A quarter of art in review

With the quarter coming to a close to an end, most students seem to be ready for a break.  It’s been a long stretch of school, but particularly so for the theater, music, and art programs.

Between the productions of “8” and “Still Life with Iris,” both written by celebrated and award-winning play-writes, Bellevue College’s Theatre program kept its audiences entertained.  While the single showing of “8” was arguably rather under-attended, the performance nevertheless set a quality standard that may be hard to match in the future, we’ll only know by checking out their events in the upcoming winter quarter.  Stay tuned for “Little Shop of Horrors,” March 6-9, “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot,” April 11-13, and “Translations,” May 16-25.  The music department also left an impressive performance legacy, putting on vocal jazz concerts Nov. 2 and Nov. 30.

A more public display of the art-department’s work can be seen in the sculptures and paintings both at the “Surrogate” exhibition and walking through the classroom wing of the C-building, where larger-than-life student self-portraits adorn the walls.  Replacing the old portraits from last quarter, the new ones reflect the same diversity of style, theme, imagery and talent as the summer quarter student’s work.

Less dramatic but equally interesting work was seen on a smaller scale throughout the fall months.  The ceramics program’s pottery sale last week was the last of a series of arts-and-crafts projects that gave students the opportunity to bring home artistic souvenirs from BC.  Behind the scenes, the interior design program is pushing out students of aesthetic talent with a more business-oriented application.

Next quarter’s art classes range across a variety of subjects, from architecture to power tools; from ceramics to history; from drawing and painting to photography.  The music program offers instruction on a variety of instruments and styles, as well as courses on theory, history and appreciation.  And of course, there’s the Drama department, which also cover history as well as acting technique.

For students with inclinations towards the arts, don’t forget that there are other classes that offer aesthetic direction outside of the art department.  In communication, storytelling, media aesthetics, film   scripting and cinematography offer students a chance to put their creative energy to academic use.  The social science department offers classes studying art in relation to culture, and the English department hosts a variety of creative writing coursework.  Perhaps one of the fastest-growing aesthetic industries in the country is digital media design – this too is offered through BC’s Institute for Business and Information Technology program.

Overall, this quarter has been quite a triumph for the arts here at BC.