ONE HOUR DRIVE: Art Faculty Exhibition

Essay

One of the most exciting and invigorating things about working in the art department is associating with active and productive artists. As an art historian, I spend my time alone, conducting research in museums, libraries and archives. So the communal environment of the art department provides a welcome contrast to my own work. I have always been interested in art, and my best friends are artists. That is why, nearly a quarter century ago, I looked forward to joining what was primarily a studio art department at CSUSB. The creation of art has a miraculous quality about it. Artists start with raw materials -- a mound of clay, a blank canvas, a roll of film -- and out of these the most wonderful, beautiful, provoking, puzzling works of art appear. The creative process is often challenging and difficult, but it is always life affirming and it has been my privilege to spend my professional life in association with people who dedicated themselves completely to producing art. Especially valuable in this department is the great variety of faculty. I like the fact that they represent a wide range of artistic opinions. This means that students are exposed to many different points of view and encouraged to explore a variety of options. Our faculty are interested in crossing disciplinary lines- so students often work in mixed media, combining what they learned in the various studios into unique and personal expressions. The result is a rich mix of techniques, ideas and attitudes embodied in the student work and revealed in the end of the year student exhibition. So while I have occasionally missed having a number of art historians as colleagues, I have benefited from the rich creative atmosphere of productive artist colleagues that has made my years here very pleasurable and valuable indeed.

Dr. Julius Kaplan
Professor Emeritus

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