This is the first in an occasional series, “Portraits of the Artists” which will take an in-depth look at UCLA’s artistic and performative departments, from music to film to theater. This week, the UCLA Department of Art is examined through the eyes of a graduating senior and an incoming freshman.

On her way to class, Jaqueline Cedar comes across a pyramid of recycled papers and a spiraling tower of plastic plates surrounded by students.

The students, who are producing artwork using common household materials, are taking part in an introductory sculpture class. Downstairs, students process their photos in one of many darkrooms.

At the other end of the Broad Art Center, Andrew Cannon walks through the halls to his drawing class while a flurry of art students files into their next class of the day.

Instead of heading to the back of a crammed lecture hall, however, relaxed music drifts through the air as these students gather with easels in a spacious room around a live model.

Such is the life of an art student at UCLA, part of a concentrated few who explore art as both a passion and their focus of study.

For Cedar, a fourth-year art student, and Cannon, a first-year, a love of art finds the two at different places on the same path, with Cedar preparing to graduate while Cannon embarks on his first quarter in the program.

Cedar summed up her feelings toward her time spent in the UCLA art program simply.

“I don’t want to leave,” she said.

Cedar chose to become an art student while she was in high school, electing to attend UCLA particularly for its strong art department with a curriculum that offers its students a wide range of specialties.

Art students must first take an assortment of lower-division courses in drawing, sculpture, painting, photography, new genres and ceramics along with art history before going into advanced classes in a specialized field.

“The fact that we take classes in all different areas gives you a broader perspective on art making,” Cedar said. “It’s not just about focusing on one particular medium, but instead thinking about the greater ideas and concepts you’re interested in. That’s how you find your specialty.”

After taking the lower-division courses, Cedar focused more exclusively on painting and photography, taking several advanced courses in each field.

Cannon also found majoring in art to be an easy decision.

“Art is the one thing I’ve never been intimidated about,” he said.

Though new to the program, Cannon is quite identifiable as an art student: Just take a visit to his floor in Dykstra Hall.

With drawings and cartoons decking the walls, most often of “Where’s Waldo?” figures in various moods and personas, the hall is enlivened with his designs.

Cannon’s opinion of the major so far has been a positive one.

“The program is really open, which is nice as an artist because you don’t feel restrained,” he said.

“We have projects, and we have things that we have to complete, but at the same time, it’s still very open for your own personal ideas and your own creativity. The classes are small, so you get a lot of one-on-one time with the professor. And all the teachers are actual working artists who are amazing in their own right,” he said.

Cedar also cites the faculty as an important aspect of the major’s appeal.

“They are totally involved and are incredible teachers and also professional artists, so you get a great opportunity to work with some phenomenal people in a really personal environment,” Cedar said.

This intimate environment separates the department from most classes at UCLA.

In a school where 200 students is a common enrollment number, the art major offers classes with under 20 students at the program’s new home in the eight-story Broad Art Center.

Despite its atypical class size, the art major shares the rigor of other majors. Cannon had to adjust to a more challenging approach to art with his introductory drawing class.

“We might use a really untraditional medium, like making all drawings with wet charcoal, which is like drawing with mud,” Cannon said. “So you don’t necessarily get beautiful drawings, but at the same time, you’re thinking about what you’re drawing a lot more, which is important.”

Students from other majors are discovering that the art students’ curriculum is just as strenuous as any South Campus science class.

“The major seems useful but very intensive,” said first-year mathematics student Tyler Conover. “I’ve met a lot of art majors who have had to work really hard. They’ve also had to buy a lot of really expensive materials.”

Cannon is also finding that students from other fields respect the art major.

“I thought going into college, people would think, ‘Oh you’re not in a real major,’” Cannon said. “I get that a little, but people are usually kind of impressed and a lot of times a little awed because it’s just so different from other majors.

“People are in these science classes and are kind of intrigued that I’m in art classes instead of premed and chemistry. And it’s nice to have that difference.”

After a long day of classes, some students may attempt to bury their textbooks from sight and avoid thinking about the upcoming biology or history exam.

For Cedar and Cannon, however, art rounds out their lives.

A co-chair of the VidArt club, Cedar takes an active role in the art community at UCLA.

The club gathers together inside the Richard Serra sculpture – holding an art meeting inside an actual work of art – and is involved in music and film as well.

Cedar also participates in ArtsBridge, a course allowing students to teach art to middle and high school students, and works at the UCLA Hammer Museum as a student educator, giving her further insight into not only the art field, but education as well.

For Cannon, graphic novels and illustrations are a possible career route, but for now, his focus rests on just fulfilling the major.

“Art is my passion; it’s what I love to do,” Cannon said. “I just want to take it to the end of the line.”