In recent days, I have been thinking about the following question: Why do students come to the arts? What do they want?
Of course the answer to that question would be relative to each student, however, my experience tells me this: that often, they have been putting aside their creative self to do well in their studies, to become the kind of student that would be accepted into a major research institution. All the while they have nurtured the flickering possibility that what they really loved, the thing that made them whole is still a possibility. That, after satisfying their grades, their tests, their entrance exams, they might return to that sacred creative place they recall from their childhood and that somehow that might be validated in the university. In their memory, there were no obstacles to creativity, no disciplinary boundaries or rules that said they could not combine a painting with a dance or draw a thousand tiny birds with a glitter pen.
A large part of what we do here in the Art Department is to re-open the door to creativity across all disciplines in order to re-ignite the passions toward art that our students have held onto for much of their lives. This is an ever-evolving creative space where we facilitate our student’s creativity in whatever form it may take.
Douglas Rosenberg
Chair, Art Department