On the Fall FA2D Faculty Presentation
November 29, 2022 • Written by Sonny Avitabile
Have you ever wondered what inspires your professors in their own work? Their preferred style, color harmonies, or kind of mark making? Look no further than the FA2D Faculty Presentation! This presentation showcases every professors’ work in the 2D department from full time to adjunct, from printmaking to painting, from sculptures to murals, from multimedia displays to piano scripts!
For me, seeing the art from adults working in my department was a great experience as I’ve only ever heard hints of my professors' work and to actually see their work made me understand them better as an educator and person. It was also good to see work from professors that I could have in the future; to see what kind of styles I want to learn from. As a student, it's nice to see that I have a variety of art professors at my disposal for learning new styles, techniques, and insights on how to approach art in a new way.
While in classes we may be limited to certain medias/sizes, It's nice to see instructor breaking the boundaries and working on such large scale projects, like Randy Garbers “To Much 2 No” which is a series of artwork on piano scripts that span entire walls of studio space and loop around. In class, we are more focused on principles of design such as shape, color, line, known as “formalist” art. Looking at the presentation though, with artists practicing those skills for decades it's refreshing to see those skills pushed to the limit, and have artwork touch more on a personal level with a meaning about themselves, or issues around the world. Andrew Fish’s work mentions things such as MTV and Atari; a mention of the times. Professors such as Jennifer Moses capture the energy of going to a protest- capturing an emotion rather than a drawing principle. Whether your taste is abstract, realism, or something in between you can find it within your department.
We are often taught to learn from the masters by studying ancient art that is centuries old; while that definitely holds true I also feel like the best part of my studio classes are the critiques where I can learn from my fellow classmates' work and looking at professors' work is just an extension of that. And unlike the masters we study in our history classes, we can actually ask professors and students for advice. Sharing art as a community builds it up, and The FA2D Faculty Presentation is a great example of that.
I think that the FA2D Faculty Presentation was a great opportunity for students to learn more about their professors' work, and to connect more with their educators on a deeper level beyond the classroom. I left the room inspired, wanting to create new art based on what I learned and saw from the staff members that already work to help us in our artistic endeavors each week. While this presentation was already quite lengthy for the small department it is, I would highly recommend MassArt to continue this practice into other departments! Even in our academic classes if our professors feel comfortable sharing their writings/academic research I think it could greatly benefit the students to know their teacher beyond their allotted time in the classroom.
