PDF File - Art Educators of Minnesota
PDF File - Art Educators of Minnesota
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Editor’sCorner<br />
with Kevan Nitzberg<br />
The College <strong>of</strong> Visual <strong>Art</strong>s<br />
in St. Paul will close its<br />
doors in June.<br />
This coming June art students in <strong>Minnesota</strong><br />
(and elsewhere) will be losing a very<br />
important resource as the College <strong>of</strong> Visual<br />
<strong>Art</strong>s faces the end <strong>of</strong> its final semester. On<br />
a personal note I have enjoyed the many<br />
opportunities that I have had collaborating<br />
with the school on a number <strong>of</strong> various<br />
projects including the long running St. Paul<br />
Connections High School <strong>Art</strong> Class that they<br />
played host to for over 20 years, the summer<br />
Photomontage Class for art teachers<br />
that they facilitated, the 11 years <strong>of</strong> annual<br />
2nd tier exhibition <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Minnesota</strong> State<br />
High School Judge’s Choice Award winning<br />
artwork that they hung in their gallery, and<br />
last but not least, this year’s co-sponsored<br />
<strong>Minnesota</strong> Scholastic <strong>Art</strong> Awards Competition<br />
that was jointly sponsored by CVA and<br />
AEM. Equally if not more important were<br />
the successes that my former students had<br />
over the past 35+ years enjoyed as a result <strong>of</strong><br />
attending this very special school as a result<br />
<strong>of</strong> both the school’s academic pr<strong>of</strong>essionalism<br />
as well as the family atmosphere that<br />
they were so well known for. The College<br />
<strong>of</strong> Visual <strong>Art</strong> will not be easily replaced as<br />
the economics <strong>of</strong> the past several years are<br />
making small, personalized school learning<br />
environments harder and harder to sustain.<br />
The impact <strong>of</strong> that loss is something that is<br />
not only painful in the short term but bodes<br />
poorly for education for a long time to come.<br />
The following is a reprint <strong>of</strong> an online<br />
article that was originally published on January<br />
16th by MPR News detailing the closing:<br />
COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS IN ST. PAUL SUNK BY RECESSION<br />
by Marianne Combs, <strong>Minnesota</strong> Public Radio – January 16, 2013<br />
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The College <strong>of</strong> Visual <strong>Art</strong>s in St. Paul will close its doors in June.<br />
According to the school's administration, it was unable to weather the current economic<br />
crisis and continue to meet the financial and academic needs <strong>of</strong> its students.<br />
The College <strong>of</strong> Visual <strong>Art</strong>s' easy-to-miss <strong>of</strong>fices are in a stately old home on Summit<br />
Avenue, and other buildings are sprinkled throughout the Ramsey Hill neighborhood.<br />
It's a four-year art and design school that <strong>of</strong>fers Bachelors <strong>of</strong> Fine <strong>Art</strong>s degrees in fashion<br />
design, fine arts, graphic design, illustration, and photography. The college serves 170<br />
students and employs 29 full-time staff as well as 45 adjunct pr<strong>of</strong>essors.<br />
College President Ann Ledy explains that while the school was founded back in 1924,<br />
it was only in 1996 that it became an accredited four-year institution and only in the fall <strong>of</strong><br />
2011 that it became fully accredited as a school <strong>of</strong> art and design.<br />
"But it takes many, many years as a fully accredited four-year college to establish the<br />
deep roots that attract donors," said Ledy.<br />
10<br />
www.aem-mn.org<br />
AEM <strong>Art</strong> Exchange