Director's Welcome
It is my distinct pleasure to welcome you to the Texas Tech University School of Art website. This coming 2009-10 academic year is developing into another exciting year for us and I would like to share a few words with you to let you know about many of the inspiring things that are going on this next year.
Among the exciting exhibitions that School of Art will present through the Landmark Arts Program are Contents Under Pressure: The Contemporary Letterpress Poster,(December 2009) curated by Dirk Fowler, Associate Professor of Communication Design and the Clay on the Wall: 2010 Clay National, presented along with a stellar Ceramics Symposium in the recently completed Helen DeVitt Jones Ceramic Studio of the 3D Art Annex (Spring 2010). In November, Dr. James Elkins, E.C. Chadbourne Professor & Chair in the Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago as well as Head of History of Art at the University College Cork, Ireland will be the Ryla T. & John F. Lott Endowment Sponsored Scholar in Residence at the School of Art on November.
For the past 40 years the art program has existed within the same physical structure; however, the impact of our continued growth has brought us to the point that expanding the existing facilities has become a necessity. The Jewelry Design and Metalsmithing area, under the direction of Professor Robly Glover, has been the first of the 3D studio art area to move into the 3D Studio Art Annex. Most recently (spring 2009) the Ceramics program has also moved into their renovated area. This move was organized and supervised by Associate Professor Von Venhuizen. Funds are still being raised in order to ensure that construction will proceed accordingly and that Sculpture move into the renovated annex within the not too distant future.
Our program has grown in numbers and in prestige in recent years. Twenty-eight tenured and tenure-track faculty plus nearly as many adjunct instructors provide instruction for approximately 400 undergraduate majors, around 60 graduate students, and roughly 1,100 non-majors each semester. Our faculty is internationally and culturally diverse, offering students a breadth of experience and education unparalleled in our history. The research and scholarship of our faculty is well recognized in many quarters while the success stories of the current students and alumni are many.
The continued generous support from the Helen Jones Foundation and The CH Foundation, both of Lubbock, make it possible to have outstanding exhibitions and speakers program to support the curriculum. This support, in conjunction with the generosity of many alumni and friends of the School of Art, is made manifest in the various endowments which have been setup to support undergraduate and graduate student scholarships.
While I enjoy the challenge of serving as Interim Director of the School of Art, I am especially delighted to report that the search for a full time Director will be progressing smoothly this next year. And, with good fortune, a new Director will be in place by fall 2010 in order that they, along with our internal governing structure, guide the School of Art to its next level of growth and progress.
Tina Fuentes, Professor
Interim Director