Art in Atlanta

If you are as upset as I am about this terrible decision, please sign the attached petition that Alexa Roman and I (both alums of the Visual Arts Dept) initiated…

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/save-emorys-visual-arts-department/

Thank you,
Ginny Cook
(graduated with BA in Art History, minor in Studio Art in 2000)

The state of Georgia funds a ChangeLab at Emory, filling many gaps left by the other institutions – arts, humanities, sociology, journalism, science, critical technology and human-centered design. A center aimed at initiating rapid, large-scale transformation in the complex issues facing mankind — water, energy, climate change, health, spiritual maturity and social inequity. These were core to Emory’s arts agenda anyway, they were core to the mission of Emory University. Due to economic forces, they are loosing ground in higher education everywhere. Light staff, heavy traffic. Faculty from many campuses would come to teach everything, uncaged from departmental agendas, and students would be free to imagine and plan meaningful solutions for the world’s troubles. “The problems of the world cannot be described in the lexicon of any single discipline, neither can the solutions.”

Just a thought.

This is such a huge and unecessary loss! The Visual Arts Department at Emory brought so much to the university in terms of teaching students how to see, represent, understand and transform the world around them. It is unthinkable that such an important educational experience would no longer be part of a liberal education. It is also a major loss to the Atlanta community, and nationally, given the tremendous art outreach of the Visual Arts Gallery and the activities of the department.

I am completely shocked by the dissolution of this fine and essential program.

Emory is clearly following the national trends in the academy. There is a measurable decline in teaching for the purpose of educating citizens and the arts have been especially confused with entertainment rather than critical thinking and expressive content, the tools needed to navigate the world of ideas and considerate social action. This news is especially sad coming from such a fine institution that has celebrated and championed so many fine thinkers over the years. Being competent in reading visual images or producing forms that result in new experiences of our place on the planet or reflect on our social condition is fundamental to becoming a thinking and feeling adult. It is hard to imagine what kind of reasoning has informed this decision beyond the usual dollars and cents. A loss to Atlanta for sure.

Maybe Emory should offer Visual Arts online like the schools on TV advertise.

http://news.emory.edu/stories/2012/09/EmoryCollegePlan/campus.html

Unbelievably short-sighted and absolutely contrary to Emory University’s self-interest

‘There is no need to sally forth, for it remains true that those things which make us human are, curiously enough, always close at hand. Resolve, then, that on this very ground, with small flags waving and tiny blasts of tiny trumpets, we shall meet the enemy, and not only may he be ours, he may be us.’ ~ Walt Kelly

Great universities seek ways to enhance their Visual Arts Dept. — not eliminate the department.

About a decade ago I was lucky enough to experience one of finest lectures that Emory University ever sponsored, which was through their anthropology department. It was by one of the great thinkers of our time, E.O. Wilson the world renowned biologist and philosopher of science, who was at the height of his career. In his fabulous book Consilience, that he was discussing, and in this lecture, he described the evolution and survival of our species from the perspective of creativity. He talked about how art has survived the test of time for a fundamental reason, it brings people together in co-opperation in a way that nothing else, even religion, can do as well. He said that if this wasn’t so it would have been abandoned by humans in the beginning. At the end of the lecture, which was standing room only, he received a standing ovation. Apparently none of the “board” bean counters that run this institution were in attendance. Of course most of them are probably also on the boards of pharmaceutical companies anyway and wouldn’t be attending such a historic event. Emory has also brought some fantastic musicians and writers to Atlanta for decades. Unfortunately there seems to be no central plan. First they want to build an art department and start paying their art faculty a living wage, then before it even gets off the ground they abandon the whole plan. They’re really mixed up. They have the money, they have the ability, just not the vision.

What a terrible loss! I’ve had the good fortune of working with Emory students who cross registeed for photography classes at GSU. Several went on to pursue their BFA and MFA degrees with us. They were always bright, thoughtful, hardworking, talented and engaged thinkers. I knew they had had excellent experiences with the strong visual arts faculty of Emory. How can a College of Arts and Sciences exist without the visual arts!?! This is very disconcerting and disheartening news.

As a graduate of the Atlanta College of Art and now an employee in Emory’s Visual Arts department, I’m saddened to, yet again, be displaced by the dissolution of another educational arts program in Atlanta. The model for running educational institutions as profit-making, corporate enterprises is mutually exclusive to the kind of contemporarily relevant education that fosters and perpetuates forward-thinking, free-speaking, society-critiquing, humanizing, investigative social intervention. Emory’s slashing its programs that directly foster individual voice and out-of-the-box, creative thinking, makes a very clear public statement about its priorities as a university.

The arts will always suffer under this model. Art and capitalism serve different gods. I’m tired of seeing the arts homogenized and sold back to the community as a watered-down, socially acceptable, easily digestible aperitif. This is epidemic in Atlanta in our largest institutions as noted at Woodruff, particularly at the High and previously with the demise of the Atlanta College of Art, and now at Emory. As Marcuse wisely noted, art “challenges the monopoly of the established reality.” What can mediocrity in art challenge except the potential enlightenment of its audience?

No one would ever consider removing the development of critical-thinking skills from the curricula of college courses. What kind of archaic, Cartesian world are we still living in that the development of creative problem-solving and creative investigative research doesn’t also yield revolutionary results?

The ILA and the Visual Arts Department have endeavored to challenge out-dated, calcified modes of generic thinking in education. The ILA, a rare gem in doctoral programs in America, is a wildly unique, interdisciplinary program that allows for the creative synthesis and merging of otherwise disparate discourses to form new and unexpected breeds of thought. It’s welcomed artists such as Joey Orr and Andy Ditzler of John Q and Fahamu Pecou among countless who have helped integrate and legitimize the arts within an academic discourse. The Visual Arts Department, too, has brought in contemporarily relevant artists such as Martha Rosler, Radcliffe Bailey, Dawoud Bey as well as the upcoming national symposium on art criticism (Off/Center: Art Writing from the Regions) this weekend.

Emory has, indeed, flourished in its literary initiatives and with its various programming at the Schwartz. Despite popular belief, “Visual Arts” on campus doesn’t mean a ceramic ash-tray, a handmade Christmas present or a mere hobby to pursue while earning one’s “real” degree. Unfortunately, I feel this has been the reputation art education has endured while at Emory.

I’m an Emory alum who has given money to the school, including the Department of Visual Arts, which is one of the sponsors of the fantastic Off/Center conference for writing about the arts this weekend. Emory has made remarkably smart moves in certain arts-related areas, such at the string of acquisitions to flesh out its literary archives and the construction of the Scwhartz Center for perfoming arts. It’s easy to imagine minor additional investments in areas like Visual Arts having a significant impact in making Emory a legitimate place for a broad and distinguished arts education. There’s also a more than viable national market of students looking for such an education within a traditional liberal arts university rather than merely an art school. Moreover, the value of a liberal arts education comes from learning how to think critically, broadly, and creatively. Getting rid of a key creative center sends a powerful message that you don’t understand your market. You get more competitive by investing in your resources, not by slashing them. So I agree this is a short-sighted decision, but it’s also a financially inept decision that speaks to a lack of vision and understanding within Emory’s leadership. This is exactly the kind of decision that prevents Emory from being what it ought to be and why it’s a second or third choice school for many of its students.

Let’s face the facts and reality. The “arts” have been slowly and methodically eleminated from the education system since the 90′s. The system that supported and nurtured these learned colleaques no longer exist. Talent has nothing to do with the formula for academic ratings especially when an institution like Emory University is focused on Medicine and Law. The emphasis of the importance of the arts has to be reclaimed and rooted in the young budding minds that are the future of our society. Art has been relegated to an “unnecessary” commodity that is easely replicated and mass produced electronically. Educate the masses. Inspire the youth. “Let each man exercise the art he knows.” ARISTOPHANES

The Visual Arts gallery is a real gem. Very disappointed in the Emory leadership. The monetary gains can’t possibly compensate for the cultural losses. I hope this short sighted decision can be turned around.

Truth Tellers on the Chopping Block

A common thread perhaps. Graduate economics is also getting the chop. Seems to me that a journalism program for dual majors and minors gets it exactly right. There may be no jobs for journalists, but the best practitioners, thinkers, and scholars are those with the skills to understand the hands that feed them and bite when necessary. Unfortunately, the university/corporate partnership knows this all too well. Visual artists can bite too, often in very unpredictable ways. And who better to help us understand the mind-numbing entanglements of the university/corporate hybrid than a trained economist with the doggedness of an investigative journalist.

I am shocked and saddened by this news. How can Emory consider itself a Liberal Arts Institution without a Visual Arts department? Diane Kempler is not only an amazing and talented artist, but also a personal inspiration to me. She taught my hands how to make thoughts come alive. What a tragedy it is that Emory does not appropriately value her and the other talented faculty.

So now….. Emory Tec instead of Emory U?

I am speechless!

Very sad news for Emory and their students. The Visual Art Faculty at Emory are respected artists and educators who have persevered despite never being given tenure track status at the university. A great loss for Emory University. What is a university without the Visual Arts?

I am deeply saddened to learn of this news; the Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts was my first choice of doctoral institutions and I was overjoyed when I was accepted by the program. As to those who claim Emory never had a Visual Arts Department, I can only say that your oversight is wildly myopic.

The centrality of the humanities to graduate education can not be overestimated. Eliminating more humanities programs, departments and courses will only weaken the curriculum.

The Emperor is naked, folks. Wake up! Don’t just whisper about it amongst yourselves; do something.

I am currently a college professor only because of the education, encouragement and inspiration I received at Emory University and the universities of Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Unbelievable. I can hardley believe this news.

Life drawing, composition using found objects, sculpting with clay, piano 101, performing in or assisting with the production of a play, should be the required art courses. Most students have none of these. Conceptual visual art garbage only teaches students how to sound like pompous twits. Almost any design class has more value than a how to make a bad painting class.

Good for Emory. They should focus on their strengths and stop wasting money on low quality academia drool.

Maybe Scad will buy em and use their accreditation for some scheme in China.

The Emory administration’s decision is not too difficult to understand. They do not find the arts or journalism meaningful in any real way. This sentiment is pretty much pervasive in Atlanta and has been for years. The people here who do find the arts meaningful have continued to put up with weak leadership. The arts community has really only itself to blame.

Does anyone really think there will be a student protest at Emory? Does anyone really believe some donors will withhold money because the art or journalism departments are being eliminated. The other shoe about to drop is the elimination of Fulton County Arts council – the largest funded in the state. How many years has the arts community put up with non-leadership there. Or for that matter the OCA or Metro Arts Fund? Sorry folks we have to admit its pretty sorry.

great list of contibutors to this dialogue!
I know nothing about the decsion, but it must be a matter of focus.

dare I hope aloud that this creates an opportunity for the Carlos?

When I was an Emory undergrad in the 70s, the arts were clearly an afterthought (although there was an excellent art history department). So I’ve been pleased over the years to see the growth of the Carlos Museum, the Schwartz Center, the visual arts gallery, the creative writing program, Theatre Emory, and other programs. This latest decision is a misguided step backward. Perhaps it could still be reversed, if trustees and administrators hear from alums who are regular contributors.

In the meantime, this could be an opportunity for Georgia State.

Cannot express how saddened I am by all of this. Moreover – as if it was an oversight of some sort–the departments affected have some of the highest numbers of female and minority faculty and students. How does that fit with any university goals to attract and retain talented minority and female faculty and students? And that is only ONE of my many concerns about issues of the processes by which this occurred and the decisions made.

I thank so many of you who have written in support of the Visual Arts Department at Emory. As to Emory’s never having had a Visual Arts Department, that simply is untrue. In recent years two Visual Arts faculty members received Fulbrights, a very prestigious award; one faculty had two of her exhibitions listed as among the 5 best, including those at the High, etc. in Atlanta for the years in which they occurred. All of the faculty had national and international exhibition records, and inclusion in museum and other public institutions’ collections. This department, while funded on a modest scale, received high marks from outside evaluators. The beautiful little gallery had a series of truly first rate exhibitions by outstanding artists, including Radcliffe Bailey, etc. I could go on and on.
Students of Visual Arts went on, even without a major, to graduate study at numerous high quality institutions, including Harvard (for architecture), Ga. State, etc.

The Visual Arts faculty truly gave of themselves whole-heartedly to the college, the university, and especially to their extraordinary students. My thanks to all of them for their contributions to the cultural life of Emory, Atlanta, and beyond. They deserve great appreciation.

I am speechless. Absolutely incredible that a top tier university can eliminate visual arts and journalism! Sickening. Really, where are we going?

What is wrong with you losers! We don’t need artists! We need hedge fund managers! This is a wonderful example of applying Bain Capital techniques to a university that values the bottom line. These scumbag artists are leaches on the face of mother capitalism, sucking up needless dollars that should be going to departments that educate job creators. Unemployment is what they deserve! They’re all commies anyway. Departments should be judged on the cash they bring in, not the people they convert to useless professions. Who needs Art! Certainly not a place like Emory.

This is unwise and shortsighted on the part of Emory. I just returned from a national arts education conference where one of the major plenary sessions focused on how visual arts education provided for medical students at Harvard, Yale, and the University of Texas has helped create more observant and more effective doctors and nurses. Through the move of eliminating the visual arts department, Emory is demonstrating why they continue to fail at joining the ranks of the most elite schools in the country.

Emory is a monument to corporate Atlanta. There just isn’t enough room for Visual Arts because the space is needed for Woodruff, Rollins and Guiezetta.

It is sad that another institution pushes art education aside. My experiences with the Emory Visual Art Department has been wonderful.

For those of us at Emory who understand how and why contemporary art is vital to the future of liberal arts education, this decision is miserable.

A shock to hear this sad news. Something I never expected from such an insightful institution in other ways. It’s a side of Emory I never knew. As Larry Walker writes above – “such a wrong headed bottom line mentality.” Sad too for future students who will be deprived of perceptual and thinking skills so necessary to communicating effectively today.

like most people it took Emory a few years to realize that there is not much of a future for liberal arts and journalism. Is anyone really surprised?

In a world where visual literacy is key to having a VOICE, Emory is doing its reputation and its students a great disservice by eliminating the visual arts program. Visual thinking is a cornerstone to critical thought and meaningful expression. This is devastating not just for the dedicated, talented and caring faculty, and for the students (current and potential), but also for the woeful message it sends –to Atlanta and to liberal learning at large — that visual expression is not a vital part of creative thinking.

How sad! There is a museum on campus that celebrates the arts and its objects and the school denies the existence or interest in contemporary arts? The visual arts department started small and became an important department (although not important enough or $ making enough, obviously) to many students. Why didn’t the university take a breath from their plundering of the nearby forests and building campaign to reevaluate its goals and deepen a student’s experience in school by acknowledging the importance of the visual arts rather than negating them. Very limited thinking for an academic school and this is from an alumni.

Very sad news for Atlanta, our arts community and Emory.

This is terrible. I thought that the university embraced the arts. Projects coming from the Visual Arts Dept. like the Chair Show and the campus-wide environmental project last year touched the whole school and brought together students, faculty from other departments and community members. The gallery there has presented wonderful shows. I am sorry for everyone and disappointed in Emory as a university.

Such a loss is not only sad but quite annoying because it reinforces a wrong-headed bottom-line mentality as to what Education should be about while also disregarding the value of the visual arts in the development of: creativity; perceptual and critical thinking and; intellectual/cultural interactions.

What terrible news!!! I can hardly believe it. What a loss for Emory students, art history majors especially.

That’s right they had some very talented and dedicated people who came through there, like Lynn Linnemeyer who had to work for peanuts, Nancy Marshall who was never paid anything more than poverty wages, and most recently Laura Noel, who is totally committed and as hard working as they come. But they never made a slight commitment to the visual arts with all those millions they have to burn. “Non-Credit courses offered in other departments”, what a joke. Just be honest and tell em the truth, it’s over. I pray for their jazz department.

Sad for Emory and the Atlanta community. I worked in the Art History Dept for many years and saw how the visual arts folks were treated like stepchildren. Now this. There is no true, well-rounded College of Arts and Sciences w/o the visual arts.

What an incredible loss! Such talented faculty, too…and that wonderful gallery programming…sad news for all of us…!!!

Surprise, surprise, surprise. They’ve never HAD a visual arts department!