Art Majors are on the Rise at Campbell University

The Campbell University Art Department reported a major enrollment increase of approximately 70 percent in fall 2004. Art Area Coordinator, Breck Smith, said that because of certain mitigating factors the rise in enrollment is hard to track, but he estimates the number has increased from approximately 45 majors in fall 2002 to 70 in fall 2004. To what does he attribute the increase? Smith can’t say definitely, but he is willing to make an educated guess. For the first time in department history, a full-time professor of graphic design, Daniel Rodgers, has joined the art faculty.
         “Before that, we’ve had adjuncts in that role and a high rate of turnover,” Smith said. “Students don’t like that. They like continuity. I think that is the main factor.”
It doesn’t hurt matters that the graphic design professor is a real asset to the department either, Smith added. A designer and illustrator, Rodgers earned an undergraduate degree from Bridgewater College in Virginia and a Master of Fine Arts in illustration from Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. Prior to coming to Campbell, he served as an assistant professor of graphic design and visual communications at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington and as art director for The Inspiration Networks in Charlotte, NC. Rodgers also served as creative director for a multimedia publishing company in Hampton, VA.
        “His broad background and experience are a major resource for our students,” Smith said. “From advertising and magazine layout to Web sites, anything that has to be ‘designed’ reflects the hand of a graphic designer.”
         Associate professor of art and chairman of the Art Exhibit Committee, Larkin Tysor understands the fundamentals of a good Art Department. “I would say that having a person here full-time rounds out the program’s two-dimensional and three-dimensional construction,” said Tysor, “Breck with drawing and painting, me with sculpture and pottery, and the computer expertise of Daniel Rodgers.”
         While the structure of the department, which consists of undergraduate Graphic Design and Studio Art programs, is based on a traditional approach, emphasizing the techniques of drawing and painting, it also embraces the latest technology, Tysor added.
“I would like to see the program continue to grow in other areas of graphic design such as animation, but continue to be rooted in the same traditional philosophy,” he said.
That philosophy is the glorification of the figure. Even three-dimensional art such as sculpture and abstract art are viewed from the same perspective. “Of course it’s all grounded in the reflection of creation,” said Tysor, “the figure being the pinnacle of creation, which is a Christian perspective.”
         Studio Art major, Asher Hunt, a sophomore from Lexington, NC, likes Campbell’s approach. “They give you the freedom to explore what you like to do best and push you to explore your creativity, but they also give you a good foundation to build on,” he said.

 

Bulletin 0064-3/13/05