Student Work
We have used various ways of encouraging students to think beyond
the basic degree requirements in our different disciplines. In Studio
Art, the “open critique” sessions introduced in the
Art Sculpture Lab were based on work produced independently of the
classroom assignments. ASL also provides a space for artistic exploration
outside of the regular schedule during the summer and winter months,
when classes are not held there. For example, in Summer 2004 several
graduate students arranged shows and installations out in ASL (see
the website created by Hei Fok to document their events: http://webpages.csus.edu/~sac76895/shamdisco.html).
Art students also have the opportunity to work in the studios outside
of regular class hours, either through open labs or simply by signing
out a key from the Public Safety office. As one of our senior faculty
has observed, there has been a growing amount of independent activity
in several of our studios in the evenings and on weekends. Some
of the respondents to the Art Alumni Survey recalled their enjoyment
of the accessible studio classrooms.
The Witt Gallery, freed of its traditional function as an exclusive venue for graduate student solo shows, now provides a space where all Art students can design their own exhibitions and installations, frequently at an experimental level. Here they can test out ideas that cannot be explored fully in the classroom. The annual undergraduate Art and Art History competitions (Witt and Peyser Awards) provide students with the opportunity to have their work assessed by outside experts and then presented to the general public.
We have two “pre-professional” courses in our curriculum:
ART 128 (The Artist and the Marketplace”) and ART 193 (“Art
Gallery Management”). Because the new Senior Seminar in Art
Studio incorporates several components of ART 128, the latter class
has not been offered recently. By contrast, a small group of students
take the gallery management course every year. Often taught by the
Art Department’s gallery director or the chair of the Gallery
Committee (most recently, either Elaine O’Brien or Phil Hitchcock),
this seminar offers students valuable experience and frequently
leads to internships in local art galleries or with local arts organizations.
Once the Art History concentration is fully in place, we would like
to offer a course in museum skills. Our new art historian, Pat Chirapravati,
was an Assistant Curator at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco
and brings a notable expertise in museum work to our program. She
hopes t o offer a special seminar in Spring 2005 that is directly
related to the concurrent exhibition of Thai art at the Asian Art
Museum. Finally, several of our students have used the “special
major” structure to specialize in Arts Administration at either
the undergraduate and graduate level.
Through attendance at on-campus lectures by visiting artists, art
educators, and art historians, our students have many opportunities
to hear professionals talk about their training and experiences.
The campus lectures that are part of the interview process for finalists
for full-time teaching jobs are an important resource in this area,
and students are strongly encouraged to attend them. The theme of
“educating the artist” was presented in the exhibition
and collateral events (including lectures and workshops) organized
by an Art major, Annessa Braymer, in Fall 2002.
The visiting artists brought to campus during the Festival of the
Arts also provide significant professional inspiration and experience
for our students. While on campus, the artists may produce work
or an installation in our galleries and/or studios. Art students
assist them on these projects. For example, several students worked
with Deborah Lefkowitz and Judy Pfaff in Spring 2002, when we had
both artists in residence for a week or more. In fact, one of Lefkowitz’s
assistants was Annessa Braymer, who went on to curate a show of
her own, as noted above.
Professional issues also are addressed at meetings of our three
undergraduate and graduate student clubs. Last spring, for example,
one club organized workshops on framing and photographic techniques
(http://www.csus.edu/org/artclub/index.html). This and other student
clubs have secured funds to help cover the cost of bringing visiting
artists and other lecturers to campus. In Fall 2004, the lecture
by artist Mark Flood is being co-sponsored by the graduate art student
club. The same group has brought other artists to the campus in
the past.
The graduate students also have organized trips to important art
centers elsewhere in the United States. In January 2002, a group
of graduate students spent a week touring artist studios, art galleries,
and art museums in Los Angeles, then made a public presentation
to other students on their return to campus. One of the artists
they visited also was brought to CSUS as a guest speaker. In February
2003, several graduate students attended the annual conference of
our professional organization, the College Art Association, in New
York City. Other graduate students organized a trip to New York
this past Spring. Travel costs were covered in part by funds raised
at an art auction organized by the graduate students in Fall 2002.
Many of our students take advantage of fieldwork opportunities to
gain professional experience in art-related fields. Our students
have had internships with local art galleries (Solomon Dubnick and
JayJay are two examples), the Crocker Art Museum (leading to full-time
positions for some of our alumni), the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts
Commission, the California State Archives, the California State
Parks State Museum Resource Center, the California State Fair (two
of our alumni are now serving as the California Fine Art Coordinator
and Assistant Coordinator), the Golden State Museum, and the Governor’s
Mansion, to name just a few local agencies and businesses. Several
of our students have participated in ArtsBridge, gaining valuable
teaching experience in the local schools. Enrollment in courses
with service learning components provides other students with professional
training, usually in education-related skills.
On campus, students can gain practical experience in a variety of art-related jobs through employment in the Art Department as assistants. We routinely hire students to work in our Slide Library, the two Kadema Hall galleries, and several of our studio classrooms (Ceramics, Electronic Art, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, and Small Metals/Jewelry).
The last resource worth mentioning in this category is the Art
Chapter of the CSUS Alumni Association. In addition to sponsoring
a large reception for all graduating students at the end of each
year, this organization also has organized exhibitions of the work
of Art students and alumni. Three juried exhibitions of works by
members of the Art Alumni Chapter, including current Art students
as well as graduates of our program, have been mounted at CSUS in
the past five years. This Fall, for the first time, the Art Chapter
also will be curating an invitational exhibition of art by CSUS
alumni that will coincide with Homecoming Week. Each of these shows
offers Art students the opportunity to see what their predecessors
have accomplished. The CAMS 3 show, in August 2004, also included
a guest lecture by a local artist, Jim Albertson. Campus events
sponsored by the Art Alumni Chapter during the annual Festival of
the Arts have included a lecture by a local film-maker, Mark Herzig
(Spring 2001), and a presentation of Derek Jarman’s film,
“Caravaggio” (Spring 2000).
