her case, hoping to pique the interest of those passing by.
“It was never to make money, it was just to be brave,” she said. “If you are genuinely pouring your heart out to someone with words you wrote, there is no way people won’t stop and listen.”
One of the most memorable moments of her summer came in the form of a gift from a young fan.
“I was singing “Alice”—a song that I wrote about “Alice in Wonderland”—to a little girl, and I could tell that she was really listening to me,” she said. “Afterwards, she came up to me a gave me the stuffed animal she was holding, and I still have it.”
Another one of Hall’s favorite memories is when a man asked to join her performance. “I was singing ‘No Diggity’ and a jazz musician came up to me and started playing with me,” she said.
Hall loves to write music, whether she is writing a song for herself, for someone else, or is just inspired randomly. She said she tries to capture and show a feeling through her words.
“Singing allows me to capture the beautiful moments in life. The first song I wrote was when I was looking out the window in California and it was raining. I just wanted to capture how calm that moment was,” she said.
Hall’s favorite musician is Ed Sheeran because she said he completely enchants his listeners. “Whenever he sings you can tell he is just sharing himself with the listeners.” she said. “I went to his concert when I was 16 and I waited for four hours after the concert to meet him. He signed my purse and I made friends with his security guard while I waited.”
At Bowdoin, Hall is involved with the Bowdoin Music Collective (BMC) and is interested in bringing singer-songwriters together.
“The BMC puts on music events and performances,” she said. “I have performed at Unplugged and pop-up open mic nights, as well as the Baxter Coffee House.”
In addition to the BMC, Miranda is a part of the Bowdoin Outing Club, the Salsa Club and the Bowdoin Art Society.
Hall is releasing a new single on November 1 called “White Car.” She has already released an EP named “Kingdom” that can be found on iTunes and Spotify.
“I’m not signed with any label, but I think that if you have a passion, the only thing holding you back is self-doubt,” she said.
Hall ran a Kickstarter to raise money for her musical endeavor. She promised to write songs for people if they donated.
“I got an email from a man in Afghanistan asking me to write a song for his wife, and I was so excited,” she said. “There was a great response.”
Hall said she truly believes in following her passions and sharing them with others. “If you love something and you are genuine, people will respond,” she said. “I’m going to keep singing and putting myself out there. If all else fails, this is something I’ll do in my dorm room on Monday nights.”
Check out Hall’s EP “Kingdom” on iTunes and look out for her new single “White Car,” which will bereleased November 1.

Portrait of an artist

October 17, 2014

Jessica Gluck

WIRED UP: Stevie Lane displays a wire sculpture that she is creating for her independent study.

It’s hard to believe that simple loops of metal wire can be transformed into complex forms like hands and feet, but Stevie Lane ’15 makes it possible. She is exploring the twists and turns of wire sculpture through an independent study with Sculptor-in-Residence John Bisbee.

Lane is using this semester to make a self-portrait out of black annealed rebar wire, playing off a similar project that she enjoyed in Sculpture II.

“Bowdoin doesn’t have [a sculpture course] after Sculpture II, so I spoke with Bisbee and asked if I could do an independent study with him in wire, since that was something I really loved when I did it in Sculpture II,” said Lane.

“Bisbee was really encouraging in terms of what I made [for that assignment], so that was really my kind of reason for wanting to continue to explore my ability to articulate shapes with wire and work with realism instead of the abstract,” she said.

The personal power of a self-portrait interested Lane.

“Self-portraits are so much a part of the tradition of drawing...I can’t draw well, but I see this as my own interpretation of the self-portrait assignment—just that it’s three dimensional and my “graphite” is the wire itself!” she added in an email to the Orient.

Lane hopes that this self-portrait—set in heroic scale, which is about one and a half times the size of her own body—will ultimately be free-standing. However, making a large structures like a full-body self-portrait and having it support itself will be a challenging task.

Since she doesn’t weld or solder the wire, “There’s potential for [the sculpture] to be a lot weaker,” said Lane. “You also have to come up with creative ways to attach things.”

Therefore, her final project, which will go on display in the beginning of December, may not end up being a fully-formed figure but instead a series of body parts like hands. To Lane, the final product is not her only goal for the independent study.

“You really get to learn...about your material,” she said. “By narrowing your focus, you have to push yourself to dig deeper...and [to see] what comes out of that.”

Lane is more familiar with the “hot” connections created by glue or soldering than the type of work she is currently pushing herself to explore.

“Ever since I was really young…[my mom and I] used to put down newspaper and get hardware like nuts and bolts and s-hooks…I used to make these little animals by hot gluing hardware together,” she said.

Lane is a Government and Legal Studies major with an English minor and hasn’t taken any visual arts courses outside of sculpture. However, she said Bisbee is one of her favorite professors.

“This independent study is just an excuse to get to work closely with him,” she said.
“He, I think, is somehow able to get everybody to produce the best work that they possibly could and I don’t even know how he does it,” said Lane.

While she has at times considered a career in art, it seems that sculpting and metal-working will remain a serious hobby.

“I don’t really know how far I could pursue art. I don’t even know how I’d begin, but it’s definitely something that I’m always going to do on the side, something I do do all the time when I’m at home,” she said.

Lane’s involvement on campus extends beyond her sculpture. She also hosts a radio show, co-leads the volunteer program Book Buddies where students work with ESL students at local schools, contributes to the literary magazine The Quill, and pole vaulted on the varsity track team up until this year. Next semester, she will be pursuing an independent study in creative writing, her other artistic interest.

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