Students may not realize that professors can actually do what they teach quite well. The Art Education Art Exhibition is a showcase of what future art professors can do, and organizers hope to put it on every year.
Honors students from the art education program at Chico State are ready to enlighten the public, proving that art educators are artists, too. The 31-piece exhibition varies in mediums and styles and will deck the walls of the Bell Memorial Union Auditorium Art Gallery today starting off with a reception scheduled for 6 p.m.
In the same way that Chico State is a diverse campus, the artists from the education department have their own styles. The collection of paintings, sculptures, photography, digital computer and mixed media are the tireless efforts of these future art teachers, displaying their ability to achieve as superior art educators.
"We're not just teachers, we're artists," said Athena Randolph, art education student and project director. "I want to cultivate creativity in children."
Robin Manzo, Denise Granger, Alma Williams and Rudolph demonstrate their range of artistic skill but do not stop there. Each piece goes along with set lesson plans and coinciding materials, covering broad themes in art education that can be incorporated into art curriculums for kindergarten through12th grade in California schools.
To emphasize the educational aspect of their major, all of the artwork in the exhibition can be reproduced in a classroom setting based on an associated lesson plan, Randolph said. The purpose is to promote the Chico State art education program and to benefit and encourage public school teachers and administration. The artists want art to be recognized as being valuable in the creative process.
"We want to make an impression on the art curriculum, which is not focused on," Rudolph said. "Art is an interdisciplinary subject, it will affect and enhance student's ability to perform in other subject matter."
Unlike other subjects, art is a subject sometimes denounced as inaccessible. Art assessments are not like math or science exams, but artistic perception need not be excused. Part of the art education philosophy is that art is vital to the developing problem solving skills, creative learning techniques and encourages students to connect visual knowledge to other subjects. Art and creativity are being downplayed and standardization is emphasized, changing that is the mission of the featured artists.
"Those who can, do, and those who care, teach," is a motto Manzo, Granger, Williams and Rudolph all live by.
"We want to emphasize our abilities as artists," Rudolph said. "Art educators are artists also, not people who are not good enough to make it in the world of art."
Traditional, multi-cultural, socio-political, feminist, and pop- art are themes and inspirations of the wall pieces the students have produced. All are subjects of emotion, expression and movement opposed to realistic representation, there is a spiritual theme, Williams said.
The artworks cover a wide range of cultural and historical movements, from the traditional to the innovative. Manzo's work is a reflection of feminism and women's studies, and almost every piece in her portion of the exhibit has an outline of a woman's body. It's feminist based, Manzo said. Rudolph calls her art "essential post-modern pop art," and has a colorful Andy Warhol inspired 22-by-28 digital photograph. Rudolph's other pieces such as "Castaway," involve recycled multi-media. Granger contributed a four-framed acrylic of Oprah's face. Williams gravitates toward multicultural subjects, drawing motivation from the Aztec, Hindu, Buddhist and Southeast Asian cultures.
The reception will be catered and will feature a jazz band comprised of professors from the Chico State Music Department. Granger, Manzo, Randolph and Williams' enthusiasm, devotion and commitment to the arts have made the First Annual Art Education Art Exhibit possible.
Eden Draper can be reached at edraper@theorion.com
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