Wake Forest Magazine, June 2009 - Past Issues - Wake Forest ...

two of
“
I realized that if I
really wanted to push
my own art I would
need to expand my
mind. Logic has
certainly helped
me to perceive the
underling structures
of an argument.
”
Antonina Whaples (’10)
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Studio art and philosophy
double major
In art, there is style and there is content, and
it is content that distinguishes the truly
great artists from the merely great stylists.
Already well on her way to becoming the latter, printmaker
Antonina Whaples aspires to become the former and has tailored
her scholastic program accordingly.
“I finished my studio art major rather quickly so I was on
the lookout for a second major,” says Antonina, a Presidential
Scholar in art and the daughter of Professor of Economics
Robert Whaples. “I happened to be lucky enough to take
Introduction to Philosophy the summer before my sophomore
year and something really clicked for me. I realized
that if I really wanted to push my own art I would need to
expand my mind and learn good arguments and how to think
abstractly but critically.”
It is the simplest and most abstract philosophical concepts
that have helped to develop her art the most, she says. “Logic
has certainly helped me to perceive the underlying structures
of an argument,” she notes. “And being able to find flaws in
arguments and soundness in structure has helped me in the
cerebral processing of the intentions and executions of my
[art] work. Philosophy also helps me to think very critically—
to look at what an artist is doing (especially myself) and see
if it matches up with what he/she is saying. When art is well
executed, the dialogue between its formal qualities and its
content establishes a cohesive argument that plays out on the
picture-plane.”
Her professional goal is to become a master printmaker
and she is strongly considering pursuing bachelors and
masters of fine arts degrees to that end after graduation
next year. But she is sufficiently pragmatic to appreciate the
prudency of having a second career, perhaps in library
science. “I live in the library [where she is compiling a database
of the University’s contemporary art collection],” she
notes. “I just think the [library] culture fosters a positive
intellectual environment.”
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