Art Program Philosophy

A person can never accomplish more than what they know and believe.  The philosophy of the Coffeyville Community College art department is the soul of the program.  The philosophy of this program thus enables the student to accomplish truth within their created work as it guides and gives direction in given choices.  Thus the philosophy is the vital truth that makes the CCC visual art program a huge success.

The philosophy is not based on one person’s perception but is based on many people’s contributions to the ongoing history of visual art.  In its history there are 3 major movements that contribute the most to the philosophy of what is valued and taught at CCC.

The first contributing movement is that of Prehistoric Art.  This is the first movement to occur within the known existence of man.  It is this movement where art was produced for purely spiritual motivation.  The artists during this time obviously had a need to make art to ensure and support their races existence.  It was thus pure and made without an ego to compete and sale.  The primary goal was to ensure success in hunting and reproducing.  This still needs to be a vital aspect for motivating artist to produce – purity and truth.

The second contributing movement is that of the Renaissance.  This movement embraces the truth of formal rules of design.  It is in this movement where art becomes an absolute science.  It is here that one finds out that there is the best composition, the best angle of view, the best use of light, the best range of values, and the best use of color.  This movement produced absolutes that dictate and govern a logical rational of choices that eliminate chance in the process.  Because of this movements understandings one could now rationally arrive at answers that were the best solution for every formal problem that occurred within a given attempt at making a visual statement.

The third contributing movement is that of Impressionism.  This movement made the work of art the subject and the illustration second to the work of art.   It is this movement that allows for individualism to occur and self-expression to exist within one’s visual statement.  Impressionism gave birth to abstraction which at its heart allows for the unique interpretation of a subject thus allowing it to be manipulated to fit ones idea.  Impressionism thus allows for the artists to have understanding and freedom beyond the object and thus made the artist no longer being bound to it.

In conclusion not one of these movements is complete without the other two.  It is all three of these movements combined together that allow for the artist to be in full control of why, how, and what they portray in their work.  Thus the Coffeyville Community College Art Department’s philosophy embraces Prehistoric art for its truth in spirituality, The Renaissance era for its truth and absolutes in design elements, and Impressionism for its freedom of interpretation of the object for individual expression.  Together the essence of what each of these movements offer as far as a truth equals a very sound method of creating a visual statement allowing the artist/student a nice balance of discipline and freedom of expression.