Viewpoint; View from the Classroom, Student Perspective »
By Louise Mandumbwa, UCA Student | BFA Candidate, Painting
BFA critique club programing overview
Scene from one of the booths at the Dallas art fair
The BFA critique club is comprised of a committed group of art students and all are welcome to participate. The club is not just for BFA candidates, Freshman, SMAI candidates, BA’s, Art Ed, and Art minors and all others with a commitment to the arts and art making are encouraged to attend our meetings and events.
The club started as a conversation between two upperclassman students who wanted to create community within the art department where students could interact with and learn from one another outside of the classroom. Fast forward to roughly a year later the club has organized many valuable opportunities from visiting the Dallas Art Fair, engaging with 2018’s student competitive juror Sharon Louden through the summer, organizing information sessions with university grant writers and executing last semester’s pop-up show in Schichtl (appropriately titled “The Floor is Lava”). The clubs mission is skill sharing, cultivating community, and crafting opportunities for students to get a glimpse of what a professional practice in the arts may look like.
Participating artists in the “The Floor is Lava” event
This semesters series of professional development sessions kicked off Feb 5th with senior Isabella Cilia skyping in from New York to speak about her experiences interning with artist Raúl De Nieves and Field Projects Gallery, insightfully describing her internship as an ‘opportunity to build a foundation for your future”. Isabella has also provided a feature article in this newsletter documenting her internship experience so far. Another talk was organized on Feb 19th with Printmaking alumni Christine Guenard who spoke about finding resources and community to continue making art after graduating. In this talk we learned more about her work in an exhibition at the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub in Little Rock as well as how she’s plugged in with a range of spaces to sustain her practice. Printmaker or not this talk was beneficial to any and all students planning on creating work outside of school, the talk was followed by a demonstration where the artist explained her printmaking process.
This semesters scheduling encompasses a student show curated by professor Holly Laws and coordinated by students, in addition to workshops on how to correctly document work (a really handy skill to keep an updated portfolio and invaluable when applying for art opportunities), as well as continuing to develop a library of art resources available to students. But perhaps most importantly, our roster of programming and events is intended to serve the talented students on this campus. We’d love to engage with you and hear your ideas regarding how we can serve our community in coming semesters!