Director's Welcome
Once again, it gives me great pleasure to give you the latest reports on what has been occurring here at the School of Art this past year. With the expansions of our programs, facilities, and continued enrollment increases, we have much to share.
If you have not visited us lately, we recently opened up an additional exhibition space in downtown Lubbock. The Satellite Gallery at LHUCA will provide us with an even more active presence within the Lubbock community. The space will be used to showcase School of Art student and faculty research. This space will also create opportunities for more collaborative engagements and outreach.
During the past year we have expanded our programs through the addition of the MA in Art History. This program will….investigate the intellectual and cultural products of human activity by focusing on artifacts, art works and monuments from around the globe. The MA will prepare our students for doctoral studies in art history and related fields. In addition to this program, we now offer a BA in Art. This liberal arts degree will offer a broader emphasis of visual arts and related general studies classes.As our programs grow, financial and development needs also rise. Our arts supporters’ Medici Circle continues to provide assistance with the creation of endowments; the group recently helped install the Real and Musgrave – Medici Circle Art Scholarship Endowment. Some of you have already contributed to several of our endowments and we appreciate your help with the earnings that is generated to support the students.
With the growth of the programs, the Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts realized the need for additional faculty within the School of Art. The college and university have allocated two new faculty lines to the school. We dedicated one of these lines to the Art History program, prompting a job search. This past spring we were able to hire Dr. Esen Öğüş-Uzun. She comes to us from Turkey via her PhD, University of Oxford degree in the field of Greek Art, Roman Art, Funerary Art, and Art and Provincial Identity in the Imperial Greek East. Our additional faculty line has been committed to the Communication Design program; a job search will continue this coming year.
As you may know, our new 3D Annex studio facilities saw our sculpture program complete their first year in the state of the art studio labs. These renovated facilities have greatly assisted recruitment activities within the metals, ceramics, and sculpture areas. The physical move of these programs facilitated the process of addressing renovations of former 3D labs in the Art Building, as well as addressing HVAC system deficiencies. Needless to say, we are excited about our expansions and growing visions for the facilities. I encourage you to come back home for a visit and to see how things have changed.
The 2012-2013 academic year will be another great adventure! The scheduled exhibitions, guest artists, fundraising events, Open House activities and community outreach events are but a few of our scheduled celebrations. Check out our webpage and look for these forthcoming events. We hope that you can come by and visit us here at the School of Art. Come back home and see what the school is doing, or just give us a call to update us about you.
Tina Fuentes, Professor
Director
July 2012