Visual Arts Briefs

The second in a series of one-on-one conversations with SVA’s department chairs.

Rose Viggiano chairs the MAT Art Education Department, which is built around the hands-on experience of teaching in New York City’s public schools and SVA’s community-based programs. It’s how students in the department learn course development, classroom management and educational theory. Viggiano, who recently became co-president of the University Council for Art Education, talked to the Briefs as the department was in the process of surveying graduates about the impact of their studies at SVA for a study that will be presented at the National Art Education Association convention in April.

What makes your department unique?
The first thing is that the students are artists–and that’s the most important thing, because that’s where their inspiration comes from. When they get here, we teach them pedagogy. How do you take everything you love and translate that into lesson plans, and communicate with children?

One of the public programs the department offers is Art for Kids, weekly art classes for children in grades kindergarten through 9. How is that going?
They come on Saturday and Sunday now because it’s so popular! And a person who had gone through Art for Kids was accepted to go to SVA, which has always been our dream—that you would get turned on to art and then continue to study it.

What does this kind of experience mean for your students?
Schools are part of the community, and teachers are in service to the community. If we can expose our students to Art for Kids, to the Liberty Partnerships Program, or to a class we have in a shelter, they really become a part of that community, and begin to see the impact of art on that community. They also get to see the different kinds of environments they would feel best about teaching in.

Your incoming students include successful designers, photographers and fine artists. Why do they decide to teach?
They want to give back, and they’re coming from jobs where they don’t feel they’re giving back, or it’s not rewarding enough. People who teach are people who like to give back. They love their subject and want to pass it on. It’s a rite of passage.

What impresses you most about your students?
How hard they work, and their transformation. I’m very impressed by how open they are to allowing this change to occur, because that’s the most important thing. If they’re open and flexible, and love making art, then you have the makings of a really good teacher.

What do you like most about chairing the department?
My students’ absolute love of art, and children. There’s nothing more exciting than to watch someone’s creative process unfold. I think what makes art teachers art teachers is shared enjoyment, just watching that spark.

Image: Photo of Rose Viggiano

SVA President David Rhodes recently gave a keynote address at the University Council for Art Education (UCAE) symposium. The symposium, titled The Future of Arts Education In this Time of Economic and Political Turmoil, was organized by UCAE Co-presidents Gary Bates and Rose Viggiano, the latter of whom is chair of the MAT Art Education Department at SVA. The conference was held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Friday, September 25.

The goal of the symposium was to present an open dialogue on the role of visual arts in education. Topics included the U.S. Department of Education’s role in ensuring that the visual arts continue as a core academic subject, and the importance of certified art teachers. Other areas of concern, many of which Rhodes touched on in his keynote, included grants for art education, the repercussions of the No Child Left Behind legislation on art education, and the role of higher education in transforming the current status of art education in public schools. According to Viggiano, who introduced the SVA President’s speech, “David Rhodes reinforced his ongoing commitment to the invaluable role of art education in the contemporary world.”

Last month, the Institute of Jamaica presented its annual Musgrave Medals, which honor achievements in the fields of literature, art and science. At the awards ceremony in downtown Kingston, alumnus Howard Moo-Young (G 1967) received a silver Musgrave Medal for his contributions to the field of photography. The prestigious Jamaican prize was created over 100 years ago as a memorial to Sir Anthony Musgrave, former Governor of Jamaica who founded the Institute in 1879.
Another prize went to MAT Art Education Department faculty member Andrew J. Bencsko. He received a 2008 American Graphic Design Award for his layout work on the department’s most recent catalog, which features work created by students in his Technology in Art Education course. The award was given by Graphic Design USA, a monthly magazine aimed at graphic design professionals.