Perspectives in the Creative Arts
A menu of three-hour courses to be taken from the first year
- To develop cognitive and affective appreciation for the process
and products of artistic creation.
- To participate actively in the creation of an artistic
- To reflect on the nature and sources of aesthetic value.
- To develop habits of participation in artistic and cultural
events that will lead to lifelong engagement within the creative
Six years ago, at the Center for Faith and Vocation
Workshop, Dr. Deb Skinner and Gautam Rao discovered they had
"mutual interest in each other's disciplines," Skinner recounts,
"and vowed to find a way to explore the relationship between
marketing and art." The result is Aesthetics and Design, a
course built on the premise that art is everywhere but few people
acknowledge it in the form of everyday practical objects. "From an
academic perspective, it's very satisfying to hear students report
that they never realized the role that art/design/aesthetics play
in the development of products and communications," Skinner
explains. The course "pushes them to see the world a little
differently, whether it's the wonder of the IMA just down the
street or the hidden talent they have for creating art."
Susan McGuire would agree about the importance of pushing
students to think differently about their world. In Latin
Dance, African Roots, students are introduced to the national
dances of Cuba, Brazil, Argentina and Peru through dance workshops
taught by professionals from the Indianapolis community.
Along the way, students discover the influence of indigenous
cultures, colonization, and the Atlantic slave trade on the
development of dances such as Samba, Rumba, Tango, and Capoeira.
"These dances carry great meaning in their respective cultures,"
McGuire offers, "fostering a sense of community and identity.
These people 'dance with belief'." Exposure to international
dance is vital, McGuire believes, "as students graduate into an
increasingly global society, any encounter that they have with
people from other cultures beforehand is immensely