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Best Practices in Study Abroad for Studio Art Students
International travel is an important part of today’s students’ education. It raises students’ awareness of global issues, broadens their experience, and leads to contextualized self-reflection. Art students facing a globalized world stand to benefit immensely from foreign study, but the demands of reflective studio practice do not always mesh easily with the schedule of group travel. This session will confront questions related to designing academic study abroad programs in the studio arts and for studio art students. Topics may include examples of successful studio art foreign study programs, suggestions for designing study abroad curriculum, insight into exemplary programs to recommend to students, discussion of what works and what doesn’t work, techniques for assessment, presentation of student work based on foreign study, or other topics relevant to these issues, focusing on either specific programs or broad overviews. The session will take the form of a panel discussion. To be considered as a panelist, please indicate the specific topic you would like to present (in 5-10 minutes) and the perspective from which you would be able to enter the larger discussion. Please express your interest by July 21 to Jennifer Lee, jenlee@iupui.edu.
The Agility of Others: Keeping up with the Aggiornamenti
Chair: Mysoon Rizk (University of Toledo, Department of Art, CVA, 620 Grove Place, Toledo, OH 43620; electronic submissions welcome: mysoon@utoledo.edu; proposal deadline: 21 July 2008)
When “the act of bringing something up-to-date to meet current needs” becomes the leading paradigm for change in educational arts settings, how often are such pressures to adjust propelled by reactionary tendencies to newly invented crises? When change unfolds in facilities planning, departmental structures, and adoption of new curricular models or pedagogical approaches, how carefully do the players in such systems register the dispensing or discarding of prior practices? In an era during which “new media” dominates discussion at the potential expense and supplanting of “old media,” how might inevitable and often forcible change nevertheless allow for the simultaneous sustenance of a non-electronic future? Engaging such questions as these, speakers are welcome to draw upon personal case studies, while keeping sights on viable tactics for sustaining degrees of continuity even in the midst of flux. Alternative viewpoints and representation from any discipline (including new!) are encouraged.
Nature Studies – Continuity or Decline?
Armin Mühsam, Chair Nature just isn’t taken seriously anymore – or is it? Has the cultural shift towards the Internet, video/computer games, DVDs, YouTube, etc. also altered the way artists see nature? It used to be a given that responding on site to the richness of our environment teaches one to see and cultivate a sense of rhythm, proportion, balance and structure – the very elements of design without which there can be no successful work of art. But do artists, old and young, still go out into nature to hone their visual skills? In particular, what is the primary relationship of landscape artists to the subject they depict – is it first-hand, virtual or a combination of both? Can a Web-cam view of “nature” function as the equivalent of plein-air painting or drawing? And do these new media allow the enjoyment and implementation of another (and for some even more important) dimension of nature studies, the spiritual? Papers/presentations are sought from teachers and students alike, in order to gauge the relevance of working vis a vis nature across the generations. Until July 20th, please mail or e-mail a preliminary abstract of one to two double-spaced, typed pages, along with a CV containing contact information to Armin Mühsam, Northwest Missouri State University, Art Department, 800 University Drive, Maryville, MO 64468, amuhsam@nwmissouri.edu, (660) 562-1789, or fax (660) 562-1346.
Emerging Technologies and the Pioneers Who Loved Them (FATE Sponsored Session)
How have emerging technologies changed the way we think and teach? Who were the pioneers that ventured into the uncharted territory of using the computer as a creative tool? When and how was the computer first integrated into the art curriculum? A bit of wit, wisdom, and knowledge about how and where emerging technologies have been introduced into the art curriculum. This session looks back to those pioneers who could not resist tinkering with their personal computers. Who had the persistence to tackle any problem, had rapport with a programmer so they could write their own scripting or software, and whose computers did not have any printers or drivers and had to pay extra for a mouse. What were the arguments and dilemmas? What advice can we give to recent graduates and newbies? And what advice can they offer to "old school" learners and teachers? Foundations in Art Theory and Education (FATE) is a national organization dedicated to the promotion of excellence in the development and teaching of college level foundations courses in both studio and art history. FATE members and non-members from all disciplines are encouraged to submit proposals. Submission Guidelines: Submit a 200-word narrative, curriculum vitae, and any visual materials (jpeg or PowerPoint format). Deadline for Submissions: July 21, 2008 Send proposals or inquires to:
Barbara Giorgio
MACAA Representative for FATE
Department of Art, AJ 401
Ball State University
Muncie, IN 47306
Ph: 765-285-5841
FAX: 765-285-5275
bgiorgio@bsu.edu
Art Schools Take the Lead: Creating Model Venues for Transdisciplinary Collaboration
Artists, scientists, and scholars have long-since championed the Enlightenment ideal of a fluency of knowledge across disciplines. Our complex social, political, and environmental problems require constellations of thinkers to advance solutions. However we live in an age of increasingly specialized teaching and learning. Venues must be created to foster experimental collaborations across disciplines. This panel proposes that art schools and university art programs take the lead in envisioning and building such experimental spaces. The unique context of art pedagogy creates conditions for creativity and risk-taking free from the constraints of traditional scientific and academic methods. Furthermore, the art school is well positioned to observe models of producing, funding and presenting unorthodox projects within the academy. Presentations by those who have realized such transdisciplinary “non-institutions” and those who have envisioned new models for collaborative venues are invited. Questions to be considered are: How can we articulate the need for such a space within our schools and universities? How can we protect the experimental nature of such a space? How can students interface with visiting scholars, artists, and researchers? How can such a transdisciplinary venue drive change within the art school or university as a whole? Please send presentation proposals to: Hope Ginsburg hdginsburg@vcu.edu Assistant Professor Art Foundation Program Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts
Why Appreciate Art Appreciation?
Most universities offer courses in art appreciation as part of their general education program. Even those universities that do not have art or art history departments manage to teach art via this course. Since it is so widespread, this course provides the only formal introduction to art that most students encounter before they become a part of the larger society. So art appreciation seems to be a valuable and necessary course for forming opinions and attitudes that will affect the future of art. Are art appreciation courses providing students with an adequate understanding of art in a world that is becoming increasingly connected by visual images? Are there new and innovative ways to teach this course? This panel seeks to better understand the role of art appreciation and its place in our changing educational environment. Please send presentation proposals to Ralph Larmann at RL29@evansville.edu, or send via mail to: Ralph Larmann, Department of Art, 1800 Lincoln Avenue, University of Evansville, Evansville, IN 47722.
Reconciling Art and Motherhood
Brief narrative describing the proposed session (200-word maximum): This session seeks presentations from practicing artists and art historians that explore how individuals have integrated experiences of motherhood within their work. Long denigrated as a viable topic for artistic practice, motherhood has gained some credibility in recent years, gradually increasing its visiblity in contemporary art. Mary Kelly, Sally Mann, Renee Cox, and many others have paved the way to combining this life-altering social role with a sucessful career. Institutions, however, are slow to change, so that motherhood can still serve as a detriment in both the art world and academic communities. Possible topics may include but are not limited to: the embrace of motherhood in artistic/art historical practice; the problematics of motherhood as a theme; the delicate balance of maintaining family and producing / writing about art; making motherhood a \"legitimate\" topic for artistic production; issues of motherhood and family leave in the workplace; the implications of intentionally avoiding motherhood or mothering-based art; \"success stories\" in the face of adversity. Brief publicity-ready abstract for proposed session (50-word maximum): \"Reconciling Motherhood and Art\" seeks proposals from practicing artists and art historians that explore how individuals integrate experiences of motherhood within their work--as a legitimate topic, as a decliate balance, as a workplace problematic, or in the face of adversity, among other possibilities. Interested contributors: please submit a 250-word abstract and a brief bio by July 21st to Rachel Epp Buller. rachel@ddtr.net
Contemporary Color, New Trends In Color Theory
Steven Bleicher, Coastal Carolina University stbleicher@aol.com There have been new strides in the area of color theory. It’s no longer just the Bauhausian tradition. The rise of new media has necessitated changes in the traditional color curriculum changing the ways in which we think about and teach color theory. There are new philosophers including David Bachelor and Mihai Nadin. Batchelor in his book Chromophobia, discusses the fact that artists have moved away from the tube of paint and mixing color to the use of premixed ready-made color. New areas including color psychology have moved the discussion on color from one solely based on the visual appearance and color interaction to issues on inherited, physiological and emotional responses to color. The discussion has also expanded to include cultural aspects of color and nonwestern traditions of color theory and use. This session will look at these new concepts in color theory and how they are being disseminated in the classroom/studio. Papers may include related color assignments, uses of new media and even new methods of instruction. Contact Steven Bleicher at stbleicher@aol.com for more information.
The Beam in Thine Own Eye: Criticism and Aggiornamento
The arts has a more public forum for critique and self-analysis than other fields, as artists, art historians, curators, writers, and even critics themselves routinely experience praise, scorn, or neutral reactions to their work in printed and online forums. Criticism has been seen as constructive and forward-thinking and inflammatory and unethical, sometimes simultaneously. This panel will focus on the role of criticism in the studio, the art and publishing markets, and the exhibition space, asking how one’s reactions to criticism drives practice. Indeed, how do artists, historians, writers, critics, curators, or gallerists react to criticism or reviews of their own work? How does criticism incite change in academia, the studio, or cultural institutions? When and how does it stall progress or ignite it? How are printed reviews and blogs received differently? What is the distinction between “professional” and “amateur” critics? Presentations are encouraged from a wide variety of perspectives. Please send presentation proposals to: Andrea Ferber, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, ferber@illinois.edu.
Andrea Ferber
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Research and Scholars Center
MRC 970 PO Box 37012
Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
ferber@illinois.edu