Things I Don't Want to Take Back.

Dixie State College Needs a BFA Program - Part I

2011-04-20T19:55:00.000-07:00

Introduction

“Congratulations Mr. Cook, we’ll see you in the fall.” The voice was that of a cheery young man at the conclusion of our telephone call. I said my thanks and goodbye and pressed the ‘End Call’ on my telephone screen. I sat and reflected on what I was doing, 6 months from now I would be moving from my hometown, looking for a new job, and continuing my education at a different college than the one I was currently enrolled in. These things were usual for kids just out of high school, or those advancing from their Associate’s Degrees to Undergrad programs or even on to graduate schools. This wasn’t my case however. I was changing course mid-stream out of necessity, and I felt like I was betraying a school I had come to love.

In my hometown of St. George, Utah sits Dixie State College. During the past decade there has been a boom in the city’s population which has helped the college grow. There are hopes that DSC will one day grow into a full blown university. This is the school I had acquired my Associates of Arts and is the school I hoped to get further education as an artist, studying under my mentor and friend Professor Delwin Parson. However, DSC does not offer a Bachelors of Arts Degree, and many students find themselves facing the hard choice of changing schools after their sophomore year, or like myself, trying to get as much training from Professor Parson as possible and then transferring in the middle of their bachelor's for their senior year.

DSC’s band-aid response to this problem was the creation of a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Integrated Studies with an emphasis in Art… whatever that means. That may sound flippant, but while inquiring into graduate programs those are exactly the type of responses I’d receive from academic advisors. None of the admissions or department advisors understood what an Integrated Studies program was, and their responses as I tried to explain it were ripe with suspicion. I knew that if I had a chance to enroll at one of those universities and get my MFA that I would need to transfer from DSC to a school with a degree program that would be respected by such schools.

Dixie State College's inability to offer a Bachelors of Arts degree is not good enough. Not for the college, not for the community and certainly not for its paying students. Why in a town with such a rich art community, and with such respected professors would they not have a Bachelor’s of Arts program? If Dixie really intends to become a university, wouldn’t they need to offer a BFA? Why couldn’t students at DSC have an arts education that could prepare them to be competitive in the job markets out there? How many potential art students were out there attending other schools that could be at our campus? And what sort of enrichment are our school and community missing out on because of this deficiency? To answer these questions we have to go straight to the people most involved in the effort to bring a 4 year program to DSC, most notably Professor Delwin Parson.

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Parts: 2, 3, 4, 5, Works Cited

Dixie State College Needs a BFA Program - Part II

2011-04-20T19:45:00.000-07:00

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Program Funding Priorities

Professor Parson is a nationally respected artist, and has been a painting and drawing instructor at Dixie State College for 20 years. In an interview Professor Del Parson stated that he has been working for about 6 years with the administration of DSC to get a 4 year program instituted. When asked why DSC didn’t have a 4 year degree program for the arts he answered: “…the administration has to make decisions on priorities, and we were not on the top of the list of priorities.” When asked what he understood Dixie State College's priorities to be, he replied: “They would say; you’d need to have reason for a degree and what are the potential jobs [students] would have. If you were a dental hygienist you’d probably have a much better chance getting a job than say an art major, right? So that was kind of the priority.”(Parson) That argument seemed practical enough to me, and I was surprised that Prof. Parson was resigned to that practicality. But is that priority an honest one?

Dixie State College has created successful Nursing and Dental Hygiene programs. Students completing these programs expect to enter the private sector and secure gainful employment. But are such careers as plentiful and secure as we are led to think? A report in 2009 published by the American Dental Hygienist’s Association stated that 30% of Dental Hygienist’s with a degree work jobs that provide them less than 20 hours per week of work, and that of those with degrees in the Dental Hygiene field that are seeking jobs 62% are unable to find work in the geographical area they live in (ADHA). While Dental Hygiene does appear to have some stability there appears to be an oversaturation in the jobs market which would cause difficulties for graduates of those programs, such as the need to relocate for work and possibly find themselves in situations where they are ‘underemployed’.

The jobs markets for nurses and dental hygienists in the local community are already over-saturated. With only two major medical centers and a finite number of dental offices, they cannot accommodate the number of students those programs pump out, and those students must relocate or settle for a situation where they are working less hours than most would like.

The argument that DSC chooses programs where students have the best chance for employment as it’s criteria for funding falls short when you consider that most colleges pour substantial amounts of funding into their athletics programs, and Dixie is no exception. Granted, athletics programs have the potential of generating money in ticket sales and merchandising of the school properties, but apparently they do not generate enough money to pay for the program itself since schools continue to funnel funds into them. That having been said, the NCAA published this chart tracking student-athletes estimated probability of success beyond the high school level. This breakdown was posted on their official site in an effort to make student-athletes aware of their actual chances of having a successful career in professional sports and athletic programs.

Student-Athlete	Men's Basketball	Women's Basketball	Football	Baseball	Men's Ice Hockey	Men's Soccer
High School Student Athletes	540,207	439,550	1,109,278	427,644	36,475	391,839
High School Senior Athletes	154,345	125,586	316,937	135,041	10,421	111,954
NCAA Student Athletes	17,008	15,423	66,313	30,365	3,945	21,770
NCAA Freshman Roster Positions	4,859.	4,407	18,947	8,676	1,127	6,220
NCAA Senior Student Athletes	3,780	3,427	14,736	6,748	877	4,838
NCAA Student Athletes Drafted	44	32	250	600	33	76
Percent High School to NCAA	3.10%	3.50%	6.00%	6.40%	10.80%	5.60%
Percent NCAA to Professional	1.20%	0.90%	1.70%	8.90%	3.80%	1.60%
Percent High School to Professional	0.03%	0.03%	0.08%	0.44%	0.32%	0.07%

Note: These percentages are based on estimated data and should be considered approximation of the actual percentages.

This chart indicates that at best (Baseball) a student-athlete has less than half a percent chance of continuing on from high school athletics to a professional career. Many of these students certainly study other disciplines, including art, and use their sports education as a vehicle to get a college education which is a very good thing. Many of them may go on to careers in related fields, such as sports medicine or Physical Education and coaching careers. However investing funds in the athletics program can’t be because it has a solid chance of securing employment for its students as professional athletes.

It would be easy to take pot shots at athletic programs, and certainly many naysayers attempt to point out the inequality as it relates to athletic programs. However, one of the biggest values an athletics program offers is a sense of heritage within a community. Everyone loves to rally around the home team, wearing the red hats and jackets and the occasional license plate can be found emblazoned with a Dixie State College frame. What the administration at DSC has overlooked was the value that art plays in the local community and Dixie State College’s unique role in that legacy as well.

When Dixie state college was first founded in 1911 as a high school/college combination, half of its staff of six was in the arts disciplines of Music, Dance and Painting. The Latter-Day Saints settlers had always valued the arts and used them to beautify their places of worship and enhance their communities (Blakely).

As DSC celebrates its 100 year anniversary it has evolved into a community college and then into a full-fledged state college. Its role in the arts has remained, The Peggy Sears Gallery, located within the Dolores Dore Eccles Fine Arts Center, hosts the Sears Invitational annually on the Saturday of President’s Day weekend. The invitational is considered the 2^nd largest in the state of Utah and attracts talent from all over the world and is considered to be the top-selling show in Utah.

In addition to the college’s role, St. George itself holds an art festival which will begin its 32^nd showing at the time of this writing. Nationally acclaimed artists such as Roland Lee, Mike Malm (DSC alumni) and Delwin Parson are among the more notable artist who regularly participates in both the Sears Invitational as well as the St. George Art Festival. After all these years the community continues to show its support for the arts and truly values the development of its members. To illustrate the community’s dedication to art instruction the only high school level magnet school in the greater St. George area is dedicated to the arts.

Tuacahn High School is a nationally recognized and fully accredited 9-12 Charter School located at the foot of Snow Canyon State Park. Its mission is to provide its students the best academic and artistic education it can (Tuacahn High School). Unfortunately once these students graduate their option for higher learning in St. George diminishes in light of the lack of degrees in their fields of interest. What they should expect, what the community as a whole should demand, is that their children and their culture be represented in the local college.

So you see, it’s not a matter of picking on athletics, or nursing or dental hygiene, it is a matter of honestly looking at the pool of students within our communities and offering them higher learning in a field that has a rich heritage and potential employment opportunities.

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Parts: 1, 3, 4, 5, Works Cited

Dixie State College Needs a BFA Program - Part III

2011-04-20T19:40:00.000-07:00

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Currently the employment options for art graduates are better than any other time in the history of mankind. This is the first time in human history that artists have had career opportunities that consist of actual 9 to 5 jobs. Before our time an artist had to be among the elite few who were on retainer by governments or churches, or they eked out a meager living as a craftsman or just plain starved or gave up to pursue a different career. Today however, new technologies and new media have presented artists with an abundance of employment opportunities.

In 2006 the video game industry, one of the largest employers of artists and designers, surpassed the film industry in both growth and earnings. By this year the video games industry is expected to become a $13 billion industry in the United States alone. (Anderson) There are many jobs in that industry that are demanding artists that are well trained in the disciplines of painting, drawing, design and animation. Such jobs include character, environment and interface design for games. Production design, art direction and storyboarding for live action film, and effects and character animation for animated feature films. Other jobs may include graphic design in publishing as well as new media jobs such as web design and motion graphics for broadcasting. All of these professional fields are demanding of skilled and well trained artists with academic credentials, the kind of credentials that DSC currently lacks.

On top of those careers we have an abundance of Baby-boomer teachers retiring over the next 15 years. The NCTAF stated in a symposium report that about 700,000 teachers would be retiring over the next decade and that made up only 28% of the hiring needs during that period (Unraveling the “Teacher Shortage” Problem). Certainly some of those jobs are going to be art instructor jobs that need to be filled with qualified artists who have chosen to be educators, this is why it is important that DSC has a program that can develop art students qualified to fill these demanding jobs. It is also clear that there are indeed job opportunities out there for individuals post-graduation, if they have the credentials and quality training.

If the argument is to have programs that can make our students competitive in the jobs market then funding and developing a solid art program at DSC could accomplish just that, and it would attract a greater number of tuition paying students. Professor Parson stated that his brother who instructs at BYU-Idaho told him “they have 1,400 art majors. That’s more than 10% of their student body.” When asked if having a bachelors of arts program at DSC would attract more students Prof. Parson simply stated; “Absolutely. If we have a quality offering.” Professor Glen Blakely added that Utah Valley State College had 2,200 art students (Blakely). Prof. Parson disclosed that when students would inquire of him where they should seek an art education he would “tell them to go somewhere else. I’ve probably told hundreds of perspective students over the years that they should go somewhere else.” (Parson)

Alumni Mike Malm, currently one of the most collected artists in the southwestern art community, was such a student. After attaining his Associates Degree he transferred to another college so that he could get his bachelor’s degree. And while he has enjoyed great success, he continues to credit his training with Prof. Del Parson as one of his biggest influences. There are too many stories of students that have gone on to further their education elsewhere, not because they didn’t think there were opportunities for success out there, but because Dixie State College couldn’t offer them the credentials they needed to pursue them.

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Parts: 1, 2, 4, 5, Works Cited

Dixie State College Needs a BFA Program - Part IV

2011-04-20T19:38:00.000-07:00

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NASAD Recommended Changes

So what would Dixie need to get those credentials and what exactly was Prof. Parson referring to when he mentioned a “quality offering”? As an example, years ago I worked as an animator at the Walt Disney Company. Once when I was visiting St. George I was asked by a high school friend to review the portfolio of one of his relatives. I’m certain the young man was hoping that I would be blown away by his work and offer him a job on the spot. Unfortunately his work was poor, and he wasn’t employable. I was astounded when he told me he had just completed his Bachelors of Arts degree at one of the universities in the state. I felt that if his instructors had passed him with this low-quality of work, they certainly didn’t give him the tools he needed to attract employment. This is what I felt Prof. Parson was talking about with a “quality offering”, providing students with the level of training that would allow them to compete for and fill creative employment opportunities.

What does a quality offering include? In their efforts to build a 4 year degree program at DSC, the Art and Visual Technologies departments invited Jay Kvapil a consultant for the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) to come and review the programs and make recommendations on what the school needed to change and invest in so that it could seek accreditation from the Association, and offer the quality art education students deserved as well as helping them conform to the standards of other art schools nationwide. This is an incredible resource for DSC to use if it seeks to have a program recognized by the association. Inviting Mr. Kvapil to the campus is an indicator that the faculty and program directors are willing to take serious steps in progressing their degree programs toward accreditation by the NASAD. This particular consultant has worked with many institutions helping bring their degree programs in harmony with the NASAD, giving their students the tools they need to transition into strong graduate programs or to enter the private sector with the skills they need to have gainful employment.

The report given by Mr. Kvapil shows exactly which steps need to be taken so that DSC can bring a solid school of arts and design to the campus. And while the recommended changes would require cuts in some areas and investments in others, they are changes that would help diversify and edify the arts programs and the school as a whole. This report can be viewed as a checklist or ‘yellow brick road’ to successfully secure an accredited Bachelor of Arts program. When viewed in that light we see just how close DSC actually is to being able to implement a program with full accreditation.

In his report Mr. Kvapil suggested that the curriculum was limited in scope, and would need to expand to include a full-time tenure-track art historian and a full-time tenure-track sculptor/3D media faculty member (Kvapil). These are great suggestions since DSC is indeed lacking qualified full-time faculty in these departments, particularly in sculpture.

3 Dimensional Media would be a valuable asset to any arts program, and would support the fundamentals of design, and drawing by giving students the ability to understand spatial values and form. Additionally, this would attract students aspiring to learn this skill as a profession in both traditional media and as a fundamental tool for understanding new digital media 3D modeling for video games and film. DSC students would then be capable of competing for those jobs in the games and entertainment industries, as well as product design, where these disciplines are crucial.

Adding two more full-time faculty members means two more salaries. In an effort to help condense that cost as well as to simplify the logistics of addressing some of DSC’s art department staffing needs, Kvapil recommended reducing the number of adjuncts and streamlining the visual technologies department to work more harmoniously with the overall art department. These changes would simplify managing all of the staff involved, keeping them on the same track for student’s success, and focused on the overall department goals. It would also make instructors available to students at more regular times since full-time faculty keep regular office hours rather than just showing up during the allotted time for their classes.

This would help nurture mentorships which are valuable for the growth of creative individuals. Professor Glen Blakely who is both an honored art historian and instructor in the discipline of ceramics began his career at DSC in 1973. He recalls: “At the time there were only 3 full-time art faculty members. Now here we are almost 40 years later and guess how many we have? 3. How’s that for growth?”(Blakely). Blakely also illustrated the discrepancy when he revealed that Utah Valley University employed 34 full-time faculty and 44 adjuncts in its art department (Blakely). If DSC wishes to become a full-fledged university a comparison to another college within the state that has recently become a university shows a glaring discrepancy in the education offering in St. George. In a school committed to the needs of its students and an honest representation of its community values, this lack of growth in the art department is tragic. That oversight is not limited to the neglect of its staffing needs either. It is also evident in the facilities and overall art environment.

Included in his report Mr. Kvapil suggested some alterations to the facilities that would include changes to its aesthetics. He reported “there was a lack of feeling of “place.” The building still appears as a converted supermarket… with little or no landscaping.” “…students, faculty, and visitors would all benefit from a sense of arriving in a place centered around the teaching, making, and display of student and faculty works. Such improvements can have serious positive effect on the general health and strength of a program.” (Kvapil) It is true that you would expect to feel the richness of an art environment when entering into an art teaching facility and funding to beautify and facilitate the motif of that would require some investment. Perhaps the tuition of those ‘hundreds’ that Prof. Parson had to turn away could help with that. This beautification would benefit the school as a whole. Instead of appearing like a bunch of rag-tag satellite buildings pulled together with crosswalks, it would appear as a cultured campus for higher learning.

Professor Del Parson demonstrates mixing paint to a group of students

A solid art education wouldn’t be just about an aesthetically pleasing facility and a larger faculty, Prof. Parson explains that a quality offering would be about the curriculum. “It needs to fulfill the needs of the student, it has to teach them to think and solve problems, how to paint and draw, sculpt and design.” (Parson) Those are all skills that graduate programs are looking for and that any graduate looking to find employment should have. If DSC’s goals are to fund programs that will offer students career sustaining skills then the emphasis that Profession Parson displays is exactly the kind of education we should be investing in.

When asked what he’d like to see in the 4 year program and he responded; “I’d like to teach students how to make a living in art, like say as a gallery artist or a painter.” (Parson) I think that it is that attitude that qualifies Prof. Parson and his efforts to bring a Bachelors of Arts Program to DSC above all else. If it is the administration’s priority to fund education for its students in employable careers, and it is the faculty’s emphasis on teaching skills that would enable graduates to make a living, what more could you ask for? How about the value that art itself brings to an individual and its community?

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Parts: 1, 2, 3, 5, Works Cited

Dixie State College Needs a BFA Program - Part V

2011-04-20T19:34:00.000-07:00

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Campus and Student Enrichment

In addition to the potential tuition income that the school would enjoy, there are the benefits of the art culture itself. Many academics have argued on behalf of the benefits that art has on the other academic disciplines that students focus on. Professor Parson reinforces that statement; “Enrichment. Art is enrichment. Without it, it would be like going outside and there are no birds. It just gives that kind of flavor” (Parson). Author’s Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland of the arts-education program at Harvard Graduate School of Education argue that art education had no real bearing on a student’s academic achievement. But that having been said “Art education should be championed for its own sake, not because of wishful sentiment that classes in painting, dance and music improve pupils’ math and reading skills and standardized test scores”(Pogrebin).

While the spillover effect of enrichment may occur there doesn’t seem to be any real evidence to support it. Art has certainly enriched my life and has provided me a profitable career, but I agree with what Mmes. Winner, Hetland, Veenema and Sheridan are trying to argue. Art shouldn’t be viewed as a supplemental education. It shouldn’t be viewed simply as a way of expanding an athlete’s world experience, or encouraging a physicist to use his imagination. That way of thinking is as absurd as arguing that Computer Programming enriches a student’s study of Sign Language.

Giving value to an Arts program based solely on its ability to supplement a student’s academia as a whole to make them a more ‘well rounded’ individual is not a strong enough justification. In the book Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education the authors state that “If the arts are given a role in our schools because people believe that arts cause academic improvement, then the arts will quickly lose ground if academic improvement does not result, or if the arts prove less effective in improving literacy and numeracy than high-quality, direct instruction in these subjects. When we justify the arts by their secondary, utilitarian value, the arts may prove to have fewer payoffs than academic subjects” (Hetland, Winner, Veenema, Sheridan 3). This outlines the danger of relying on the argument that an Arts program’s primary purpose is to supplement the education of an individual rather than for its own sake. Certainly if the priority for a school is academic performance and arts instruction does not benefit that then the program would be seen as a waste of funding. The purpose of an Arts program, particularly at a collegiate level, should be to provide its students with the skills with which they can make a gainful living in the arts. Dixie State College has in its faculty professional artists that have devoted their time and skills to doing that very thing.

Art is a valid pursuit of its own and should not be viewed as an auxiliary program to other academics. It has deep purpose in human history and development. Art is in every design of every tool, product, place and entertainment we consume and deserves the respect it is due. Students desiring to enrich themselves in art should be able to do so for their own sakes, and DSC would benefit as an institute that would champion the arts in their halls.

Conclusion

“It’s not for me…” Professor Parson says as we come to the close of our interview “…it’s for the students. I see students that say, because they don’t have the financial means to go to a big art school, or they have a wife here with a job, or a family and they can’t really go somewhere else, it’s really for them.”

“It’s for me” I think to myself as I sit here with my phone in my hand. As I fight the swell of sadness in my gut. The thought of not continuing to learn from a great mentor, the apprehension of finding a new job, and moving to a new location, and of uprooting my life weighs heavily on me. And I can’t help but wonder how many other students have been in this exact situation, feeling this exact thing. It’s not so unusual, it happens all the time. But it shouldn’t have to happen in the middle of a Bachelor’s Degree, away from a great faculty and town such as St. George, Utah. Not when a few reasonable changes, investments in students really, could make it worthwhile.

Give the Arts department the respect it deserves and fund it accordingly. The southern Utah community and its students need to demand that DSC provides higher learning for its artists. There is gainful employment for artists who are properly trained, and DSC has some highly respected faculty.

Make the aesthetic and departmental changes required for the teaching and creating of good artistic works. Beautify the facilities and bring legitimacy to the college as a whole, and make it feel like it’s more than just a rag-tag bunch of buildings thrown together to hopefully educate some people in.

Streamline the staff and programs to work well with the new digital media and Visual Technologies departments. This change alone has the potential to save the college money, and certainly the benefit of creating much more versatile and skillful students.

And finally, enjoy art for its own sake. Let Dixie State College continue its contribution to the southern Utah art community by training dedicated young artists who have chosen to dedicate their careers to its pursuit. The administration may feel that funding these programs may teach such students skills that won’t provide them careers, but the truth of the matter is that if these students are serious about a career in art they will find a place to train them, and that is tuition money being turned away by the school.

Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, Works Cited

An Interview with Professor Del Parson

2011-03-08T23:16:00.000-08:00

I've had the recent pleasure of interviewing Professor Del Parson of Dixie State College on his efforts to bring a 4 year Bachelor of Arts program to the college. Del is a well respected artist who first gained notoriety painting western themed gallery paintings and rose to greater popularity doing religious themed work, having a great deal of influence on the modern day representation of The Christ, especially among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Del has worked as an art professor at Dixie State College for 20 years and in that time has influenced countless budding artists, like myself. In our interview Del mentioned that he has been pushing for Dixie to get a Bachelors of Arts program up and running for 6 years now. When asked what the hang-ups in the process were, he stated that; “…the administration has to make a decision on priorities and we were not on the top of the list… you’d need to have reason for a degree and what are the potential jobs [students] would have. That would make a big difference on where you’re going to put your money. Say if you were a dental hygienist you’d probably have a much better chance getting a job than say an art major, … So that was the priority.” It was a practical argument that Del understood and conceded.

The problem with that argument though became more evident as the interview went on and I asked Del what advice he gives potential students who inquire about attending DSC as an art major. “…if they want a degree, I have to tell them to go somewhere else. I’ve probably told hundreds of perspective students over the years that they should go somewhere else.” If hundreds of students desire to come to Dixie for art instruction, what kind of numbers were we talking about here? Del related that BYU-Idaho has 1400 art majors at its school, over 10% of its student body. Certainly that many students’ tuition could be attractive to a school like Dixie State College.

For Del it’s not about the money though. He says he enjoys teaching art because he gets to be around artists all day. When asked why it’s important to him why he pushes for a 4 year degree he says simply; “It’s not for me, it’s for the students. I see students that say, because they don’t have the financial means to go to a big art school, or they have a wife here with a job, or family and they can’t really go somewhere else, it’s really for them.”

Certainly attracting that many potential students and serving the community of upcoming artists that would like to attend Dixie are big plusses for Professor Parson, but the school and the community as a whole are served as well. Del said it best at the close of our interview when I asked why would it be important to Dixie State College that they have a 4 year art program; “Enrichment. Art is enrichment. Without it, it would be like going outside and there are no birds. It just gives that kind of flavor.”

Hallowed Be Thy Savings

2011-03-01T04:12:00.000-08:00

Joseph Campbell once claimed that you could always tell what a culture valued most by the largest building in their community. Many Native American tribes had their shamanistic tents, emphasizing their value of the spiritual; The Vikings had great Mead Halls where they would socialize and eat together; and the Romans had their great coliseum where they celebrated sport and violence. Those of us living in the small, conservative southwestern city of St. George, Utah are no different.

When this small community was established it was centered on the core beliefs brought here by its Mormon pioneer heritage. After coming to Utah’s Dixie those early settlers were quick to build houses of worship, including the St. George Valley’s crowning jewel: The St. George LDS Temple. For decades this building was the largest most prominent structure in the community, acting as a token of the community’s most cherished value system. During the past couple of decades the values of St. George’s citizens has changed and along with them so has the skyline.

If one were to drive through town you’d find the largest buildings in town are Banks, big box stores such as Wal-Mart and Target and of course our state of the art hospital. In an informal survey 92% of people polled claimed that they were actively involved in a religious organization. This would indicate that the larger population in St. George still holds to its religious roots. Of those who claimed to be religious 40% said they participated in some form of worship at least 4 times per month. Interestingly enough 46% of them stated that they frequented a financial or commercial institution over 10 times in a month. So while our community may still hold on to values akin to our founding fathers, a greater percentage of them patronize commercial structures at a far greater frequency than they do religious institutions.

This isn’t to say that the citizens of southern Utah should feel ashamed that their commercial activities outpace their religious activities, but it certainly explains why their architects are designing automatic sliding glass doors rather than steeples.

Listen to what i'm trying to Paint

2011-02-21T18:13:00.001-08:00

I had done a conceptual piece of artwork for an animation production and I showed it to a peer of mine to get some feedback. I wanted to be sure that I was getting across the needs of the scene I was working on. A surprising thing occurred. As my associate looked at the piece of art, he started to go off on tangents about what my artwork was saying. He said it “evoked this” or “stated that” and as I looked at the work I had to furrow my brow and squint in an attempt to see what he was seeing. To this day I can’t be sure if that particular piece of work actually came across that way to him and that I had subconsciously tapped into some latent artistic genius within, or if he was just trying to impress me with the way he thought art was supposed to be received.

It has been a common belief in and about the artistic community for the past couple of generations that the meaning of a work of art is completely subjective and dependent upon the viewer of that particular piece. As an artist I disagree with that belief. When I conceive a piece of art and during its execution I’m much more focused on the why of what I’m doing rather than a thousand different unpredictable experiences that others may have with it.

The currently accepted attitude that art is completely subjective to the viewer, regardless of the artist’s efforts is dangerous for several reasons. The first being that it completely undermines the efforts and intent of the creator and the viewer runs the risk of missing the full meaning of what an artist is trying to communicate. It also gives a pass to unskilled or lazy artists who do poor work with the excuse that “it doesn’t matter what I do or how well I do it, because people are going to think what they will about it anyway.” That philosophy on art is permeating art training in the most prestigious schools in the world, with the effect of pumping out charlatans claiming to be artists.

My career as an artist has always stood on my ability to execute pieces of art that communicate clearly and directly with its audience. The experience of creating something and having someone share what they see in my work and understanding what it was I have created has always been the most rewarding artistic experiences. It’s like bridging a gap when you see the same excitement in someone viewing your work as you felt when creating it. Who doesn’t enjoy being understood?

How many times have you seen a conversation between two people who barely speak the same language, and instead of trying to say things in a clearer way to be understood they simply keep repeating the same thing over and over and often with increasing volume? Do they really think that will make something click with the other person? How frustrated have you been when you can’t understand what someone is saying? Do you just throw your hands up and say, oh well, I guess whatever I think they mean is more important?

Art is communication, it is a language. As with any communication there is a give and take. If I were trying to explain something to someone, the clearer my intent is and the stronger my command of my language, the better chance I have of being understood by the other person in a conversation.

There certainly is the other side of that communication, that of how it’s received by the other party. What experience they’ve had, what emotional state they’re in when receiving it, and frankly how much they may or may not care about what is being said. Being mindful of how the other party will receive my communication will affect how and what I attempt to say. However, that does not trump the intent of what I’m saying.

A skilled artist is in control of what they create, not the potential viewer. When speaking of painting master artist Richard Schmid said; “I don't hope when I paint. I know what's going to happen. At least I trust that I know where I'm headed. I rarely put down a stroke hoping it will look right." (White Pine DVD). This tells me that he is in control of what he’s doing, that he has a clear vision that he himself is trying to execute. He’s not focused on what people are going to say or how they are going to interpret the work, he’s focused on what the next stroke of paint will do and how it will effectively convey his vision. Even an artist such as Jackson Pollack who seemed to have a chaotic approach to his work had a clear intent on what colors and patterns of paint he applied. He used a great deal of control in his artistic creation.

This isn’t to say that all art is simple and direct. Just like any writing, it can be full of complexity and grandeur. The artists intent may well be to challenge his viewer to think and rationalize and feel beyond basic aesthetics. If that’s the artist’s intent then that can be powerful communication. A viewer certainly has the right to identify with what is being said based on their own personal experience with the subject. But if the viewer adopts the idea that their experience with the work is of greater value than the artist’s then they run the risk of the most valuable aspect of the artistic language; that of receiving the artist’s communication. How many hours did that viewer struggle over every dab of paint applied to a canvas or every brick of clay attached to an armature?

If we as a people hold onto the idea that the value of a piece of art is only measured by the opinion of the viewer are we implying that the artist and his intent are of no great importance? If that were true, then what purpose would an artist have to create? Or at least to show what they have created to anyone? What if everything we did had no purpose unless it was subjected to the will and approval of others?

I challenge both the art community and enthusiasts to look at art as a dialog. An artist shouldn’t use the reasoning that an audience will feel and understand whatever they want as an excuse to not clearly state their intent with a piece. And a viewer should never let their emotional reaction blind them to what the true purpose an artist has in mind when creating. It is only when both these aspects are equally and directly served that art is no longer an ambiguous experience but a powerful form of communication.

Clicker Training, Quicker Training

2011-02-07T17:34:00.001-08:00

In our age of immediate gratification we’re always searching for the quickest most efficient ways to accomplish things so that we can get on to the next thing that we also want to do quickly and efficiently. As I consider my relationship with my dog, I have continued to follow that same path.

Pocket adopted me just over 3 years ago. At the time I was a busy professional with very little time to worry about training a new puppy. I was also under the responsibility of protecting my apartment and possessions from an overeager ball of fur with needles for teeth on one end of his tiny body and horrible things happening on at the other end.

I wanted to find the quickest most efficient way to train this destroyer of worlds to be a well behaved, trustworthy pet. So I did what most of us do these days; I surfed the internet. I came across a lot of different training approaches but the one that seemed to have the most buzz around it, and appealed to me logically was called Clicker Training.

Clicker Training is a method of marking desirable behavior in an animal using a mechanical clicker. The clicker device can come in a variety of shapes and colors (not that your dog would know the difference), most fit comfortably in the palm of your hand. They have a button embedded in the body that causes the device to emit a loud “CLICK!” when it’s depressed. You train your pet by rewarding them with food every time you click the device. This is known as loading the clicker. Once your pet has the reward associated with the sound, you can then use the clicker to mark the desired behavior of your pet by clicking when your pet does what you wish. Once the pet hears the noise they know they’ve done something right and will be rewarded, even if the reward comes well after the behavior has passed. It creates a mechanical association that is very effective reinforcement of behavior.

I figured it would be worth a shot to try it out. At best I’ll have a super puppy in no time, and at worst I’ll have your typical socialized dog… eventually. Once I began the training I was amazed at how quickly Pocket picked up on his training. I could work with him for about 20 minutes per day in the evenings and within a couple of short months he was house trained, could sit on command, was socialized for other dogs and children, would come and follow on command (and yes, be walked without a leash!) and ‘do his bidnezz’ on command and on a regular schedule.

I was a believer. I had a well trained puppy much faster than I thought possible, and the training had accommodated my busy schedule. The interesting side effect was that both Pocket and I enjoyed the training time so much that I wanted to teach him more behaviors. Over the course of the next few months we added retrieving specific items on command, begging, rolling over, playing dead when you pretend to shoot him with your finger and targeting (touching a specific item or place) when he wanted to go outside. We had a full blown routine! And I realized I had become one of those neurotic dog lovers. You know, the kind that thinks their dog is the neatest thing since sliced bread? I showed him off every chance I got. At one point last year I reintroduced the clicker to pocket to teach him to take a bow after he did a series of tricks to entertain people. After many months without training the clicker still held its power and influence on Pocket’s behavior, and is still the most valuable tool I know for training my dog.

Despicable Westates

2011-01-31T16:17:00.000-08:00

Here in southern Utah the community is generally conservative and family oriented, and I can see how a company like Westates Theaters may shy away from releasing films that may not be deemed “family friendly”. However there are many in this community, such as myself, that are genuine film enthusiasts that regard a film such as Black Swan to be a valuable film going experience.

Westates Theaters, while not strictly speaking a monopoly, certainly has a corner on the market for the film going community here. One should expect from a theater the best quality of presentation, the availability of the newest films and the best service possible.

Black Swan’s release date came, but it was absent from the billing of every theater in the area. A quick check of all the films running revealed the greatest horror of all; Despicable Me, the animated film, was still running in the local theaters despite the fact that it had been released on DVD a few weeks earlier.

Westate s did get a copy of the film two weeks later, but they ran it in their budget cinema where the projection was poor and dimly lit, and the audio was atrocious. This is poor treatment for a film that was brilliant and landed Natalie Portman a Golden Globe and Screen Actor's Guild award for best actress. More importantly this is poor service, kowtowing to an ultra-conservative community while completely disrespecting serious film buffs. This is not the kind of service one should expect from a business centered on providing its customers with the best film-going experience it can.

A Passion for Painting

2011-01-31T15:18:00.000-08:00

Many local artists may ask themselves where the best place to shop for supplies would be. Without question A Passion for Painting, located conveniently four blocks away from DSC on Tabernacle just west of Flood St, is your best bet.

Unlike the big box craft stores A Passion for Painting is specifically geared toward supplying the artist with quality materials at a price marked just above cost, and you don’t need to clip a coupon from your local newspaper! No wading through seasonal plastic decorations or unsightly scrapbook supplies.

Becky, the store’s owner, is an artist herself who is well respected in the local art community. Her knowledge, expertise and friendliness exceed anything found at those ‘other places’. Just try to ask a cashier at the DSC Bookstore which brand of oil paints has the best Terra Rosa. Don’t worry you wouldn’t have to because the bookstore only carries one brand, and I’ll let you in on a secret; that’s not the one that makes the best Terra Rosa.

In southern Utah there is no better place to shop for art supplies than A Passion for Painting, especially for all you economically challenged art students.

The Art of Drew Struzan

2010-10-12T06:13:00.000-07:00

I whipped the keys out of my pocket and plunged the teeth of one into the strip of packing tape. The bold amazon.com logo rooted with that trademark half smile printed on the sides told me everything that I needed to know about the box’s contents. I threw back the flaps of the box and plunged my hands into the dense peanut packing foam. My fingers found purchase on the edges of the hard bound cover and I lifted the book free with the care one would give a sacred tome. It was here; The Art of Drew Struzan.

Seven years ago I had met Drew for the first time. He was lecturing at the studio I was working for. One of the things he shared with me was the story of how his career as an illustrator had begun with an interview with the enrollment councilor at Art Center College of Design. He rocked slowly back on his heels, and cocked his head down, looking at me with a twinkle in his eye, like he was about to bestow upon me a great gem of wisdom. He wore black from neck to knee; I don’t think I’ve ever seen him wearing anything but black, and most often a turtleneck, with the cuffs of his pants rolled up shin-high. His thinning hair beginning to frost and deep within his trademark peppered beard he cracked a thin smile, and related with the soft voice of a Tibetan monk:

“While I was sitting in the office of the counselor, he asked me; “Are you intending to enroll in the Fine Arts Program, or the Illustration Program?” “What’s the difference?” I asked. He replied; “Do you want to make money when you’re dead, or while you’re still alive?” Being a starving young man, I answered; “While I’m still alive.” “Illustration it is.” He replied, and the rest is history.” (Struzan)

It was at that moment that I realized who Drew Struzan really was. He was J.C. Leyendecker. He was Maxfield Parrish and J.W. Waterhouse. He was Norman Rockwell. He was an art genius cuffed with the title “illustrator” not knowing true respect until he died.

In Drew’s case his death is only metaphorical so far.

When I first heard that this book was being published I was excited. I had been a fan and supporter of Drew’s work for as long as I can remember. Like many people growing up in the 80’s, my first experience with Drew Struzan’s art came in a dimly lit lobby of the local movie theater. It was 1983 and bustling moviegoers patronized the concession stand, oblivious to the small boy that stood transfixed before the most powerful image he had ever seen in his short lived life. The movie poster that was framed in a silver plated shadowbox was dominated by the most violent of reds, designed to invoke the most visceral of emotion. In the midst of that crimson field was the broken silhouette of the foreboding death’s head mask of Darth Vader. In the bottom right hand corner the silhouettes of the heroic Luke Skywalker and the menacing Darth Vader were locked in the mortal struggle of father and son. All around the poster’s subjects were flecks of frenetic paint. A rich spattering of black infused the negative space of red. A gaseous swirl of purples and blues framed the figures. At the bottom of the poster emblazoned in red text were the words; “RETURN OF THE JEDI” stamped like a statement of fact. This image did not come from the ether, it came from the mind of a man, and that man had placed that image in my mind forever.

So here I sat with a book that held the title that seemed to encompass the whole of Drew’s Art. Turning the book over to inspect it, I couldn’t help but smile when I realized that the bold semi-gloss black dust jacket was appropriate for a book representing a man who almost always dressed just that way. On the cover beneath the title were paneled images of Anakin Skywalker, Harry Potter, Marty Mcfly and Harrison Ford as Decker from Bladerunner. All of them excerpts from the posters Drew had illustrated.

As you’d expect from a book chronicling the works of a master artist, the pages were pregnant with illustrations that are evocative, entertaining and immersive. You cannot help but look upon the images of Indiana Jones, or Dustin Hoffman’s Hook without the memories of those films and the positive emotions associated with them coming back to you. Titan Books spared no expense on the publication of this title. The books dimensions are near coffee table in size and weighs in with 160 pages, almost all of them filled with Drew’s illustrations. The reproductions of the artwork are vivid and of the sincerest fidelity to the artist’s work.

In years past Struzan had made two attempts at publishing his artwork in book form. His first came in 2004 entitled The Movie Posters of Drew Struzan. It was a worthy publication highlighting some of the most memorable of Drew’s posters. However it was far from being a comprehensive collection of Struzan’s artwork which spanned beyond just movie posters. Two years later Drew invested heavily in a joint venture with Dreamwave Productions, a publishing company located in Toronto, to print his massive Oeuvre. The word literally means the lifework or body of work of an artist, writer or composer. This book was enormous in dimensions and scope. Its coffee table format was perfect for presenting what was at the time nearly his entire collected works. Unfortunately, shortly after its initial run Dreamwave Productions went under, taking any future prospect of Drew’s book seeing reprint with it.

What could I expect from a new book that the other two hadn’t addressed? Similar to the recently released book Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera, The Art of Drew Struzan focuses on the artist’s process and personal experiences with working in the illustration industry. I found it curious that some of Drew’s most memorable posters like the Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition 3-up were absent from the book, while more obscure posters such as the unused comprehensives from the Money Pit were included.

Presented in chronological order, individual posters were selected to point out landmark experiences that Struzan had while working in the movie poster illustration industry. The artist shares in his own words compelling, inspirational and sometimes infuriating tales of what it meant to work with some of the most influential filmmakers of our generation. I was fascinated as I delved into the story of his working with the Walt Disney Studios to create the Adventures in Babysitting poster. A series of never before seen photos document the changes that Drew had to make to appease the studio heads. These included an image where Drew took an exacto knife and cut out the characters of his original poster and pasted them to an entirely new background. My frustration was off the charts as Struzan tells how years later that poster was found stored in a Disney Studio sound stage in “a pile of artwork nearly four feet tall, sitting in a pool of water…on the very bottom, face down” (Struzan and Schow 50). Luckily the man who found the discarded poster was a friend of Struzan’s, and the poster was returned to its rightful owner who later restored it.

It was inspiring and joyful to read how Struzan commanded the respect of such great filmmakers as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Guillermo Del Toro. However as I continued reading through, I felt an emerging bitterness seeping into Struzan’s text as his experiences working with the studios began to sour.

With the new generation of buzz-word businessmen heading the studios, they didn’t understand the value of artwork as it related to movie making. Never mind that Drew’s posters were the primary marketing tool for over 30 of the top 100 grossing films of all time. Emptiness filled me as I read how most of the posters directors commissioned Drew to paint for their films were no longer being used in the promotion of the movies. On one occasion Del Toro had commissioned Struzan to paint the poster for Pan’s Labyrinth, the studio declined to use it. I nearly jumped from my seat and flung the book across the room when I read that during a press conference a journalist asked one of the marketing people, “How come you didn’t use Drew Struzan’s artwork for the poster.”…The suit’s reply was: “We didn’t use it because it looks too much like art”(Struzan and Schow 138). After having read that, I realized that The Art of Drew Struzan is in actuality, a cautionary tale. It is the pictorial history of the rise, decline and eventual retirement of one of the world’s greatest illustrators. It is not a collected works like his other books. It serves as both inspiration and warning voice to all aspiring illustrators.

I remember how I felt when Drew Struzan announced his retirement in 2008. My heart sank, just as it had when I had learned of Charles Schultz death. He made his choice largely due to the ignorance of the modern film marketing machine, and to the Photoshop copy/paste designers that have saturated the movie poster industry. Despite that he has enjoyed a recent revival of interest in his work, as evidenced by the popularity of the book; The Art of Drew Struzan. Perhaps it is a buyer’s remorse response to the void that his retiring left behind. Drew relates this to having died:

“I dunno, maybe it’s that retirement, you know what, people come when you die, people come to your funeral and talk about all the cool stuff you did. Well, I died and now they’re talkin’ about it so now I realize that it actually did reach people”(Donahue).

As I closed the book and contemplated the self portrait of the artist on the back of the dust jacket I couldn’t help but think that perhaps Drew’s interview for Art Center was a bit paradoxical in the end. From its slick dust jacket, to its incredible reproduction of Drew’s work, to the artists own words, The Art of Drew Struzan is a unique and insightful book that gives you a peek into the life of the man Time Magazine calls “the Last Movie Poster Artist” (TIME “The Last Movie-Poster Artist” - Photo Essays)