Art Department
North Seattle College
Program Review Section C
December 5, 2014
Submitted by Lynne Hull and Kelda Martensen
Summary:
Summarize in one or two paragraphs what you discovered about your program through your work in Sections A and B.
Our department has a strong and dedicated faculty base that engages students one on one. There is a strong sense of personal connection with students – writing letters of rec., serving as advisors, whether it isfor AFA students, transfer or one-time art students. Several items brought to our attention through the faculty survey in Section B Program Review have been addressed in the last year.
To name a few of these actions that directly speak to the Program Review Section B survey, we began a strong collaborative spirit with Advising (thanks Juan Gallegos!) and the AFA is getting more and more clarified, with more students starting their AFA coursework every year. We have revamped the degree requirements and updated the steps to fit with current advising and ARRC protocol. We hold regular, advertised, AFA degree info sessions. We also developed an art gallery coordinator position. The gallery has been hosting cross-campus events, inviting guest speakers, artists, scientists, etc. and inviting the community onto our campus. Amanda Knowles filled this position and is mentoring work-study students and turning the gallery into an invigorating space for teaching and learning. We also brought art history back onto campus, first as part of the North Blend program but now as a regular course offering. In response to many faculty who were wishing they had more support in terms of assessment, pedagogy and delivery of instruction, we held a faculty retreat in spring of 2014. We would like to make this an annual tradition, not only because it boosts morale and the sense of community for continuing faculty but also it will help serve our 4 new PT faculty. We compensated our PT faculty and so were able to get 100% participation of the faculty teaching that quarter. We were also able to un-stack our sculpture class from the ceramics class and acquired a new room to do so.
Though there are many successes we’re able to celebrate (Mural! More AFA students! Art History! Sculpture! An in-progress digital arts room!) There are still many areas where faculty feel limited by the facilities and budget. A few concerns still on the table:
-Need support in learning about 4 year requirements of transfer and degree options. All faculty in the department do a lot of advising and don’t always know how to best serve the students in this way. More professional development that brings art teachers and advising staff across colleges (UW and other 4 year universities included). We could be stronger in this area.
-A budget for instructors to buy the class kits so we can demo on the same materials students are using in class. Students can always benefit from more direct instruction using the same tools they have before them.
-Improved ventilation in AS 1630 by installing a HEPA AIR CLEANER system. Improved ventilation throughout the art studios. Health/safety measures that will ensure our classes are accessible to all students.
-Room with tables/pedestals/ sliding walls that is always available as a critique space and when not in use as a critique space can be a gathering space for AFA and other art students to build community. The caliber of student work is limited by the space we have to review it in. We do not teach presentation of work well. Students make great work, but when it comes to presenting work (framing, mounting, lighting, documenting, etc.) our students are not as informed as they should be, especially if they are entering the art world with their AFA. Having no space to teach presentation greatly impacts our ability to do so.
-A fully functional digital arts room.
Describe briefly (one or two paragraphs) your goals for your program in the short term (up to one year) and longer term (one to three years).
Short-term goals:
-Get more involved with integrated studies. This is in the works already: Lynne and Jane will be teaching ART 100 & Film/Media & American Culture: Art as protest in the 2015-2016 school year. Our art instructors will need support on keeping the class cap low in order for more collaboration to happen. We cannot safely engage 44 students in an art studio. Our class cap is 20 so to work with IS would require greater supports in lowering class caps and access to larger art studios.
-Another FT faculty. We are 2 FT and 10 PT faculty. That’s only 16% full time. We are the second largest department in our division, second only to English. We often have four sections of the same or similar discipline taught by a combination of PT faculty. We would like to be more involved campus-wide but are limited by Kelda and Lynne’s teaching schedules. The coordinator position and both FT positions also regularly teach 3 preps and always 3 classes and so are maxed for time available to coordinate and support all the disciplines and PT instructors, several of which are new to teaching and/or new to North.
-Un-stack jewelry. 283 (casting) will be un-stacked next year. Would like to un-stack painting and printmaking and ceramics (wisely) over time.
-Ensure art gallery coordinator position moves from temporary to permanent.
Long term goals:
-Sculpture room needs storage and critique space. A more formal critique space in which to view and discuss 3 dimensional artwork has a significant impact on level of work that comes out of program. All classes would use this critique space.
-Blend set design room with sculpture and 3D design courses to strengthen both theater and art programs.
-Add another CFA. Currently, we offer a jewelry CFA that has been a great marketing tool for the art department as a whole, and ensures regular wait lists in jewelry. Another program that could do this could be printmaking, as it’s a discipline like jewelry that requires a studio and large, expensive tools. Students return to North every quarter in order to use the presses and have the instruction in printmaking. In order for this to happen, we will first need to be able to offer 1. Etching and 2. Screen printing. With built up printmaking facilities and the ability to offer a CFA in printmaking, we could draw a larger crowd that would feed into and spill over into our other courses. We could also think about a CFA in ceramics for similar reasons.
Action Plan:
Choose one of the goals you indicated above and write an action plan to achieve it (one or two paragraphs). Mention any resources you think you will need to accomplish that work.
Goal -Ensure art gallery coordinator position moves from temporary to permanent.
Resources we have / Resources we need / Activities we will undertake / Results we expect once goal is achieved / Outcomes / Overarching goals-Dean support
-Student support
-Art department faculty support
-Some faculty support from other disciplines (English, ESL)
-Great curator whose goals are to involve both Seattle and campus communities
-Growing awareness of gallery in the city’s greater art scene
-Students wanting to see more shows
-Students eager to learn about gallery operation and curation in their work study position. / -President & ETeam support
-Budget
-More faculty/staff on campus to view gallery as indispensible
-Help with advertising
-Better alignment with other campus advertising and communication
-IT resources to have a dynamic and up to date web presence. / -Gather evidence of assignments given across disciplines that show the integration of the gallery into curricula
-Document all exhibitions and supplemental educational experiences (discussions, artist talks, demos, etc.)
-Serve on committees and become a known person in the community
-Reach out to individual faculty and departments for personal invitations to events
-Teach students about the gallery in all classes
-Integrate every show and accompanying lecture into course curricula / -Greater attendance at shows and lectures
-Greater enrollment in art classes
-Greater awareness of North as a cultural and academic institution within Seattle and the region (i.e. shows get written up about in The Stranger, City Arts magazine, etc.)
-More cross-campus use of the gallery and therefore more awareness of our culture on campus (harder to quantify but it is palpable)
-Evidence of students using gallery on their own volition as a gathering space / -Students will feel safe and welcome in a place they know will never shut its doors!
-Students experience creative thinking not only in their responses to the art, but in how the artists themselves use creativity to address the same issues they are learning about in their classes (politics, gender, identity, race, science, theory, history, composition, communication… on and on.)
-Students that have served as work-study in the gallery will be able to move into gallery internships confident in their knowledge of gallery operation. / -Gallery coordinator should feel secure in their job and able/willing to put more time and energy into building campus community, versus defending their job.
--For the gallery to be considered a fixture on campus, much like Page One Writing Center, the Grove espresso stand, the Wellness Center, the Library, the bookstore.
-For all faculty and staff to use the gallery to enhance their curriculum and provide tactile, visual evidence of the concepts they are teaching.
-Greater sense of community for students and staff.
-Students making connections about artists and art, art and concept, art and technique, art and learning