For most art students, traveling abroad for a semester puts them a semester behind in school. Many of the classes they need for their degree simply are not offered on overseas campuses, which can deter them from participating. However, this summer, art and design majors have the opportunity to travel abroad while still working toward their degree.
The HUF Summer 2012 Art Program will include a course offering with classes like Multimedia Drawing, Marketing and Special Studies in Art, so art students can travel overseas and still take classes that they need for their degree.
The program will be held at HUF, and students will stay at the Villa and the Bible School facilities.
“The courses offered will be as integrated as possible,” said Stacy Schoen, associate professor of art. “For example, students taking the drawing course will experiment with different media such as ink, watercolor and pastel and will draw on-site the historical architecture they just learned about in their architectural history course. Students in photography may choose themes they are studying in their marketing course. We also want to take full advantage of our surroundings, the history, art, architecture, food and Italian culture.”
Previously there have been trips for art students, but this summer’s international program is geared specifically for art and design majors.
“We will all be ‘design geeks’ together,” said Amy Cox, assistant professor of art. “Which means that we can share in our passion for architecture and design rather than being in a typical travel group where only a few want to stop and photograph, sketch or admire good design.”
Cox will accompany the students overseas; this is her first time serving as faculty for an overseas program.
Sophomore Anna Vinzant said that she was excited to experience the art, architecture and culture of Italy with like-minded students.
“Ms. Schoen and Mrs. Cox have shared stories with us about how they always want to spend vastly more time just examining the details of the architecture and taking in the art of places than the other people they’ve traveled with,” Vinzant said. “People that aren’t as artistically inclined tend to want to see more sights and just touch the surface, whereas more artistically inclined people often want to see just as many sights but spend gigantic amounts of time at all of them.”
The program has a half-summer option as well as a full-summer option. With either option students not only experience Italy but also have the opportunity to take a week-long trip to enjoy the artistry and sights of Paris and London.
To prepare for the trip, students will also work on reports on points of interest before traveling and present their work on-site overseas for credit.
Cox said they hope to continue the program regularly and are considering doing it every two years, with rotating faculty.
For more information on the program, contact Cox at acox@harding.edu or Schoen at sschoen@harding.edu.
