local ARTISTS

Local artists keep streaming in as my knowledge of the creative community in our area increases. I am feeling more and more ignorant for not having known about some of these student organizations that exist before my search began here with The Right Brain Outlet. Another credible organization for creativity, rightly titled “TAMU ARTISTS,” has been making their imprint on A&M for two years now. They are a Christian group that brings together those who paint, write, play music, make film, sculpt, draw, or whatever your forte of creative expression might be, to collaborate using each others abilities to make a beautifully complex project for others to enjoy. You should take a look at just a few of some of the things that ARTISTS has created in their short existence. The variety and quality of their work is impressive to me and leaves me wondering why there are so few student orgs similar to The American Institute of Graphic Arts (check out last week’s blog) and ARTISTS.

The community-oriented culture of A&M seems conducive to collaborative efforts like these, and with a student population of over 48,000, you would think there would be more art groups and crafty displays forming. The numbers and desire to work together are present, what more could it take right? It’s just not that simple and other factors are keeping the artistic culture from being more prevalent on campus. I have found two student organizations so far that are artistically based at A&M. Compare that to the 30+ student organizations for artsy fartsy fun I found that are thriving at liberal arts based Williams College. They have 46,000 less students than we do but about 20 more artistic organizations. Go figure! One of the first things that came to mind for me is the fact that the most well noted undergraduate programs include majors like engineering, animal sciences, and business. We are not necessarily known for our liberal arts programs, making our school less attractive to people looking to be experts in more creative fields than a place like Williams College would be. I don’t mean to stereotype engineers and veterinarians but often times their interest or skill set for more “right brain” related outlets is limited. A&M’s culture simply reflects the students in it- the engineering career fair is one of the biggest days of the year while art displays are rare and far between- With the exception of the occassional livestock art exhibit. Yep you read that right, we cannot seem to get more run-of-the-mill art exhibits but who cares when you have got a livestock art exhibit?! I really don't have much sass most of the time, but for some reason this just pushed my sarcasm button and made me chuckle. But maybe livestock art is your thing.. if it is, the Batallion has got your back. Read the article they published about the four-legged themed exhibit. It just may tickle your utters, uh I mean fancy.