As part of the recent additions to the art department, the Fine Arts Seminar (FAS) has become a weekly investigation into the dialog of contemporary artists and their work. The seminar, which is held from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday evenings, is a course centered on building community between all students, faculty, and community members in the discussion of current studio practices and design industry issues.
Art and design majors are required to take the course for at least six semesters, and the course’s lab fee goes directly to bringing in guest artists. The debut of the weekly seminar was last fall and featured Philadelphia-based designer Alan Espiritu and painter Ann Piper, among others. This spring’s FAS students have engaged with photographers, printmakers, and painters, and will even be host to Houghton graduate Erin Bennett Banks, a well-established illustrator.
Junior Amy Coon commented on the seminar’s value to art students, saying, “I’ve found it to be one of my least demanding classes in terms of workload, yet it is the class that I’ve gained the most from during my college experience. It has taught us how to pursue our passions and gotten us in touch with artists who have succeeded in doing just that.”
Last week’s guest artist Charles Beneke delivered a lecture titled Radiative Forcing and shared his work depicting and dealing with environmental issues in industrialized America. Beneke talked about his experience coming from the undergraduate program at Kenyon College, the MFA program at the University of Connecticut and his travels to Finland and Greenway to further explore these issues as an artist interested in photography, printmaking and painting.
The course has proven to be a very tangible exposure to the possibilities in the art world. “I find Fine Arts Seminar to be an important class that definitely helps college students envision what future career paths they can explore,” said freshman Allyson Murphy.
The seminar is part of the new Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree that the department offers. Professor Jillian Sokso, current head of the art department, explained that “by moving upper level course work from media-specific classes to interdisciplinary, team-taught studio and seminar courses, we are meeting a need to stay as current as possible with our degree offering, finding applied vocational tracks that are current and relevant.”
Amanda Irwin, a sophomore art major with plans to go into Museum Studies, has attended the Fine Arts Seminar during both semesters. “I’ve found this experience to be humbling and richly authentic,” Irwin said. “Every week I find myself being challenged by the wide range of ideas, creativity, and dedication that is evident in the visiting artists.”
In addition to speaking as the guest lecturer, the guest artists are available to students to give one-on-one critiques of their work. This practice, in the fashion of a graduate level program, exposes students to an outsider’s feedback and knowledge. “Having an outside artist coming into our studio and giving a raw reading of our work is incredibly valuable,” said Coon. “It not only gives a fresh perspective on our work, but it confirms a lot of the advice that we hear from our professors.”
Additionally, the students participate in writing an ongoing blog about the guest artists and the conversations that they spark in the seminar. The blog can be found at http://houghtoncollegefineartsseminar.wordpress.com/.
An open invitation is extended to faculty, students and community members who wish to take part in the conversation each week in the Center for the Arts Room 145.