Page 2BAThe Battalion/Monday, August 27, 1984
Target 2000 plan improving
condition of the arts at A&M
By ROBIN BLACK
Senior Staff Writer
At Texas A&M, an institution
noted nationally for its traditions, vi
sual and fine arts have traditionally
been excluded from the mainstream
of campus life. Changes are in the
planning stage, however, to increase
the amount of both academic and
extracurricular humanities at the
University.
Target 2000, a long-range plan
created by the Texas A&M Board of
Regents, was formally introduced in
May 1983 to improve existing re
sources at the University and create
new ones — such as humanities and
line arts — that had previously been
absent.
Now, just over a year since the
general report for Target 2000 was
published, signs of progress in the
humanities area can be seen. The va
rious colleges are upgrading their
departments and reworking degree
plans; a visual arts degree — the first
art degree of any kind to be consid
ered at Texas A&M — has been pro
posed by the College of Architecture
and Environmental Design; plans
for a special events center are in the
works; and a core curriculum —
with a minimum humanities require
ment — is in the developmental
stage.
The proposed art degree, one of
several presented to the state Coor
dinating Board in recent years, fo
cuses on a strong technical base with
an emphasis on computer graphics.
The third and fourth years of study
will have a strong base in design
graphics, and the student will choose
one of two areas of specialization.
One area of specialization will be
toward design media and includes
drawing and painting, computer
graphics and commercial design.
The other area will be directed to
ward 3-dimensional design and in
cludes engineering and technical
courses in metals and casting.
This, combined with courses in
wood, will provide a student with an
opportunity to develop sculptural as
well as practical and functional skills,
said environmental design Prof. Joe
Hutchinson.
Hutchinson is a member of the
committee appointed within the col
lege to outline the visual arts degree
plan.
Hutchinson said the committee
sees the new art program as a natu
ral offshoot of the current environ
mental design program.
“Environmental design has gotten
to be more directed toward architec
ture rather than the creative pro
Arguments against an art degree
have been that Texas A&M is pri
marily a technical university and
there is no need for an art degree
here since the University of Texas
has a strong liberal arts program.
Hutchinson said he feels the pro
posed degree stands a better chance
of approval from the Coordinating
Board because of the emphasis on
Target 2000, a long-range plan created by the Texas
A&M Board of Regents, was formally introduced in
May 1983 to improve existing resources at the Univer
sity and create new ones — such as humanities and fine
arts — that had previously been absent.
Arguments against a tentative part of Target 2000 —an
art degree at Texas A&M—have been that the Univer
sity is primarily a technical university and there is no
need for an art degree here since the University of
Texas has a strong liberal arts program.
gram that was first developed,” he
said. “This is primarily because of
the changing economic picture
within the building trades.”
He said Charles Hicks and John
Greer, administrators in the envi
ronmental design and architecture
college, have long felt, along with
the art faculty, that there has been a
need within the college and within
the University to develop a visual
studies program.
“I think we can also say safely that
the University adminstration feels
sympathetic towards our proposal,”
Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson said the basic core for
the new arts program will be the
same as in environmental design and
landscape architecture.
He also said all students in the vi
sual arts program will be required to
develop a strong portfolio to aid in
getting a job after graduation or to
use to help get into graduate school.
The proposed new degree plan is
one of several art degrees that have
been presented in recent years, but
all those before met with opposition
either with the Board of Regents or
with the state Coordinating Board.
technical skills.
“The committee feels that there is
a need to change the traditional B.A.
in fine arts toward a more practical
curriculum which will allow students
the opportunity to be competitive
within the job market,” he said.
The committee is in the final
stages of planning the program and
has already started trying to sell the
idea to earn support before it is for
mally presented to the Coordinating
Board. To help push the program,
the committfee has made an 8-min
ute videotape describing all facets of
the new program.
If the program is approved, there
will be a lot of changes going on
within the environmental design and
architecture departments.
Hutchinson said if the degree
E lan is approved, it would probably
e operational by the fall 1985 se
mester and he anticipates the pro
gram will grow to more than 400 stu
dents in seven to 10 years of
operation.
Some sign of life is finally visible
in talk of building a special events
center on campus.
Present facilities — those in the
Rudder complex as well as G. Rollie
White Coliseum and the Grove—are
insufficient for the activities they’re
used for. G. Rollie White seats only
about 6,000 and has deplorable
acoustics and Rudder Auditorium
seats only 2,500. Texas A&M has an
enrollment of more than 36,000 stu
dents.
Because of the archaic facilities,
campus organizations such as MSC
Townhall and MSC Townhal-
1/Broadway sometimes have trouble
attracting the same entertainment
that the Frank Erwin special events
center at the University of Texas
does.
Last spring the Board of Regents
finally approved plans authorizing a
preliminary design for a special
events center at Texas A&M. The
architect hired to do the initial plans
is none other than the same architect
who designed the Frank Erwin cen
ter.
Two requests the regents have
made about the preliminary design
is that it seat more than 17,000 peo
ple (the Erwin center seats about
17,000) and that it not look like the
Erwin center.
Estimated cost for the center at
Texas A&M is well over $1 million,
and it probably won’t be completed
until sometime in or after 1986.
Even with elaborate plans, the re
gents’ dreams of a more culturally
oriented university won’t be realized
for at least a few more years. Until
then, there are some cultural activ
ities at Texas A&M that students can
take advantage of.
Two organizations on campus —
MSC Arts Committee and the Uni
versity Art Exhibits — bring a good
deal of culture to the University each
year.
Other programs studets can par
ticipate in include: the acting group
Aggie Players; vocal music programs
including the Century Singers (a
mixed vocal group), Women’s Cho
rus (female vocal group), the Sing
ing Cadets (male vocal group) and
the Reveilliers (mixed modern/jazz
group); the Texas A&M jazz band
and symphonic band; and the Dance
Arts Society.
Texas ranch town
gets new museum
United
United Press International
MARFA — The new $4 million
Art Museum of the Pecos — a
345-acre showplace of modern
art funded by the DIA Founda
tion of New York City — is sched
uled to open to the public next
year.
But already the residents of
this West Texas farm and ranch
community are divided in their
opinions of the concrete boxes
and crushed automobile sculp
tures acclaimed by big-city art
critics.
The brainchild of sculptor
Donald Judd, the new museum is
located on the site of Fort D.A.
Russell, home of the last cavalry
regiment to be phased out of the
U.S. Army.
In addition to Judd’s creations,
the museum will house the works
of John Chamberlain, Dan Flavin
and the late Barnett Newman. All
four are nationally renown in art
circles.
Fifteen giant concrete box
sculptures by Judd already are
displayed in a grassy meadow that
was once the fort’s parade
grounds, Antelope Field.
In the heart of downtown
Marfa, population 2,466, the DIA
foundation is renovating the wool
and mohair building to house
Chamberlain’s crushed auto
mobile sculptures as part of the
museum complex.
Terry White, manager of an
arts and crafts shop in Marfa, said
opinions in the town are divided
over the aesthetic qualities of the
art.
“Personally, I think it’s a good
idea that we have this museum to
expose our people to different
types of art,” she said. “The gen
eral idea of art around here is a
painting of some desert scene.”
Marco Giles, a retired school
teacher, said he has kept up with
the work of modern artists but
has not been able to develop a
taste for the concrete blocks,
which can be seen from long dis
tances on the highways leading
into Marfa.
Giles said he could not help but
think of all the people who could
be fed with the $15,000 per slab
of concrete used in the boxes.
But 76-year-old Harry Firs),
brook, a Marfa oldtimer, thiiti
the new museum is an assettbji
city and admires Chamberlain's
ability to take junk and malt
something out of it."
At the old fort on the outsiirt
of Marfa, the concrete boxscnlj.
tures are located about 200 fee
apart from each other on the kis
toric field. The 1st Cavalry Reji
ment of the U.S. Army bid fate
well to faithful mounts«
Antelope Field Jan. 25, 1932,
according to a photograph in tie
administrative offices of themii
seum, a renovated barracks.Tie
ceremony is believed to hast
marked the last use of horses Is
the U.S. Army.
“We’re renovating everything,
but we’re still trying to present
the nature of the military post,
she said.
Although the post was dosed
in the 1930s, the installation was
reopened during World War II
to nouse German prisoners of
war. Two long warehouse-like
buildings called gunsheds whicl
once housed German prisonets
are now the permanent nomefor
56 of Judd’s box sculptures made
of unfinished aluminum.
“Museums that house sculp
ture need to be spacious," Camp
liell explained. Flans call fora
new domed roof for the gun
sheds. Brick walls were ripped
out, replaced by plate glass sides
“The new roof will cool the
building naturally,” she said. “We
will use available sunlight only
when it is I letter for theworksof
art, as well as practical.”
By the end of the year, Camp
bell said, the museum will com
plete the renovation of a barracks
to house the astonishing floures
cent lighting sculptures by Fla™
that bend around corridors.
Marfa promoters hope the ne»
museum will attract modern an
lovers and tourists to bolster tht
economy of the drought-ridden
cattle-industry town, about 201)
miles southeast of El Paso.
The decentralization of an
museums from big cities to
smaller communities is a (rendof
the future, he said.
AUSTIN —
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JOB
Student Organization:
A&M Symphonic Band
2B
Vocal group offers audiences variety
By JEFF WRIGHT
Reporter
The Century Singers, established
in 1971 as the New Tradition Sing
ers, is the only mixed choir among
the four vocal groups at Texas
A&M.
The original name recognized
as the “
women as the "new tradition.” The
present name was adopted in 1976
in honor of the University’s centen
nial.
“Most choral literature is written
for mixed groups, so we have a lot of
freedom in our choice of music,” di
rector Patty Fleitas says. “We take
advantage of that freedom and cre
ate an exciting and fun way to rep
resent Texas A&M.”
The choir’s purpose is to rep
resent Texas A&M in the commu
nity and in other cities. About 12 to
15 concerts are booked for the year,
including conventions and church
services. Although about 60 percent
of its repertoire is classical, the choir
performs music from all periods of
literature and for all types of audi
ences.
“We try to appeal to all audiences
by offering a diverse selection of
music,” Fleitas says. “We perform
pop music, show tunes and even a
little jazz.”
The choir rehearses a minimum
of four and a half hours a week. Re
hearsals are at noon Monday,
Wednesday and Friday and 6:30
p.m. Tuesday.
Any Texas A&M student is eligi
ble for membership in the choir
through a vocal audition and an in
formal interview. Auditions are held
the first two weeks of each semester.
The audition, which consists of sing
ing a familiar song and sight reading
(singing a song you have never seen
before), is given by the director. The
interview is conducted by a commit
tee from the choir.
New members are called Pollards.
They are named for Rick I
former Century Singer whowj
the choir for 13 semesters. F
have certain duties that help tkt
earn the right to be aCenturySin
member.
Kathleen Campbell, a CenH
Singer, says it’s fun tobeinckt
You get to meet a lot of people]t
wouldn’t ordinarily meet, sincep
pie from all over the campusjot
the choir, she says.
“The neatest thing about dioiil
that it’s a group of Aggies thatshu]
a common love of music,” Caitipl
says. “It gives you a real sensed
longing.”
One
Two
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
SYMPHONIC BAND
FR
Balloon
Bonanza
Meet August 28th at 12:30 P.M. for information
and Tryout Platerial
— membership by audition each September
— instrumentation set for 75
— activities include concerts and a spring trip
— rehearsals twice a week
— open to all students
Begun in 1973, the Symphonic Band offers students at Texas A&M University
the opportunity to play their instruments with others from across Texas and the
nation. Rehearsing twice weekly, Tuesday and Thursday, from 12:30-1:45 p.m.,
the band allows students to play in a group while concentrating on their major
field of study.
764-0950
1405 Harvey Rd.
(across from Sealrs)
College Station
822-1617
405 N. Pierce
(Mike’s Grocery)
Bryan
Whatever the occasion,
we'll add fun to it
AUTUMN HEIGHT
For additional information, call or visit:
Phone: 845-3529
Bill J. Dean
Director Symphonic Band
E. V. Adams Band Bldg.
College Station, Texas 77843
4 - FLEXES
► On site manager
► Close to A&M
► 2 bdrm., 2 bath
► Water, Cable pd.
► W/D Conn.
► On Shuttle Route
► $200 lease deposit
$375
846-0506
1114 A Autumn Circle
College Station, Tx.
J
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