The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, August 27, 1984, Image 18
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 — the Austin i joe Nick Pat mind is a lyr hat goes, “'1 put up a par “Austin h encourage enues to p .anages mi asco. “Wha m’t quite th “Progress opular by m Jennings al map nati ;oday there rate of the exas capita Patoski is lieves Austi linked to itrangling < :ards —the University owell Mye he issue i luded in a : f life that j n a state ol umber of 1 losed. Others ai ess disagn re merely ; ransition w upplants at All agree Advertising Index Bars: Beverages: Dance Instruction: Dentists: Entertainment: Electronics: Jewelers: Section B ...8B Laundries: Hank’s Laundry ...TOB ...3B Property Management: Autumn Heights 2B ,1GB Metro Properties .... 12B Newport ...TIB Sausalito 3B ...4B Walden Pond 4B ...5B Restaurants: Chanello’s ...TIB ...9B Chicken Oil .8,11B Dixie Chicken ...3,8B ...4B Specialty Stores: Balloon Bonanza 2B 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 1 ( i « i