Students draw inspiration from Ireland
Professor Andrew Howard has always believed that the ideal way to teach an art course would be to do it through solid blocks of sustained time without distractions. For three summers since 2006, he has taken students as close to that ideal as possible outside of the classroom during the “Arts in Ireland” course he created.
The group: Lauren Andres ’14, Christina Cannon ’13, Andrew Cavacco ’13, Lyndsay Cooke ’14, Sedra Davis ’14, Stephanie Hoomis ’13, Nathaniel Hunt ’13, Hilary Lahan ’13, Amy Magaletti ’13, Tyler Matayoshi ’13, Amira Pualwan ’13, Gilda Rodrigues ’14, Alexandra Strawbridge ’14, Rachel Vergara ’13 and Professor Andrew Howard in Ireland. Photo taken by Professor Matthew Allen.
“The idea is to take a select group of Wheaton students who have demonstrated a commitment to art and/or music, and provide them with a very intensive three-week experience creating original artwork and music compositions based on their impressions of the west coast of Ireland,” he says.
Last summer, 10 studio artists and four musicians took the trip, accompanied by Howard and Professor of Music Matthew Allen. The intensive course was taught in association with the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan, County Clare, Ireland. Students were immersed in the culture through tours and lectures and then developed concepts that served as the basis for a body of work, which was exhibited on campus in the fall. They spent 10 to 12 hours a day in their own spaces creating. “They ate, slept, and created art and music,” says Howard. [Read more...]
