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Being at UNC Charlotte has really helped broaden my view of the world, because I’m from such
a small town.
I’m able to take many different classes, ranging from painting and printmaking to ceramics.
The faculty here are so friendly and welcoming and they’re willing to work with you on
things that you want to work on, as well as trying to teach you new things.
Our faculty has international presence, both arts practitioners, both studio artists and
designers and our art historians.
I think we truly have a global impact.
All of us are willing to share what we know, what we do, share our contacts, and show the
path of what can be done and how it can be done.
The department encourages experimentation in what you can do even more, how you can
further the work – opening up my mind and seeing my possibilities.
We do talk a lot about collaboration, in both the College and in the department.
We’ve all been working to create a senior level experience for our students where they
are actually in a classroom with lots of different media.
We are no longer trying to silo our students into different media.
We want everybody to be together to really focus on their conceptual pursuits, and this
cross-disciplinary environment is one in which students can really explore ideas and concepts
and rather than just materials.
The critiquing process is a particularly important part of the studio process.
We gather together and we discuss the work.
It’s actually learning the language to talk about your work so that students are a little
more aware of what they’re actually putting out into the world and how others might read
it.
Ultimately it’s about developing their own voice, having something to say, and finding
the most expressive and the best way to say it in that medium.
We do feel like it’s important for students to have an opportunity to get out in the world.
International studies…Greece, London, Rome has been a recurring program.
The Rome program is a really interesting opportunity for students to actually live in the city
for five weeks.
We study in the city, we have a studio, so students get to become basically a citizen
of the city.
It’s such an incredible privilege to be able to teach young creative people.
I witness students transform into professional creatives.
The program located in Charlotte has a distinctive advantage.
We have students that are placed at the Mint Museum, the Bechtler, the McColl Center, the
Light Factory.
I’ve been able to get a paid internship at the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, which
is a really great opportunity for me, because I can get a look behind the scenes of what
is going on at a real museum.
We’ve had students accepted at Columbia, Pratt, Parsons.
They’re going to work for large corporations in Chicago, in New York, in Los Angeles, in
Atlanta.
We have alumni across the Unites States and working overseas in the biggest cities in
the biggest markets.
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