Taking it all in, junior Jared Abelson, senior Karlyn Phillips, junior Debra Deacon and senior Joseph Gilbert work together on a project in the Lake District, UK. The 2007 year was the first trip for the art department to take students overseas to work on scenery pieces which were displayed the following fall in the Stevens Art Gallery. [Courtesy of Meredith Stewart] Exploring Art students travel for inspiration [art/music] 165 During the summer of 2007, 20 students set off on a mission to see the world of art outside of their textbooks with the Harding Art and Design program.The program,which was separate from the other overseas programs Harding offered, took its students to France and England. The theme for the Art andDesign trip this past summer was “cityscapes and landscapes,”Assistant Professor in the Art Department Stacy Schoen said. The faculty wanted the students to experience and compare the culture and spirit of the urban setting verses the rural environment. “The trip began with two weeks on Harding’s campus,” Schoen said. “The students prepared for the trip by researching the sites the group would visit and presenting that information.The students also began working with various art mediums.” The students then left for Paris,visiting the Louvre,Musuee’d’Orsay and other famous art museums.The students experienced the great metropolis of Paris and also took day trips to Versailles and Giverny. Leaving Paris, the group made their way to the west coast of France. Wanting to experience the country life, the group stayed at a small town hostel and visited nearby places such as Mont St.Michel, St.Malo and the D-Day beaches of Normandy. The students spent two mornings a week in the a traditional classroom, and, on the other days, the museums were their classrooms. Seeing the art face-to-face allowed the work to speak for itself rather than through a teacher. The classes were aimed at the interests of the art and design students. Painting, drawing and photography courses were offered along with a humanities and Bible course.The students were required to take one studio art course to participate in the program, and they exhibited their work in a series of art shows throughout the summer. “We aimed to expose students to the many expressions of faith,belief and values that have been created over the centuries, including the arts, movies, books and music of recent decades,” said Professor in the Art and Design Department Greg Clayton, who did most of the planning for the trip. Senior Meredith Stewart, a student who went on the trip, said she was a little hesitant about going since it was the summer before her senior year, but since her return, Stewart changed her mind. “It’s never too late to go,”Stewart said.“It was amazing because we were able to see the reality of it all outside of a textbook.” At the end of the trip, the students spent five weeks in London. The program was over by the beginning of August, but most students decided to free travel to certain places that they did not get to see with the group. Junior Meagan Fielden explored her ancestral home in England, which included getting to see her family’s castle. “This summer was an outstanding adventure.” Clayton said. “We were in London when two terrorist car bombs were discovered, through the first stages of theTour De France and when the last of the Harry Potter book was released. Next summer a similar program based in Italy will be offered.” Clayton said he thought that the trip would be beneficial to students for many reasons. “We believe that this format offers our students an outstanding opportunity to encounter efforts to express faith in the past through the arts, as well as the imperative to create relevant expressions of faith in our own time,”Clayton said. [Katie White]
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