College-bound high school students interested in the visual arts will get a fun, affordable chance to see what it’s like to study and pursue art through a new two-week intensive studio art summer program at the College of Charleston (CofC).
These college-level classes in drawing, painting, digital photography and mixed media are led by CofC artist-educators.Accepted students will have access to the facilities in the Cato Fine Arts Center, take field trips to local art spaces and participate in an exhibition of students’ work with a reception at the end of the program.
Applications are open now through July 1, with 48 spots for young artists. The program is $450 and runs July 17-28.
The Studio Art Summer Immersion (SASI) program is directed by adjunct professor and interdisciplinary artist Cristina Victor. She said the program will create exposure for students to see what it’s like to major or minor in studio art and to immerse themselves in project-based learning.
“It’s a great way for students to leave with more confidence in making creative decisions,” Victor said. “But ultimately, that ends up bleeding into all aspects of their life. And so, whether people choose to be studio art majors or not, it’s an opportunity for them to walk away feeling like they’ve gained some confidence. They’ve had fun. They’ve worked with working artists that are also educators, and get to experience these great studios spaces. “It’s a fun, intensive gateway into the arts.”
Intensive studio art summer programs like SASI exist at all major art schools around the country, including Savannah College of Art and Design, Maryland College of Art and Design, Rhode Island School of Design. It’s the first of its kind in South Carolina, though, and provides a chance for students to see they don’t have to pay out-of-state tuition for an excellent art education.
“I think a lot of college-bound students who want to focus on art tend to leave South Carolina. So, they go to bigger schools, and end up paying a lot more money, when there’s a great program here,” Victor said. “The education debt crisis is a big deal. And so people are more hesitant to take that leap and spend a ton of money to go to a private art school.
“I want to show what we have to offer at CofC. It’s a lot more affordable, and also offers you experience in doing arts management, or any other subject you’re curious about. And we’re definitely building the studio art program and making it more robust and experimental,” she added.
Immersive learning
Victor will teach a mixed media class focused on approaching art from a conceptual point of view. Other classes will cover techniques for more medium-specific disciplines like painting and drawing.
Sara Frankel, a painting professor and studio art department chair, approached Victor with the concept earlier this year. Frankel, Victor and the other educators in the program are working artists themselves, a typical occurrence for a studio art program. Victor also brings experience working in art school admissions. She said directing this program merges her admissions experience with her love for teaching art. Though this first year of SASI will not offer college credit, Victor would like to see this happen next summer.
“It’s a brave leap to say, ‘I’m going to study art,’ ” Victor said, “and I love encouraging and advocating for the arts. So that’s a huge role in being the director and creating the programming and curriculum.”
Working with teaching artists will give students a chance to see the arts as a valued, legitimate career path, she added.
“I feel like for a lot of students, their knowledge of what being an artist can be is very limited, because they don’t have exposure to working artists. We can wear many hats and be interdisciplinary with our jobs,” she said.
“I think getting exposure to people who are living in that way is really impactful.”
Current CofC studio art majors will work as teaching assistants. The program, Victor said, will give those college students teaching experience and educate them too on the under-discussed topic of income in pursuing artistic careers. Victor makes sure to speak on this subject with her students at CofC, and aims to expand that conversation through this program.
“I am very much about encouraging conversations around how labor works in the art world, and opening students up to the idea that what we do as a studio art practice has value — not just in the art world, which can be insular,” she said. “I want to show students how you can straddle different worlds to generate your income and sustain yourself.”
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