Art course teaches career skills

Monday, April 9, 2007

The art department at Oklahoma State University is setting a new academic standard with a capstone course, professional practices for visual artists, that debuted last fall.

The course, a rarity in collegiate art programs, is a senior-level class designed to provide students with the skills needed to promote themselves and their work while pursuing scholarships, fellowships, grants and other career advancements.

“A lot of artists come to college believing they will be discovered and are disappointed when that doesn’t happen,” said Liz Roth, assistant professor of studio art and teacher of the course. “The capstone course gives these developing artists the tools necessary to promote the excellent work they are already doing.”

Roth — who has her own list of awards, grants and residencies — teaches students in the course career-building necessities for artists, such as how to write press releases, develop a portfolio, apply to shows and compile a résumé.

Although the course is offered only in the fall, students can apply for the Studio Capstone Art Show each semester in the Bartlett Center’s Gardiner Art Gallery. 

Kathryn Tushka, who was in the first capstone course, had her work displayed at the Capstone Art Show that concluded on March 30. 

“I found the capstone course very beneficial, and I learned everything I need to know to have a career in the art field,” Tushka said.

Tushka said her landscape works are areas of Oklahoma that she has been to and that have personal meaning to her. She could locate an out-of-state gallery to carry her work and sold several of her paintings at her capstone show.

Cody Arnall, whose work was also displayed at the gallery, agreed with Tushka.

“The course taught me how to properly apply to shows, how to better talk about my work and how to make slides of my work correctly,” said Arnall, studio art senior.

Arnall applied for a national juried exhibition through the capstone course, and his work was accepted into the 49th Annual Delta Exhibition at Arkansas Art Center. He also was recently accepted into graduate school, where he will continue to pursue sculpture.

Tushka and Arnall were among four students whose works were chosen for the show. While Tushka’s watercolor and oil paintings hung on the gallery walls, Arnall’s sweeping metallic sculptures were on the floor. 

“Our goal is to help our students be successful in whatever they choose to pursue after they graduate, and the capstone course is one more way to do that,” Roth said.