Changing Schools: Improving the Educational Experience at USC’s Roski School of Fine Arts

In the past three years, I have watched the Roski School of Fine Arts at the University of Southern California undergo major changes and improvements. Just as the university boasts of its focus on “increasing academic excellence, on hiring the best and most creative faculty, and on encouraging path-breaking” activity, the School of Fine Arts can now pride itself on upholding the same values. Recent initiatives such as the addition of some of America’s most renowned young artists to the faculty, the building of new structures and facilities, and the acquiring of prominent figures in the world of fine arts as temporary members of the pedagogical team, have made the school one of the most sought after institutions of its kind in the country. Naturally, as such developments are rather recent, many more initiatives must be taken in order to better fulfill USC’s central mission of “developing human beings and society through the cultivation and enrichment of the mind and spirit.” Fortunately, the College Dean’s Prize for the Enrichment of Student Academic Life gives all students a chance to help enhance their educational experience by proposing new and innovative steps to be taken by the institution. This week, I propose one such step in an attempt to encourage collaboration and creativity amongst art students.

Aware that USC has a long-lasting relationship with its neighboring elementary and high schools, I propose that students of the Roski School of Fine Arts use this existing connection to their own advantage, while building and maintaining a sense of community with and responsibility for younger scholars in the environs. My proposal is that we divide ourselves into groups of up to twenty individuals sponsored by a selected faculty member. Each group will consist of both advanced and beginner students at USC, in order to ensure an interaction that is now missing amongst the nearly two hundred young artists in the program. The teams will then travel to local schools, such as John W. Mack Elementary and Foshay Learning Center, in order to secure an exhibition space within the various campuses. These spaces could range from an abandoned classroom, to an empty locker, the janitor’s closet or the gymnasium. Once arrangements are made with the authorities on each campus, every two weeks a team will proceed to collectively put on an art installation that incorporates both the space and each member’s respective interests and aesthetics. The theme of the exhibitions will be determined by members in each group. The presented work can range from drawings to wall paintings, projections, ceramics and sculpture, incorporating skills offered by our various departments. Each event will be treated as an official art opening of the Roski School of Fine Arts, thereby drawing more attention to our creative activities as well as the state of the hosting school.

It is a central goal of this proposal to make art and creativity a regular occurrence at our neighboring educational institutions. At a time when most Los Angeles public schools have nearly abandoned art education due to "inadequate budget and [the lack of] other resources," it is our responsibility to introduce the children to the art world, allowing them the understanding that creative activity is both an option and a reality. After all, as the USC Strategic Plan states, our university is dedicated to "creating new societal opportunities." I believe that exposing young minds to art and culture and the possibility of unregulated self expression is an essential factor in bringing about social improvements. In my proposed plan, while the hosting students will not be physically involved in creating and presenting the various installations, they will serve as close observers and important components of these artistic endeavors.

As a group activity, this will allow our students a chance to undertake more ambitious and large-scale projects, while offering an escape from the regular “space war” that we are all a part of at the Roski School of Fine Arts. A major drawback of the school is a lack of studio and exhibition space at the undergraduate level. When the graduate studios were moved off campus two years ago, it was the assumption of all advanced undergraduates that they would be granted personal studios (Above is an image of one of the communal work spaces on campus) as well as an additional gallery in the space that had once been occupied by others. Unfortunately, that has not been the case. Each semester, students battle for one or two available weeks at the university gallery and most end up increasingly disappointed and disenchanted with the experience. Since we lack personal studios, there is a trend of students working independently at home, without much exchange with their peers. Since we do not have on-campus studios where we can work while generating discussion and cooperation, I propose that we use the spaces allotted us by the various schools as both a studio and an exhibition space. The proximity of these schools to our own facilities will allow us access to the necessary tools and supplies, thereby providing a studio-like experience.

An artistic practice generally involves the claim and negotiation of space, whether it is in a gallery, on canvas, or in the public sphere. It is often times a reconciliation of an extremely personal space with that of the audience and always requires a perfect understanding of the two. I believe that no artistic education is complete without this understanding. It is my hope that the proposed project will allow us, as young artists, a chance at collaboration and a deeper sense of collective ideas and places. Although USC-sponsored programs, such as The Neighborhood Academic Initiative's Summer Art Intersession and USC Fisher Gallery's Art in the Village, currently provide neighboring schools with funding and staff to help promote visual arts activities, they employ no more than a handful of USC students each year. In my plan, we will all have the opportunity to be closely involved in shaping the future of our growing neighboring community.

Art Doctor: Honoring Matthew Coolidge and the Center for Land Use Interpretation

At the University of Southern California and in institutions of higher education in America, there is a long-standing tradition of granting honorary degrees to worthy individuals. According to James Freedman, president emeritus of the University of Iowa and Dartmouth College, “In bestowing an honorary degree, a university makes an explicit statement to its students and the world about the qualities of character and attainment it admires most, [celebrating] distinguished and sublime achievement.” At USC, such degrees are awarded to “honor individuals who have distinguished themselves through extraordinary achievements… [and] outstanding contributions to the welfare and development” of their communities. This week, as commencement ceremonies approach I put forth a nominee for an honorary doctoral degree in fine arts at the University of Southern California, my home institution.

The founder and director of the Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI), Matthew Coolidge is one of the most prominent figures of contemporary art in America. Since 1994, the CLUI has been active in various regions in the country, examining the use and misuse of the landscape, while forming and maintaining a record that speaks to both our society and the changing environment. According to the official website, “the Center employs a variety of methods to pursue its mission, engaging in research, classification, extrapolation, and exhibition.” Past projects and exhibits range from Emergency States, an examination of small-scale towns made to train police and fire fighters for times of disaster, to The Best Dead Mall in America (pictured below), a photographic survey of an abandoned 800,000 square foot mall in Harvey, Illinois, to Antarctic 1 (pictured above), a look at the infrastructure of Antarctica’s first highway, and Proximity Issue, a series of digital photographs of the barricades that encircle the landmarks of the nation’s capitol after September 11, 2001. For more than a decade, the CLUI has been gathering and distributing vital and often overlooked information regarding humanity’s relationship to its environment. “People don't have all the facts, because how you get those facts is very much under the control of a limited number of people,” explains Coolidge in a 1998 interview. “What ‘The Center’ is doing is about information…. And so, in some ways we are trying to address the issue of the amount of information we are given, and the imbalance and control of information.”

In 1991, Coolidge received his bachelor degree in environmental, film, and contemporary art studies at Boston University. His diversified educational background has allowed him an artistic practice that is informed and unique, defying the boundaries between art, science, publishing and curating. This multidisciplinary quality is one that has been highly celebrated by the USC Roski School of Fine Arts in the past years. In fact, according to the USC Strategic Plan, the university as a whole boasts of its "strong reputation for interdisciplinary research and scholarship." The university's Renaissance Scholars Program, for example, has been honoring bright students,"whose majors and minors are from widely separated fields of study," since May 2000, awarding more than $90,000 each year. In the case of the School of Fine Arts, the most recent additions to the fulltime faculty include Adrea Zittel, whose work combines notions of art, architecture, design and sustainable living, as well as Charlie White and Sharon Lockhart, who move across boundaries of production, film and photography. Coolidge fits perfectly amongst them.

Of course, skeptics may argue that Coolidge’s efforts at the CLUI, which include those of a project director, curator, writer and photographer, cannot be defined as an artistic practice, particularly since the Center, in Coolidge's words, “exists within the institutional realm, [and works] to maintain an apparent neutrality and institutional objectivity.” In contemporary art, however, interdisciplinary boundaries undergo such constant and drastic changes that it becomes difficult and somewhat futile to give much thought to what is and is not art. Despite the institutional feel of Matthew Coolidge’s work, he is indeed a recognized figure in the world of fine arts. Under his direction, the Center has received numerous grants including support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Annenberg Foundation and the National Endowment of the Arts. Coolidge was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship in 2004 and a media arts fellowship in 2005 from the Rockefeller Foundation and National Media Resources. In 2006, he was awarded the Lucelia Artist Award by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, an honor that has been shared by only five other artists, which include USC’s own Andrea Zittel. In describing him, Smithsonian director Elizabeth Broun states, “Matthew Coolidge represents the qualities that the Lucelia Artist Award seeks to reward–creative innovation and work that dares to address issues relevant in contemporary society.” In granting an honorary degree, USC, too, looks to pay tribute to these qualities.

Indeed, the work of this Los Angeles-based artist is not only exceptional, but of special relevance to the current human condition. Coolidge describes his efforts by noting, “we are really just working with the medium of landscape to explore social, societal, and philosophical issues.” The fundamental goal of the Center is to "increase and diffuse knowledge about how the nation's lands are apportioned, utilized, and perceived." It is this unwavering commitment to society and the spread of information across geopolitical barriers that make Matthew Coolidge the perfect candidate to be honored by the University of Southern California. And whom better to pass knowledge and unwavering passion onto than graduating students? I believe that Coolidge's speech will be not only inspiring, but of universal appeal, merging art and science, the unknown and the mundane. It will be an important accomplishment for the University of Southern California to acknowledge Coolidge's distinguished artistic efforts in addressing, saving and honoring our environment. Afterall, a main purpose of the honorary degree is to "elevate the university in the eyes of the world by honoring individuals who are highly regarded for achievements in their respective fields of endeavor."