By A. Brooke Whitley 04.11.2014

While most Milligan students celebrated Wonderful Wednesday, fine arts majors were on their way to New York City.

 

The trip opened with a morning at the 9/11 Memorial. It was a time of remembrance and quiet reflection over the two fountains that replace the foundation of the World Trade Center. On the way to the Museum of Modern Art, the students stopped at Trinity Church on Wall Street to study its architecture and photograph.

 

“People don’t realize how different things look in real life than they do in a book,” said Nick Blosser, assistant professor of art. “I think the big thing is for students to experience things the way they should be experienced.”

 

Students saw artwork like Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” in the MoMA. They even attended the Broadway production “If/Then” starring Idina Menzel from Disney’s “Frozen.”

 

“I’ve done theater and I’ve seen theater on a professional level regionally,” said theater major Tess Evans-Shell. “But to be able to see a Broadway with its level of professionalism and level of craft definitely made me view my major in a way that I hadn’t before. It was just really inspiring.”

 

Theater majors were also required to see an additional show, whether it was a Broadway play or an off-Broadway production.

 

Students also visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art where there was an appeal for photography, art and theater majors.

 

Photography majors were encouraged to view a special exhibition of Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris. Professor of photography Alice Anthony encouraged her students to spend time at Paris as Muse, an exhibit that included work from some of the photographers they have learned about such as Andre Kertesz, Alfred Stieglitz and Henri Cartier-Bresson.

 

Art majors were free to experience exhibits of all types within the MET. Some visited Piero della Francesca: Personal Encounters, which were European paintings. Others visited exhibits like Cleopatra’s Needle, made up of Egyptian art.

 

“We come up here to see the museums and galleries that hold the collection of photographs that we study over time,” said Anthony. “It’s good for them to see the museums and photographs they’ve only heard about and it gives them the New York experience, where the hub of the art and photography world lies.”

 

Robert Capa’s “In Color” was one collection of photographs that students were saw at the International Center of Photography. Capa was a photojournalist that most students on the trip had studied. Art and photography majors were required to visit four additional independent galleries.

 

“You get to see how big the art world is as a whole,” said Blosser. “When they see how competitive the art world is, it should make them work hard or humble them to realize how much they want to do something with art.”

 

Besides viewing professional work, photography students took advantage of the immense opportunities to photograph in Central Park, the street performers in Times Square and interesting subjects and cityscapes.

 

“I feel like the more exposure you have to other places and other people, the better artist you’re going to be,” said photography major Will Major. “Being closed minded is not what being an artist is about; it’s about being open to new places and experiences to become a more well-rounded, creative individual.”

 

The ART 400 New York trip is required for all fine arts majors. It is one credit hour and open to all students associated with the fine arts program. Students are required to write a five to seven page paper analyzing their artistic experience upon return. Anthony and Blosser have led the trip for over 20 years.

 

“There’s nothing that can replace actually being somewhere,” said Anthony. “We put it in the curriculum for that reason.”

 

Read “Perspectives: Comm Students Explore the Big Apple” by Josh Buckles to see how communications students took on the city!