Pacific University’s art department was greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Notable changes include a decline of in-person classroom attendance, with students rotating between coming to class physically one week while attending remotely the next week, and vice versa. The art department has also been shaken by the fact that its art showcases have been moved online, due to the fact that it is difficult to properly showcase art from a distance compared to doing so in-person.
The dangerous COVID-19 outbreak saw a surge of improvisation among the art department. Tyler Brumfield, Assistant Professor of Art and Design and manager of the Cawein Gallery, has opened up on how he has made changes to his classes, in order to conserve materials and teach from a safe distance.
“I can’t speak for the entirety of our department and students, but I can say that we have adapted our teaching approaches and overcome some of the challenges one would expect from teaching studio art courses with remote students,” said Brumfield “For me, that has looked like mailing reused pizza boxes full of art supplies across the Western United States, and having my students do all critiques on the big screen, looking at image files of hand-done work.”
Professor Brumfield has also revealed how classes within the department have changed since the outbreak.
“For many of the studios, we have reduced the number of students meeting in the classroom at the same time so that we can maintain distancing. This means that, for some classes, students are only meeting with the instructor on one of the class days per week (half the students come in to class on one day and the other half come in on the other) We have set up cameras so that demonstrations can be viewed on zoom by students attending remotely. We’ve also set up a schedule for outside-of-class studio use to ensure that we never have more than the max occupancy for any given room.”
Terry O’Day, Pacific University’s art department chair, has backed Professor Brumfield’s statement, elaborating on how the classes within the art department have been set up in regards to the pandemic.
“For many of the studios, we have reduced the number of students meeting in the classroom at the same time so that we can maintain distancing. This means that, for some classes, students are only meeting with the instructor on one of the class days per week (half the students come in to class on one day and the other half come in on the other) We have set up cameras so that demonstrations can be viewed on zoom by students attending remotely. We’ve also set up a schedule for outside-of-class studio use to ensure that we never have more than the max occupancy for any given room.”
When art shows at Pacific University began to be held remotely in response to the increasing numbers of COVID-19 infections, the difference was definitely noticed among Pacific University’s art community.
“Online is easy access but does not give the full representation of seeing the work in physical space, especially the 3D work. It’s similar to watching a basketball game on tv and being there in person,” said O’Day.
Professor Brumfield has expressed a similar opinion, and has also discussed how said problem actually differs from artist to artist, depending on their focus.
“Well, traditionally, there is quite a difference between seeing art in person and viewing it virtually, but I think that that is becoming less of a big deal to folks in this century. Also, it depends on the artist and the type of work; if an artist makes work that is designed to be experienced in the round – like sculpture – or something that has an intimacy in mark-making – like drawing – then it becomes a challenge to re-create a satisfactory and comparable experience. Advantages to virtual shows would be that no work needs to be shipped and the work can reach a wider audience. Disadvantages would be that a person is not seeing the actual work but a representation of it, so the representation of the work is elevated above the work itself.”
Overall, despite the definite changes of life on Pacific University, the Art Department faculty remains positive that continuing to create art is a crucial step toward getting through the pandemic.
“Making art is a great way to get a creative high that can help you deal with stress and whatever hardships come your way” said O’Day.
Professor Brumfield shares the passion for art, and also remains optimistic about the art department’s survival of the pandemic.
“Artists are usually people that process experiences, emotions, thoughts, discoveries, information and identity through the creation of images, objects or experiences; this is how artists find or search for meaning in this life. It is of utmost importance to keep reaching.” — Max Pennington
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