“Year of the Arts” at HPU won’t just be for your typical “artists”
By Liz Reichart, A&E Editor //
The winds of change are coming to High Point University this autumn, and this time, they carry the faint smell of oil paint and the tune of a distant cello. What I am referring to, of course, is the Year of the Arts celebration: a year-long integration of the arts through different media on HPU’s campus.
“It is not really an art festival per se,” says Dr. John Turpin, Dean of the School of Art and Design, and Director of programming at Year of the Arts, “We are blending the idea of an art festival and makers fair into a single event in order to celebrate creativity and its many applications.”
The event calendar is simply bursting at the seams with opportunities for students to get involved in every facet of what is and even what isn’t typically considered to be part of the “world of art.”
“Many of the exhibitors will be demonstrating their craft/art and a number will have interactive experiences,” Turpin says. ShopBot, for example, will allow attendees to create designs on a computer, using CAD (Computer-Aided-Design) software, then toolpath them using CAM (Computer-Aided-Machining) software. “They will then watch their designs being machined on either a ShopBot Desktop or Handibot CNC machine,” Turpin says of this interactive experience.
“At the other end of the spectrum we will have exhibits where attendees can learn origami or watch artists demonstrate techniques in printing, quilting, pottery and bookbinding,” Turpin says.
Not to mention the entertainment is top-notch: HPU’s enthusiastic a cappella groups will be entertaining in pitch perfect harmony, and the jazz ensemble will tear up the scene. Was it mentioned that food trucks will be on site? Creativity that extends all the way to the taste buds is a kind of creativity even I can appreciate.
On the stage at Hayworth Fine Arts Oct. 2 is Windsync, an energetic and forward-thinking wind quintet. Focused on forming connections with the audience, this group incorporates choreography and a charismatic stage presence into their performances. The Phoenix Reading series, which brings nationally and internationally acclaimed authors to HPU, is presenting some truly brilliant writers in conjunction with YOTA. Metta Sama, author of powerful collection of poetry entitled “South of Here”, and Amy Catanzano, author of “Multiversal” and recipient of the Noemi Press Book Award for Fiction, will be speaking Sept. 4 at 7 P.M. in the Phillips Hall auditorium. An author of four bestselling biographies including “Wilson” and a Pulitzer Prize Winner, A. Scott Berg, will be joining the Phoenix Reading series Sept. 5 at 3 P.M. in the Wilson Commerce Ballroom. And Alan Michael Parker, whose poems have been featured in magazines like “The New Yorker” and “The Yale Review”, among other accolades, will be speaking in the Phillips Hall auditorium Sept. 18 at 7 P.M. And that’s just the September lineup! For the entire Phoenix Reading series and the calendar of events surrounding YOTA, go to www.highpoint.edu/yearofthearts.
One of the highlights of the calendar is sure to be the YOTA Speakers series, aimed to allow students to engage more deeply with individuals who practice some form of art that will address one of the four big questions of the Year of the Arts: How is art related to creativity? What are the roles of “dangerous” art? How is art a form of commerce? And is this art?
The first speaker, Theo Jansen, an internationally exhibited and award-winning Dutch artist, will address “Is this art?” through a lecture on his world-famous “strandbeests”. Jansen designs these sculptures out of PVC pipe and textile to move with the wind much like an animal. Jansen has married art and biology (interdisciplinary) into a very creative expression, “a new form of life,” Dr. Turpin explains.
Etgar Keret (an Israeli writer), Beke Butts (a Chicano artist), and Sebastian Guerrini (an Argentinian Graphic Designer) will each discuss how art plays a role in personal/cultural identity. “Todd Drake, a North Carolina photographer, creates very provocative work that often reflects social and cultural issues plaguing our global community. This addresses the role of uncomfortable or dangerous art,” says Turpin.
The final speaker, internationally known American artist, Barbara Nessim “will discuss how she broke gender boundaries as one of very few full-time professional female illustrators in the US during the 1960s. She entered the highly competitive field of graphic design. She turned her art into commerce,” says Turpin. The student body eagerly awaits so many of the art-related programs to come, that it is difficult to single out one as the most anticipated. Turpin can hardly wait for spring. “In the spring we will be showcasing the work of 20 student groups that chose to embark on a creative journey they identified under the guidance of a faculty mentor. I am most excited to see what our students can achieve when set free.”
The goal is for students to incorporate more aspects of art into their lives, particularly the ability to be creative. “We hope students will see that creativity is a necessary aspect of all disciplines. The Fall Festival will include everything from artists to engineers. Ultimately, we want the HPU and local community to understand how important art is to living in every aspect,” explains Turbin. “Engaging in creative activities helps us become more creative problem solvers, reach higher levels of self-awareness, and connect intimately with our fellow global citizens through deeply personal expressions of the world we live in. It is, and always has been, an integral part of human life and lets us achieve self-actualization.”
But why do these disciplines require creativity? What is there to gain from students who major in seemingly unrelated fields to our traditional ideas of art? Turpin points to the inspiration behind the event itself: a 2012 Adobe Systems published a report entitled “Creativity and Education: Why It Matters.” A survey of 1,000 college-educated professionals from a wide range of disciplines produced the following findings: 88% agree creativity should be built into education curriculums and 72% agree there was more focused on subject matter than creative thinking in school. 85% agree creative thinking is critical for problem solving in their career but nearly one-third do not feel comfortable thinking creatively at work. And in this study, creativity is regarded as one of the top three personality traits most important to career success.
Turpin also points to an interview with Daniel Pink, author of “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future”, where he articulates the importance of creativity and imagination as we move into the Conceptual Age. “What’s important now are the characteristics of the brain’s right hemisphere: artistry, empathy, inventiveness, big-picture thinking,” said Pink in a 2009 interview with Oprah Winfrey. “Visual artists are particularly strong in this area because they are able to combine disparate things into something new, which is now, according to Pink, a predictor of “star performance” in the work place,” says Turpin. He stressed that the YOTA would have an emphasis on these ideas. “The arts (creative writing, fine art, music, theater) have a long history of integrating creative and critical thinking. The conception of a piece of art that is intended to provoke a response requires the artist to delve into the human psyche and make visible (or audible) highly abstract concepts (creative thinking). The production of the work bringing an intangible idea into form often requires more critical thinking skills as the attributes and physical properties of materials create constraints. Engaging in artistic endeavors inherently requires the negotiation of the creative and the critical,” Turpin says.
Turpin cited a Kurt Vonnegut quote from “A Man Without a Country” as the culmination of what these programs are meant to give back to the student body. “Go into the arts. I¹m not kidding. … They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make sure your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.”
So seize the day, HPU students! If there was ever a time to escape your comfort zone and release the right side of your brain, the time is now! Explore yourself in these incredible events, get inspired, and let the creative spirit permeate your existence.