Video: From the Studio to the Classroom, Students Learn from Working Artists

Studio art faculty share their expertise in drawing, painting, sculpting, printmaking, photography, and digital imaging



Video by Tom Rettig

On campus, studio art faculty members are known for their role helping students produce artwork with skill and conviction. Off campus, however, these professors are busy creating work of their own.

In studios scattered across Massachusetts and New England, Holy Cross faculty artists produce work that has been on display in major galleries across the country and abroad, including London, Rome and Amsterdam. As working professionals actively engaged in the process of creating art, faculty members serve as a rich resource for students who are looking to hone their craft.

“Creating art is a hands-on process, not a theoretical one,” says Cristi Rinklin, associate professor and chair of the visual arts department. “Actually engaging in it as a practice is integral to being able to understand and teach it. As a working artist, you are coming from a place of experience and knowledge.”

To that end, studio art faculty not only help students learn the fundamentals of artistic media but also identify with the struggle of figuring out what it is they want to say, how they might say it, and the relevance it has in the world, says lecturer Marguerite White.

In a unique opportunity, students and visitors are currently able to see the impressive work of 10 studio art faculty members at the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery in an exhibition titled, “Pulse: New Work by Faculty Artists Show”. The show, which runs through April 10, is an opportunity to see examples of the some of the best work being done in the northeast, a lot of which hasn’t been shown in public before, says Roger Hankins, director of the Cantor Art Gallery.

“Students get to see what kind of techniques these working artists — their professors — are employing themselves every day,” he says. “Because of the proximity of varying artists’ work, the show highlights the differences and similarities between how each artist might think and approach their work, which is significant to students who are also creating art and learning from these artists.”

"Pulse" showcases a range of media — including photography, sculpture, painting, digital media, and printmaking — which serves as a reflection of the diverse offerings of the studio art department. The variety and intersection of the expertise brought by individual faculty members serves as a microcosm of the liberals arts experience, offers visiting lecturer Amy Wynne.

The arts connection to the liberal arts is not a strained one, but rather a natural relationship.

“Students come with a rich background in many different situations,” says Wynne. “Many students coming into the studio to study art are arriving from their science class or history class. Inherent in that is a cross weaving that happens within the other curricula, and a real enhancement that goes both ways."

“Art is integral to understanding human nature and humanity,” says Michael Beatty, associate professor and studio division head. “That we would teach it in a liberal arts context makes perfect sense.”

As working artists, the studio art faculty offer their students an enriched perspective on how to be fully engaged in the process of addressing questions and searching for answers — whether in a political science seminar or sculpting class.

“One of the most important lessons that you learn in a studio art class is how to embrace the process,” says Rinklin. “Indulge in the path that is going to lead you to the conclusion rather than fixating on the conclusion to the point where you are stifling any kind of possibility, variable or surprise that could happen.”