This is the first in an occasional series, “Portraits
of the Artists” which will take an in-depth look at
UCLA’s artistic and performative departments, from music to
film to theater. This week, the UCLA Department of Art is examined
through the eyes of a graduating senior and an incoming
freshman.
On her way to class, Jaqueline Cedar comes across a pyramid of
recycled papers and a spiraling tower of plastic plates surrounded
by students.
The students, who are producing artwork using common household
materials, are taking part in an introductory sculpture class.
Downstairs, students process their photos in one of many
darkrooms.
At the other end of the Broad Art Center, Andrew Cannon walks
through the halls to his drawing class while a flurry of art
students files into their next class of the day.
Instead of heading to the back of a crammed lecture hall,
however, relaxed music drifts through the air as these students
gather with easels in a spacious room around a live model.
Such is the life of an art student at UCLA, part of a
concentrated few who explore art as both a passion and their focus
of study.
For Cedar, a fourth-year art student, and Cannon, a first-year,
a love of art finds the two at different places on the same path,
with Cedar preparing to graduate while Cannon embarks on his first
quarter in the program.
Cedar summed up her feelings toward her time spent in the UCLA
art program simply.
“I don’t want to leave,” she said.
Cedar chose to become an art student while she was in high
school, electing to attend UCLA particularly for its strong art
department with a curriculum that offers its students a wide range
of specialties.
Art students must first take an assortment of lower-division
courses in drawing, sculpture, painting, photography, new genres
and ceramics along with art history before going into advanced
classes in a specialized field.
“The fact that we take classes in all different areas
gives you a broader perspective on art making,” Cedar said.
“It’s not just about focusing on one particular medium,
but instead thinking about the greater ideas and concepts
you’re interested in. That’s how you find your
specialty.”
After taking the lower-division courses, Cedar focused more
exclusively on painting and photography, taking several advanced
courses in each field.
Cannon also found majoring in art to be an easy decision.
“Art is the one thing I’ve never been intimidated
about,” he said.
Though new to the program, Cannon is quite identifiable as an
art student: Just take a visit to his floor in Dykstra Hall.
With drawings and cartoons decking the walls, most often of
“Where’s Waldo?” figures in various moods and
personas, the hall is enlivened with his designs.
Cannon’s opinion of the major so far has been a positive
one.
“The program is really open, which is nice as an artist
because you don’t feel restrained,” he said.
“We have projects, and we have things that we have to
complete, but at the same time, it’s still very open for your
own personal ideas and your own creativity. The classes are small,
so you get a lot of one-on-one time with the professor. And all the
teachers are actual working artists who are amazing in their own
right,” he said.
Cedar also cites the faculty as an important aspect of the
major’s appeal.
“They are totally involved and are incredible teachers and
also professional artists, so you get a great opportunity to work
with some phenomenal people in a really personal
environment,” Cedar said.
This intimate environment separates the department from most
classes at UCLA.
In a school where 200 students is a common enrollment number,
the art major offers classes with under 20 students at the
program’s new home in the eight-story Broad Art Center.
Despite its atypical class size, the art major shares the rigor
of other majors. Cannon had to adjust to a more challenging
approach to art with his introductory drawing class.
“We might use a really untraditional medium, like making
all drawings with wet charcoal, which is like drawing with
mud,” Cannon said. “So you don’t necessarily get
beautiful drawings, but at the same time, you’re thinking
about what you’re drawing a lot more, which is
important.”
Students from other majors are discovering that the art
students’ curriculum is just as strenuous as any South Campus
science class.
“The major seems useful but very intensive,” said
first-year mathematics student Tyler Conover. “I’ve met
a lot of art majors who have had to work really hard. They’ve
also had to buy a lot of really expensive materials.”
Cannon is also finding that students from other fields respect
the art major.
“I thought going into college, people would think,
“˜Oh you’re not in a real major,'” Cannon
said. “I get that a little, but people are usually kind of
impressed and a lot of times a little awed because it’s just
so different from other majors.
“People are in these science classes and are kind of
intrigued that I’m in art classes instead of premed and
chemistry. And it’s nice to have that difference.”
After a long day of classes, some students may attempt to bury
their textbooks from sight and avoid thinking about the upcoming
biology or history exam.
For Cedar and Cannon, however, art rounds out their lives.
A co-chair of the VidArt club, Cedar takes an active role in the
art community at UCLA.
The club gathers together inside the Richard Serra sculpture
““ holding an art meeting inside an actual work of art ““
and is involved in music and film as well.
Cedar also participates in ArtsBridge, a course allowing
students to teach art to middle and high school students, and works
at the UCLA Hammer Museum as a student educator, giving her further
insight into not only the art field, but education as well.
For Cannon, graphic novels and illustrations are a possible
career route, but for now, his focus rests on just fulfilling the
major.
“Art is my passion; it’s what I love to do,”
Cannon said. “I just want to take it to the end of the
line.”