In 2009, we, the faculty, had an idea about the Visual Arts program @ Roger Williams University. We believed that we could be the place that would attract good students with the desire to become good artists. We believed that a small, visual arts program in a small Liberal Arts University in a small town, in a small state could be distinctive. We saw in our students a desire to transcend expectations, to strive for excellence, to be respected. We saw an opportunity to serve not only the School (of Architecture, ART and Historic Preservation) and the University as a whole but also an opportunity to become a program with a new sense of itself. With a contemporary vision, creative programming and an interdisciplinary spirit, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree track was created for the 2010-2011 catalog, thus transforming the Visual Arts program at RWU and creating a path for those students whose commitment to art-making is paramount. That path is filling with good students, serious students and good, young artists who are diverse and individualistic - who are beginning to understand something of what it means to be an artist today.
Now, the first student has crossed the threshold from the academic to the "real" world holding this degree in hand. We couldn't have picked a better student, artist and person than Phil Shaw. An iconoclast, Phil is already on his way to becoming a dynamic and compelling artist to watch. We know that he has great things ahead of him and we couldn't be more proud. Congratulations Phil!
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RedNeck-Merman. 2011. 35MM Film/Digital Photo. |
