"We're sorry; Dr. Fluhrer is away from his desk."
2013. Can someone tell me what happened to 2012? We're through January, just opening the door to February, and soon -- too soon -- we'll close the door on May and another school year will have whizzed by! It was just August last week, wasn't it?
Here we are in the middle of things: the semester changing, visual arts students moving to different disciplines, the other programs doubling down on their curricula, faculty pushing students to do even more. The dancers are traveling hither and yon auditioning for programs, sophomores and juniors in all of our areas are already looking at summer programs, and the faculty is no less active. By the time you read this, Teri Parker-Lewis will have been to New York and back with students auditioning for college and university programs. Two faculty members are waiting to hear if they'll be recipients of $5400 in grants from the National Arts Teachers Fellowship Program. Katy Cassell, 3-D metals teacher, already a winner, will be spending a week in England toward the end of June, having received her grant last year. Donna Shank-Major wants to spend some time in Italy studying book binding with an Italian master. (This is good for our program because all visual arts students begin the year by making their own sketch books. Some students make three or four during the course of a year and make books for sale!) The aforementioned Teri Parker-Lewis would like to stay in the states but spend her time on the west coast studying performance techniques in California before moving up the coast to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The last time we had three faculty members receive this prestigious award was the year that Jim Campbell, Jon Grier and Jan Woodward received the grant. These grants are great ways for the faculty to renew themselves, discover new things about their work and what is happening in other parts of the world -- the big world and the world of art -- and how the world interacts with their creative imaginations. And, of course, what they learn is passed on in some form directly to our students.
Think about it. Think how lucky these teachers and students are -- not only those seeking grant funding but those who use their funds to bring in guest artists to enrich their studios and their students. With the guest artists in the building, the teachers are working alongside the artists, incorporating the demonstrated skills and discussions into their own work and into their classrooms. The students are being challenged by artist/teachers who are out there, in the larger world, earning their livings in their disciplines. That's one of the reasons why our students are so good and in such demand at the nation's leading colleges, universities and conservatories -- it's their preparation, their knowledge, their skill, which are all learned here under the tutelage of incredible artist/teachers. And, incidentally, one of the reasons that you won't often find me at my desk -- I just love being in the classrooms, watching our students' ideas ignite!
