WHERE CREDIT IS DUE
Vicki Glembocki's article, "Why Studio Arts at a Liberal Arts College?" (September 1999) provided an engaging and timely view of the burgeoning arts program at Swarthmore. Even in 1981, when I entered Swarthmore, studio arts (and all the creative disciplines) were institutionally suppressed by the rule allowing credit for no more than five courses in any of the arts combined (music, dance, theater, or art). This rule, repealed in 1990, discouraged both in-depth study, and interdisciplinary artistic effort. By allowing only superficial study, the rule reinforced the underlying misconception that creative studies produce superficial and dilettantish results. The change in the past decade has been remarkable. This spring, the List Gallery will devote 9 separate exhibitions to the work of 10 graduating studio majors and 2 Honors minors.
Upon reading Glembocki's artist profiles, some may mistakenly believe that Swarthmore primarily produces representational painters. As editor of the Friends of Art Newsletter, an annual publication distributed to more than 500 alumni and supporters of the arts at Swarthmore, I am impressed by the surprising diversity and talent of alumni artists.
Many of us are aware of talented architects such as Margaret Helfand '69, Steven Izenour '62, and A. Stover Jenkins '75, but few know how many alumni ceramists are following in the footsteps of internationally known artist Robert Turner '36. Notable sculptors include Jonathan Shahn '59 and Sally Moore Warren '63. Alumni photographers include Sarah Van Keuren '66 and the late visionary Bruce Cratsley '66. Experimental video artists and filmmakers include Linda Gibson '73 and Bruce Weinstein '82. Nick Tobier '89 is among those whose site-specific installations transform our usual habits and categories of seeing. Future issues of the magazine might feature the puppet-building exploits of Caroly Wilcox '52 or the weavings of artists such as Mary Van Tassel Murtha '54 and Bonnie Gregory Inouye '69.
This list gives only a hint of the variety of alumni efforts in the arts. To continue the conversation about the value of the arts at Swarthmore and the growing presence of Swarthmore in the art world, look for the next issue of the Friends of Art Newsletter, which will be published in June 2000. To join our mailing list or contribute to the issue, please contact me at apackar1@-swarthmore.edu or by writing the Art Department.
Andrea Packard '85
Director, List Gallery
Swarthmore
ART HISTORY
The recent article on studio arts at Swarthmore strains credibility. Anyone who was in the art studios in the 1960s knows that the direction, energy, and professional quality of the program was the direct result of the efforts of Harriet Shorr '60. She designed a program that reflected her interest in Swarthmore students and her experience at the Yale School of Art. The daily practice of painting, drawing, sculpture, and ceramics would not have existed at Swarthmore without her.
Harriet Schorr's amazing efforts&emdash;and her commitment to introducing students to a flow of visiting artists from New York and Philadelphia&emdash;helped turn "students" into "young artists." People such as Kit Yin Tieng, Joe Bailey, Dan Black, Frank Dominguez, and Will Brown enriched our experience.
The support of art history professors Hedley Rhys, John Williams, and Robert Walker was crucial for an independent studio program. They recognized the quality of the work and the direction of the studio arts and granted consenting, hard-won approval. Members of other departments were also sympathetic&emdash;particularly Thompson Bradley, Richie Schuldenfrei, and a young composer named John Beel.
Finally, there were the extremely creative students who learned and worked together in the studios&emdash;friends such as Ray Bub '70, John Fahnestock '69, Jeff Carter '68, Rob Turner '69, Barry Feldman '68, Dorothy Twining '69, Harriet Butts '71, Susan Wanklyn '73, and Beatrice Diebold '69. They were an amazing part of my arts experience at Swarthmore&emdash;where I began to have confidence in being an artist.
Jim Long '71
New York
Editor's Note: Long is the husband of Harriet Shorr.
MORE ART HISTORY
Not enough can be said about the contribution of Harriet Shorr '60. She kick-started the arts program by "being there" in every sense of the term as an authentic artist who talked art, made art, and knew artists. She encouraged us, pushed us, found us jobs, involved us in setting up exhibitions&emdash;even loaned us her car. In short, she was a wonderful example for us as an adult, a friend, and an artist.
And there is also Paulus Berensohn, who was then&emdash;and still is&emdash;one of the most articulate craftsman/artists in the country. He gave more of his time, energy, and love than he could ever have been compensated for.
I value the skills of critical analysis and communication that I learned on my way to a degree in English literature, but the depth that studio arts added to my education is something wonderful. If it weren't for Harriet Shorr and Paulus Berensohn, many of us would have missed the chance to get the best of both of those worlds.
Jeff Carter '68
Boone, N.C.
HABITS OF MIND
The review by Assistant Professor of Biology Roger Latham '83 of God's Last Offer by Ed Ayres '63 ("Books and Authors," September 1999) took me back to Swarthmore 30 years ago. The cause then was Marxism instead of environmentalism, but the habits of mind displayed were remarkably similar. Then, as now, a small cadre of advanced thinkers saw the truth&emdash;and the failure of most Americans to also see it was ascribed not to rational disagreement but to inaccurate perception on the part of the benighted majority ("false consciousness" then, and "denial" now).
Then, as now, the nefarious machinations of "corporate" interests were decried, and opposing viewpoints were dismissed out of hand rather than engaged in serious argument. Then, as now, "facts" were confidently cited that turned out not to be true (1969: The Soviet economy is as productive as that of the United States&emdash;Paul Samuelson says so. 1999: Human-caused global warming is happening now&emdash;scientists say it's so). Then, as now, apocalyptic vision was in vogue (1969: The final crisis of capitalism is imminent. 1999: "It is arguably too late already" to prevent ecocatastrophe).
Then, as now, professors anguished over whether life in the academy was compatible with political virtue (which question, after much heroic struggle, was usually decided in the affirmative). And finally, then as now, people who fell into ideology often wasted years inside it because once its tenets were accepted, it was not falsifiable from within.
I wonder what new enthusiasm will seize the imaginations of some Swarthmoreans 30 years hence, after the much-anticipated ecocatastrophe&emdash;like the socialist revolution before it&emdash;fails to arrive?
William Berry '73
Tucker, Ga.
JOYS OF JUDAISM
I read with great interest "Between Two Worlds" by Yosef (Jody) Branse '76 ("In My Life," September 1999). I, too, discovered the joys of Orthodox Judaism shortly after my graduation from Swarthmore. I, too, have faced the wonders and challenges of accepting a worldview quite different from that with which I was raised. And I, too, am quite careful that my children&emdash;who do know English&emdash;do not get a chance to open a Bulletin. I am concerned, however, that readers of the Bulletin might have gotten a mistaken impression of the "stern view" and "uncompromising, all-encompassing" nature of traditional Judaism.
"Uncompromising" and "all-encompassing" mean that traditional Judaism provides a framework that directs adherents in every aspect of their lives. There is joy in having such a well-defined purpose and in striving each day to meet its challenges. There is happiness in seeing one's children grow up with a set of concrete values, largely ignorant of the horrors that constitute the bulk of contemporary media and isolated from the scourges of promiscuity and substance abuse that afflict so many young people. And there is the pleasure of living in a tight-knit community of people who look out for each other.
Yosef Branse writes: "Jewish tradition maintains that one should spend as much time as possible studying the Torah, Talmud, legal codes, and their voluminous commentaries." As a graduate student in physics, it was not unusual for me to spend all my waking hours single-mindedly engaged in a physics problem. More recently, I have had time for the intellectual pleasure and spiritual fulfillment that come in studying these texts. I have been changed by what I have learned in them&emdash;an experience I never had in all my previous years of education.
Elliot Wachman '83
Pittsburgh
WRITE TO US
The Bulletin welcomes letters concerning the contents of the magazine or issues relating to the College. All letters must be signed and may be edited for clarity and space. Address your letters to: Editor, Swarthmore College Bulletin, 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore PA 19081-1397, or send by e-mail to bulletin@swarthmore.edu.
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Swarthmore College. All rights reserved. 1999