The Times They Are A-Changin'

Saw some surprising, almost shocking news in the latest issue of the Alumni Magazine that arrived this week.  The average person probably wouldn't think much of it, or see it as a problem.  I don't necessarily think it's a problem either, but it is out of character.

The university president's column was devoted to changes, recent and coming, to the art/art history department at the College of William and Mary.  Some, like the expansion of facilities around Andrews Hall (main building) and the Muscarelle Museum have been in the works for a while and are much needed.  Not the first expansion- back in the 90's some studio classes and facilities were moved to a new building out by Lake Matoaka, one that didn't exist in my student days, but I got to tour it when doing a campus visit on my way back from a stay at an artist colony across the state from there.  But the original building had no major updates and these changes are due.  The surprising news is that a new subject has been added to the art program- photography.

The average person might find it odd that there were no photography classes to this point, as I did back when I was a student there in the 1980's.  I even asked our then chair, Professor H.E. Coleman (or the Coach as some of my friends used to call him) why this was the case, and he told me that they were of the opinion that photography wasn't as much art as it was a part of journalism, and I knew that the college did not believe journalism was a suitable subject for a major (a presentation I attended on interdisciplinary majors was very specific on this topic)  No journalism, no photography classes were needed- case closed.

If this all seems odd, it's because you don't know the College of William and Mary.  Founded in 1693, they are one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in this country, and argue that they are the first true university in America, with the addition of other "schools" to the college in the 1700's.  W&M alum and then governor of Virginia Thomas Jefferson decided to revamp education in the state, including creating the University of Virginia, and adding programs and faculty to William and Mary, beyond the original scope of the charter.  This included Carlo Bellini, imported from Italy to be the first modern languages professor in America and namesake for the Italian Studies House I was a part of for 3 years, and what they claim is the first ever college fine arts program beginning in 1779.  This was never stated officially, but I realized that no art process that developed after 1779 was taught in the Fine Arts department my student years, including such (relatively) modern forms of printmaking as silkscreen and lithography.  The school values its 17th century history above all else.

Which doesn't mean there still aren't some weird things with this.  The column mentions this program comes with an associate professor, a dedicated classroom, and a darkroom, with plans to add a digital photo lab in the near future.  Right now I teach at two colleges that had popular classes in film photography and darkrooms (3 or 4 sections per semester, all filled) and couldn't wait to banish them from their campuses, even as there were still majors working on their degrees.  (some of those faculty are still employed, just not teaching film photography any more)  At my current schools, it's just all digital now.  Of course, both film and digital photography were developed after 1779, so maybe they have some things to work out.