Fine Arts Festival: Why arts matter at Ellis
by Sara Sturdevant, Chair of the Visual Arts Department
When Mary Ann Perry, Chair of the Performing Arts department, and I sat down to brainstorm about the 2013 Fine Arts Festival, taking place this Sunday, April 21 at Ellis, we found ourselves focusing on the way the arts are vital to life and education at Ellis both within and outside of the arts classrooms. First and foremost, the Fine Arts Festival is a celebration of the extraordinary array of artworks produced by our students. I am always stunned by the range of work: brilliant photography and video, intricate ceramics, nuanced musical performance, energetic dance, and insightful drawing and painting. A schedule of the day’s events may be found here.
When Mary Ann Perry, Chair of the Performing Arts department, and I sat down to brainstorm about the 2013 Fine Arts Festival, taking place this Sunday, April 21 at Ellis, we found ourselves focusing on the way the arts are vital to life and education at Ellis both within and outside of the arts classrooms. First and foremost, the Fine Arts Festival is a celebration of the extraordinary array of artworks produced by our students. I am always stunned by the range of work: brilliant photography and video, intricate ceramics, nuanced musical performance, energetic dance, and insightful drawing and painting. A schedule of the day’s events may be found here.
A careful and contemplative look at this work shows much about the processes these students undertake. In making beauty, they employ a diverse range of skills: problem solving, collaboration, and giving themselves to iteration after iteration of testing, trying, failing, and trying again. Every arts teacher will attest to the delight of watching students struggle to shape meaning or form in a work and then, at last, getting it. That creative moment is held by the works they make but has an impact that reaches far beyond that work.
As I write this, I hear scientist and writer EO Wilson talking on NPR about the importance of the harmonious co-existence of science and the humanities and a report on the importance of arts education in the schools. This is an encouraging coincidence, to be sure, but also an opportunity to reflect on the excellence of arts at Ellis and the incalculable value of that excellence. I can go on about the educational value of the arts, but I like to reflect on the power of the joy they also lend to the school day. The effects of that joy are echoed through the many responses I received from alumnae about the influence of their arts education. I was humbled as I read accounts of the ways that an education in the arts provided such a strong foundation for Ellisians working in many fields, and not only traditionally “creative” careers. You will read excerpts from those responses at the Festival as you enjoy the many performances and exhibitions of our current students.
Mobile technology is a part of our students’ lives and FAF13 means to embrace that. Look around the campus at the festival for QR code—a type of bar code that can be scanned and “read” by smart phones—associated with exhibits, artworks, the program of events and details about performances. No smart phone? No problem. Look for devices at The Hub (our FAF information center in the courtyard) you may borrow for a period so you can access this information and take part in the uPic interactive photo project.
The news media tells us that arts programs are in danger of being reduced in schools all across the nation, especially in low income areas. This endangers students everywhere and, in my opinion, hinders our collective potential. Please join me at the Fine Arts Festival on Sunday April 21 from 2 to 5 p.m. to celebrate the good fortune we have in the great art our girls create.
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As I write this, I hear scientist and writer EO Wilson talking on NPR about the importance of the harmonious co-existence of science and the humanities and a report on the importance of arts education in the schools. This is an encouraging coincidence, to be sure, but also an opportunity to reflect on the excellence of arts at Ellis and the incalculable value of that excellence. I can go on about the educational value of the arts, but I like to reflect on the power of the joy they also lend to the school day. The effects of that joy are echoed through the many responses I received from alumnae about the influence of their arts education. I was humbled as I read accounts of the ways that an education in the arts provided such a strong foundation for Ellisians working in many fields, and not only traditionally “creative” careers. You will read excerpts from those responses at the Festival as you enjoy the many performances and exhibitions of our current students.
Mobile technology is a part of our students’ lives and FAF13 means to embrace that. Look around the campus at the festival for QR code—a type of bar code that can be scanned and “read” by smart phones—associated with exhibits, artworks, the program of events and details about performances. No smart phone? No problem. Look for devices at The Hub (our FAF information center in the courtyard) you may borrow for a period so you can access this information and take part in the uPic interactive photo project.
The news media tells us that arts programs are in danger of being reduced in schools all across the nation, especially in low income areas. This endangers students everywhere and, in my opinion, hinders our collective potential. Please join me at the Fine Arts Festival on Sunday April 21 from 2 to 5 p.m. to celebrate the good fortune we have in the great art our girls create.
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