Art Program Butler University

Anyone on Butler’s campus in the last week might have noticed the very tiny house-on-wheels parked just outside Jordan Hall.  This isn’t Blue II’s new luxury mansion, but rather one of the many constructions built by Jay Shafer, the founder of the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company.  Mr. Shafer has a firm belief that modern houses are unnecessarily big, and create a larger negative impact on the environment then a home really needs to.

Shafer has been touring his small houses across the country, and stopped by to talk with Butler arts students about his work.  I have to admit that I was a little confused as to why an art class would be hearing from a speaker that builds houses.  That is, until he started speaking.  He compared his houses to a “good” art composition, in that all the unneeded parts are removed.  Nothing is taking up space or acting as dead weight without a purpose.  Everything that he puts into each house is intentional and serves a purpose, just like a composer creating a new piece of music.

That’s when I understood why we were hearing from Mr. Shafer.  This concept of removing all the “unneeded” parts can be applied to more than just excessive consumerism, but also in any situation in which different elements are coming together to create a whole.  How many times have we started a painting, paper or any other composition, only to find that it’s become cluttered and crammed with so many ideas that we either can’t finish it, or our audience cannot process it?  In the past, I have set out with the intention to create elaborate video compositions, only to run out of time or completely botch what I was trying to create.

To quote Amadeus (1984) “There are simply too many notes,” and in many cases that is exactly how an art composition comes to fail.  What Jay Shafer has done here is something that all consumers and artists can take to heart: sometimes the bare-minimum basics are all you truly need.

The ART NOW show is coming up in April. This is a showcase of student artwork that is hosted in the Reilly Room on Butler’s campus every semester. Every art class is represented, from painting and photography to video and interactive websites, you can see a little of everything. Get excited to see the creative minds of  students expressed through visuals. The ART NOW show will be available for anyone to come and go beginning on April 25 from 5pm to 7 pm and April 26 from 8am to 5 pm.

ART NOW happens every semester at Butler, but something new that is coming to campus this spring is the Art at the Annex, which will be held in the Jordan Academy of Dance building, which is being converted into studio and exhibition space (this is the building at the corner of Boulevard and 49th, next to the Tennis Bubble). There will be an opening reception as well as an exhibition on April 26 from 2-5 pm and on April 27 from 1-6 pm. Come one, come all!

I think that art is incredibly personal. It can show the many facets of the artist, including their emotions, secrets, struggles, and relationships. But I have quickly learned that when someone asks for a specific type of art to be created by an individual, things get a little tricky, and much more involved.

I had some experience with this challenge over the past semester, as I was asked to create a series of info graphics for the Butler Community Arts School. I was given information and statistics, and instructed to create eye-catching posters that creatively displayed the information. Easy enough, right? Well, I soon realized that it would be a little harder than I thought.

Here’s the difference. When creating art for yourself, you are in charge of your own work. When creating art for an organization, so many things must be considered: readability, color scheme, making sure the information in portrayed correctly, etc. After many rounds of edits, research, critiques, re-wordings, these are the final pieces that were displayed.

This experience taught me a lot. I was able to use design and branding skills, in addition to correctly portraying an organization to the community. I learned to back up my design decisions and have a reason for why things are positioned the way they are -  why this font is more readable than others, and why this format is more eye-catching than others. It taught me to be proud of my work, accept criticism, and most of all, prepared me for the real world of client interaction.

Greetings all.  My name is Daniel McCullough, a Digital Media Production and Art + Design double major.  I’m working alongside Laura to help give you some insight into what the Art program at Butler has to offer by sharing my own experiences, as well as those of other students.

I never thought much about art, feeling that it was never something that I could truly get into or fully appreciate.  Sure I drew from time to time, but never anything that was astounding or seemed worthy to be put in a gallery.  On a whim, I took an intro to drawing class during my early years at Butler, and started to realize that there was more to art than simply drawing a brilliant sunset or creating a perfect portrait.  It was the experience of creating something with your own hands.  The more and more art classes I took, the more I learned to appreciate the works I created.

My college career is deeply rooted in the creative arts, having been part of the Butler orchestra, marching band and jazz band, as well as taking classes in video editing, audio editing, drawing, creative writing and even acting.  So it should come as no surprise that my interest in art comes from the mixing of multiple media.  Since my primary major is video production, I always like to find ways to incorporate video into my works.

Here are a few of the works I’ve done for various ART classes in the past:

Rotoscoping – \”New Life\”

Time-laps – \”50 Cranes\”

Stop-Motion animation – \”The Hungry Five\”

 

Hello! My name is Laura Kramer and I am a senior Strategic Communication and Art+Design double major here at Butler. I’m here to share my thoughts and experiences with the Art Program here at Butler and around Indianapolis.

Before Butler, I considered art to be a hobby. It was something I did in my free time, and I left it at that. But I was always drawn to it – whether it be graphics on the computer, looking at others’ art, or doodling in my notebook. I would spend large amounts of time studying art and different styles and learning to appreciate the variety of each artist and designer.

After declaring it as my second major, I realized all the possibilities that art and design provides for me. I get to feed my right brain, gain a competitive edge on my resume, and think uniquely. I think that the terrific thing about Butler’s program is you get to try just about everything before finding your favorite medium. I personally enjoy looking at all different kinds of art to become inspired by, to critique, or simply enjoy (Pinterest is a great way to find a large variety of different forms of art…be careful though, you could explore on there for hours…)

One class that allowed me to explore a lot of different areas was a beginning photography course. Professor Gautam Rao gave us assignments every week that pushed us to think differently. I posted some photos from this course below! It was so neat to see my classmates and myself challenge ourselves and grow throughout the semester in our photography skills.

Photography is simply one class that the Program offers. In later posts, I’ll show work from some of the other courses, like graphic design, function, space, and interactive!

If you like what you see, check out the student blog for more work here.

I am always available for questions, thoughts of comments. Simply shoot an email to lakramer@butler.edu, and I’d be happy to chat with you!

Signing off for now. Have a happy week!

 

Welcome to the Art Program at Butler University.  On this blog we  share art news as well as the work of our faculty and students. We  love art and we hope to inspire others to love art too.