A week of experiencing great art is ahead for Wabash College art majors over Spring Break.
Professor of Art Greg Huebner will take art majors to New York City where juniors and seniors will visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Modern Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art. The trip will also include visits to numerous galleries in the Chelsea, SoHo and Mid-Town districts. Additionally, art professors Doug Calisch and Elizabeth Lee will accompany the students on the trip.
"An art student can only get so much from studying a reproduction of a work of art, be it in slide form or digital reproduction," Huebner said. "Reproductions are even more limiting in this "postmodern" world where installation art and performance art are primary means of art production.
"Our trip to New York will not only allow our students to take in the current movements of contemporary art production, but it will also place them in an environment that is home to some of the world’s greatest historical and modernist collections."
In the museum visits, the students will gain first-hand experience of important historical works of art. For the artist and art historian, viewing art in person is the only way to truly see the intent and skill of the work’s creator. The visit to contemporary galleries will expose the students to the variety of different kinds of art being produced and will expand their understanding of the contemporary art world.
"For an art major studying in West Central Indiana, it is critical to see important collections and contemporary galleries," Huebner added.
"We also intend to do a great deal of walking to study the architecture and history of New York City, which will include a trip to Ellis Island and the Lower East Side Tenement Museum."
And like most Immersion Trips it won’t be all work. "We hope to attend a play and I will be checking out the jazz venues," Huebner added.
Most of the Immersion Trips require classroom work when students return to Crawfordsville. The art students will keep a daily journal which will serve as the basis for a written paper reflecting on the week’s experience and the value of the trip to the student’s individual development as an artist and art historian.