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| EXHIBITIONS |
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| ONE HOUR DRIVE: Art Faculty Exhibition Essay “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach” (1) is the famously derisive quote from George Bernard Shaw that has been used to belittle the multiple roles of the college professor/artist/scholar. Academia is an easy target for those who have never done it. Outsiders claim that because no one actually teaches for a full 40 hours a week, it must be a scam. Besides, what could be easier than hanging out with a bunch of 20 year olds? Of course, those of us on the inside understand that our roles are considerably more complicated and demanding. Being an academic involves participating in the shared governance of the university, developing curriculum, mentoring students and a host of obligations that exceed the amount of time spent in the classroom. Few of us dreamed of being bureaucrats when we began our careers, because we actually love teaching and sharing our professional experience with young people. Being a college professor/artist/scholar is one of the greatest jobs I can imagine. 89This is not to ignore the challenges and need for balance between our students and their considerable demands and our professional lives. We are studio artists and scholars and making art, conducting research, writing, publishing and exhibiting our work is how we got into academia in the first place. Every one of us was hired based in part on our professional accomplishments and to earn tenure and promotion we must continue to excel in our fields. Creative and scholarly research, which is sometimes one in the same, takes time and patience and as artists and scholars, we enjoy the process. Process is something that we spend most of our time doing, from the planning and execution of our artworks to the formation of ideas, researching, writing and eventual publishing of our findings and opinions. In doing so we are expressing ourselves through our personal points of views and it is our privilege to do this within the supportive environment of the university. Our contact with students is the most rewarding aspect of our university careers. Each one of us can remember a moment, usually early in our lives, when a teacher made an important impression on us, helped us feel like we were intelligent and capable of doing something important, whatever that might be. It is from these deep-seated memories that our passion for teaching lives on in us each day and is constantly renewed through our involvement with students of all ages who are first discovering the artists and scholars within themselves. This is certainly a deeply romantic notion -- the older, established artist/scholar mentoring the younger or less experienced one. To believe in such a relationship is an anachronism in our commercially driven society where service is passe and money, power and possessions are the barometer of one’s self worth. But it is just this sort of optimistic, altruistic urge that has formed the deep bond that we had with our teachers and the one that we strive to create with our students. Call us old fashioned and romantic, but I promise that when you are a student in our classrooms and studios, the magic of this relationship will become your personal experience as well. Thomas McGovern (1) “He who can, does.
He who cannot, teaches.”
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