Art students challenged by center’s rocky start
By Vanessa Frigillana
June 10, 2007 9:04 p.m.
Artists often claim that a transitory existence encourages the creative process. If so, UCLA’s graduating art students are on their way to success.
After years of shuttle rides to the Kinross Building in Westwood, art students have finally found themselves back on the main campus with this year’s opening of the new Broad Art Center.
Although freshmen and transfers were unaffected by the migration to North Campus, graduating students had mixed feelings about breaking away from familiarity and having to adjust in their last year to a new academic setting that was still being remodeled.
“It’s definitely nice to be back on campus with all the other majors.” said Michelle Kim, a graduating ceramics student. “(But Kinross) was just so personal, and it was where all the art majors hung out. … We’d all kind of bump shoulders everyday.”
While the Broad Art Center supplies more space for studio work, the building required some adjusting to, particularly its vast size and rather imposing glass and metal structure.
“Kinross was a building that was just live-in, so it felt very familiar,” Aaron Valenzuela, a graduating sculpture student, said. “Here everything is very new and very white and clean and sort of clinical.”
In addition to the change in atmosphere, academics in the Broad Art Center during fall quarter proved a challenge. Problems with the brand new facilities and a lack of equipment disheartened several students, such as Kim, at the beginning of the year.
“Some floors didn’t have hot water, some doors didn’t open, and for me, since I’m a ceramics concentration, some of our kilns weren’t working so we couldn’t make projects for the first quarter,” Kim said.
Mark Dadlani, a graduating photography student, found similar difficulties.
“There ended up being no way to weld sculptures … because they didn’t have the facility made correctly for it,” he said.
Some students grew so disheartened with the lack of resources that they put off their pursuit of the art major to wait for the building’s capabilities to rise up to par.
“Some of my friends took the quarter off because there was no point in paying for a quarter … and not being able to use anything,” Dadlani said.
But most students, like Valenzuela, chose to adapt rather than take time off.
“They’ve been working on getting facilities up and running, and … it always does take some time,” Valenzuela said. “When you move into something new, you have to work out the kinks and find out what you need and customize it to the needs of each department.”
But throughout the rocky first quarter and a half, one aspect of the art program remained a constant: its professors. No matter which building they were in, the strong bonds between teachers and pupils kept art students motivated and focused at both Kinross and Broad.
“(Since) we take the same professors over and over again we really get to know them,” Kim said. “And since we’re making art, and it’s not like they’re just reading your essays ““ they actually watch you work everyday. … You create this bond with them, and you really get to know them.”
And when it comes down to it, switching spaces is only a lesser aspect of a graduating art student’s experience over the past several years.
“It’s a good arts program,” Dadlani said. “It may not have everything technical but it teaches you how to think and how to be a good artist.”By vanessa frigillana
A&E contributor
Artists often claim that a transitory existence encourages the creative process. If so, UCLA’s graduating art students are on their way to success.
After years of shuttle rides to the Kinross Building in Westwood, art students have finally found themselves back on the main campus with this year’s opening of the new Broad Art Center.
Although freshmen and transfers were unaffected by the migration to North Campus, graduating students had mixed feelings about breaking away from familiarity and having to adjust in their last year to a new academic setting that was still being remodeled.
“It’s definitely nice to be back on campus with all the other majors.” said Michelle Kim, a graduating ceramics student. “(But Kinross) was just so personal, and it was where all the art majors hung out. … We’d all kind of bump shoulders everyday.”
While the Broad Art Center supplies more space for studio work, the building required some adjusting to, particularly its vast size and rather imposing glass and metal structure.
“Kinross was a building that was just live-in, so it felt very familiar,” Aaron Valenzuela, a graduating sculpture student, said. “Here everything is very new and very white and clean and sort of clinical.”
In addition to the change in atmosphere, academics in the Broad Art Center during fall quarter proved a challenge. Problems with the brand new facilities and a lack of equipment disheartened several students, such as Kim, at the beginning of the year.
“Some floors didn’t have hot water, some doors didn’t open, and for me, since I’m a ceramics concentration, some of our kilns weren’t working so we couldn’t make projects for the first quarter,” Kim said.
Mark Dadlani, a graduating photography student, found similar difficulties.
“There ended up being no way to weld sculptures … because they didn’t have the facility made correctly for it,” he said.
Some students grew so disheartened with the lack of resources that they put off their pursuit of the art major to wait for the building’s capabilities to rise up to par.
“Some of my friends took the quarter off because there was no point in paying for a quarter … and not being able to use anything,” Dadlani said.
But most students, like Valenzuela, chose to adapt rather than take time off.
“They’ve been working on getting facilities up and running, and … it always does take some time,” Valenzuela said. “When you move into something new, you have to work out the kinks and find out what you need and customize it to the needs of each department.”
But throughout the rocky first quarter and a half, one aspect of the art program remained a constant: its professors. No matter which building they were in, the strong bonds between teachers and pupils kept art students motivated and focused at both Kinross and Broad.
“(Since) we take the same professors over and over again we really get to know them,” Kim said. “And since we’re making art, and it’s not like they’re just reading your essays ““ they actually watch you work everyday. … You create this bond with them, and you really get to know them.”
And when it comes down to it, switching spaces is only a lesser aspect of a graduating art student’s experience over the past several years.
“It’s a good arts program,” Dadlani said. “It may not have everything technical but it teaches you how to think and how to be a good artist.”
