The crowd gathered around a Carpenter Center table could almost pass for a cat-burglar convention--the students, lecturer and TF are uniformly clad in black. Viewed together, the group embodies a certain stereotype of "artsiness." The uninitiated reporter finds the attire fitting preconceptions about a VES class, and idly wonders: Where are the cigarettes and berets?

However, Visiting Lecturer Elaine Reichek's class, VES 23aar: "Alternative Histories, Alternative Media" is unique for both Harvard and the VES department in many respects. The first is the degree to which the group shares a sense of humor.

"Look, we always wear black," says Reichek, as students nod solemnly or chuckle. After the class ends, the truth comes out. A student admits that the class's attire had in fact been planned in the studio the night before after TF Jennifer E. Mergel '98 announced that a Crimson reporter would attend the next class. Apparently, the group generated the idea of subverting the "artsy" stereotype, representing themselves as exactly that for the reporter's benefit.

Very funny.

The 12 students in the VES 23aar class are close in other ways. The course's structure allows students to devote much of their time to discussing individual ideas and critiquing each other's progress. Students say the personal nature of artistic expression makes openness and comfort crucial to such an endeavor.

"In the class space everyone's really accepting of other people, which is very important for the material," says Danielle J. King '00.

While most of the College's VES courses are designed to teach the artistic use of a particular medium, Reichek's class focuses instead on the conceptualization of art. The students are encouraged to formulate an idea and then find the material best suited to bringing it to fruition in the semester's four projects.

"You're not getting training in any specific form or medium--it's training in creative thinking," says Pablo Colapinto '00.

Students say a multi-media approach to visual art is uncommon in the VES department's offerings this year. Reichek, a New York City-based artist, requires students to find their own materials and allots each a budget of $250 to purchase them. For a recent "Trash as Art" project, Reichek showed slides and spoke about what contemporary artists have done in terms of turning refuse into art. She equipped students with reading selections and questions about the meaning of 'trash,' then sent them off to work on projects of their own.

Many students browsed thrift stores or their own garbage looking for inspiration.

For Allison B. Runsey '99, the project suited her general interest in fashion and beauty. In found bottles, she collected smells and scents meaningful to her. Runsey, who will produce a photography thesis focused on images from fashion, enjoys the freedom to focus on ideas without the limitations most VES classes impose.

"You can really work out your own ideas, you're not constrained by medium," she says.

Awen K. O'Reilly '02 developed a project along completely different lines. She took photographs of the group's empty studio and paired them with audio tapes of the students in conversation.

"I was interested in questions like, 'do the students make the classroom?'" she explains.

Students say that one of the most intriguing aspects of the course is watching firsthand the progress of other student's projects.

"For me, it's really interesting to see how people work out ideas," Colapinto says.

Students say the responsibility for purchasing their own materials on a budget and the freedom to experiment in different media has brought them closer to the experience of professional artists than more ridgidly structured courses.

"With Elaine [Reichek], it's more like working with an actual artist, and less of a teaching relationship," O'Reilly says. "It's like nothing I've ever done before."