Pick up your Erasers... es are ECIAD’'s most direct attempt at formally addressing this issue. However because of their popularity, they are often difficult to get into and like the rest of the school, they are most often defined by the medium. i.e.. Interschool film is where people who use other media, come to learn the medium of film. But they are the one arena (other than academics, and per- haps the cafeteria) where students from all over the school can be together. So they're a start. E-Lecteve s Electives are an opportunity to break the black line. But unfortunately degree require- ments leave little room for electives. For the Design school the number of electives is almost negligible, one course for Communications Design, and three for Industrial Design, throughout their entire degree. (No wonder there is a schism between art and design at Emily Carr, we never take classes together, we never communicate with each other, we only look through the windows of our respective buildings (possibly the biggest, thickest most tangible black line) with envy and picture what they're getting and not getting ‘over there.’) For those of us with an opportunity to take a 3-credit elective, we're finding that much of the time only the 6-credit courses are available. Once you find a course you are interested in, and find you have room for it in your schedule, then you have to surmount the pre-requisite and students-with-a-major-in-that-medium- who-get-priority obstacles. You'll be lucky if you get the course. Media's Response One potential hopeful is the recently intro- duced program called Integrated Media of which | am a student. They're on the right track. They have combined Film, Video, Digital and Intermedia into one faculty to allow stu- dents to move around inside broader bound- aries. Classes are filled by students who pursue somewhat different media and therefore we are getting the benefits from that diversity, but we still seem to have particular specialties. | still feel as if I'm being funneled into choosing one medium or another. Courses have been given the general label IMED (integrated media), but IMED 210 is called Film, IMED 212 is called Digital Media etc. Students pick which mediums they want to study, and pursue paths that delve Our school needs to break es.) medium And we arevight Out of the paradigm and transport back at the original problem. {tself into the present, leading the The incorporation way forits students instead of =" Workshops whose Visual Arts’ Response The school of Visual Arts seems to have made better ground in its attempt to solve the problem. They offer their GEVA 311 semi- nar courses which are meant to supplement their medium-based courses. Like the Integrated Media program, they offer an arena for many disciplines to get together inside the Visual Arts school. Unlike the Integrated Media program, their GEVA 311 course has sections labeled by theme. For example, “Ideas About Landscape," “Race and Representation," and “Slacker Art" are the courses offered this semester. The courses combine academics and lectures with studio-based work. Although the courses are available to the entire school, stu- dents of Visual Arts get priority so the rest of us find it more difficult to get in. This perpetu- ates the hermetic seal that divides the schools. Conclusion ECIAD needs to re-draw its boundaries, to open them up and encourage cross-fertilization. We are stagnating as the future, and Rushkoff's cultural shift, draws near. Our art will become lagging behind them... teach the skills neces- obsolete as interdisciplinary approaches to art practice cause the making of more and more art that resonates in the hearts and minds of contemporary society. Our school needs to break out of the para- digm and transport itself into the pre- sent, leading the way for its students instead of lagging behind them. One Solution (A Proposal) Academics The critical studies school be abol- ished and inserted into each of the other schools. Each school will be responsible for offering so many courses which fulfill academic degree requirements. These courses will be Seminar courses and will have a large academic component but will not be entirely academic. Students will be required to do both studio and written work in these classes enabling their academic interests to engage with their art and design practices more fluid- ly. Those Seminar courses which fulfilled academic requirements could be flagged in the calendar as such, but the structure of those courses will remain the same as for other Seminars (see below), and they will be open to everyone. Gontent These Seminar courses will be based on themes rather than on medium. They will be taught by teachers who have examined the theme or concept regard- less of their medium specialty. In these classes, the emphasis will not be on the technical aspects of the work, but rather on the theme/concept and formal aspects of the work. Students will be required to take X number of junior level Seminars, and X number of senior level Seminars to fill their degree requirements (to be determined by government standards). The pre-requisites for any senior level Seminar will not be content specific, it will only be quantity-specific. (In other words, you only need to have taken so many junior level Seminars after which time you are eligible to take any senior level Seminars. This will encourage peo- ple who have examined various ideas to be in the same class- Technique main focus will be to sary to work in a par- ticular medium. There would be 3-week (0.75 credit), 6-week (1.5 credit) and 12-week (3 credit) Workshops the size of which would be determined by the degree of difficulty the medium demands and how easily the medium can be broken up into smaller components. The Workshops would be pooled in the center of the school for all students to draw from. They would be technically based, taught by people who have expertise with the skill (perhaps by technical assistants?). The classes would be hands-on, most of the work would be done in-class through small assignments designed to teach specific skills. Work from other classes could be brought in to address problems, and to critique the technical nature of the work. Workshops would increase in difficulty and improve the skills of the student the higher up the student goes working with that medi- um. Pre-requisites for senior-level Workshops would be junior-level continued on page 19... Pick up your Erasers... es are ECIAD’s most direct attempt at formally addressing this issue. However because of their popularity, they are often difficult to get into and like the rest of the school, they are most often defined by the medium. i.e.. Interschool film is where people who use other media, come to learn the medium of film. But they are the one arena (other than academics, and per- haps the cafeteria) where students from all over the school can be together. So they're a start Electives Electives are an opportunity to break the black line. But unfortunately degree require ments leave little room for electives. For the Design school the number of electives is almost negligible, one course for Communications Design, and three for Industrial Design, throughout their entire degree. (No wonder there is a schism between art and design at Emily Carr, we never take classes together, we never communicate with each other, we only look through the windows of our respective buildings (possibly the biggest, thickest most tangible black line) with envy and picture what they're getting and not getting ‘over there.") For those of us with an opportunity to take a 3-credit elective, we're finding that much of the time only the 6-credit courses are available Once you find a course you are interested in, and find you have room for it in your schedule, then you have to surmount the pre-requisite and students-with-a-major-in-that-medium- who-get-priority obstacles. You'll be lucky if you get the course. Media's Response One potential hopeful is the recently intro- duced program called Integrated Media of which | am a student. They're on the right track. They have combined Film, Video, Digital and Intermedia into one faculty to allow stu- dents to move around inside broader bound aries. Classes are filled by students who pursue somewhat different media and therefore we are getting the benefits from that diversity, but we still seem to have particular specialties. | still feel as if I'm being funneled into choosing one medium or another. Courses have been given the general label IMED (integrated media), but IMED 210 is called Film, IMED 212 is called Digital Media etc. Students pick which mediums they want to study, and pursue paths that delve deeper and deeper into the medium. And we are right back at the original problem Visual Arts’ Response The school of Visual Arts seems to have made better ground in its attempt to solve the problem. They offer their GEVA 311 semi- nar courses which are meant to supplement their medium-based courses. Like the Integrated Media program, they offer an arena for many disciplines to get together inside the Visual Arts school. Unlike the Integrated Media program, their GEVA 311 course has sections labeled by theme. For example, “Ideas About Landscape,” “Race and Representation,” and “Slacker Art” are the courses offered this semester. The courses combine academics and lectures with studio-based work. Although the courses are available to the entire school, stu- dents of Visual Arts get priority so the rest of us find it more difficult to get in. This perpetu- ates the hermetic seal that divides the schools. Conclusion ECIAD needs to re-draw its boundaries, to open them up and encourage cross-fertilization. We are stagnating as the future, and Rushkoff's cultural shift, draws near. Our art will become obsolete as interdisciplinary approaches to art practice cause the making of more and more art that resonates in the hearts and minds of contemporary society. Our school needs to break out of the para- digm and transport itself into the pre- sent, leading the way for its students instead of lagging behind them One Solution (A Proposal) Academics The critical studies school be abol- ished and inserted into each of the other schools. Each school will be responsible for offering so many courses which fulfill academic degree requirements. These courses will be Seminar courses and will have a large academic component but will not be entirely academic. Students will be required to do both studio and written work in these classes enabling their academic interests to engage with their art and design practices more fluid ly. Those Seminar courses which fulfilled academic requirements could be flagged in the calendar as such, but the structure of those courses will remain the same as for other Seminars (see below), and they will be open to everyone Content These Seminar courses will be based on themes rather than on medium. They will be taught by teachers who have examined the theme or concept regard less of their medium specialty. In these classes, the emphasis will not be on the technical aspects of the work, but rather on the theme/concept and formal aspects of the work. Students will be required to} take X number of junior level Seminars, and X number of senior level Seminars to fill their degree requirements (to be determined by government standards) The pre-requisites for any senior level Seminar will not be content specific, it will only be quantity-specific. (In other words, you only need to have taken so many junior level Seminars after which time you are eligible to take any senior level Seminars. This will encourage peo- ple who have examined various ideas to be in the same class- Our school needs to break es.) out of the paradigm and transport itself into the present, leading the way for its students instead of lagging behind them... Technique The incorporation of Workshops whose main focus will be to teach the skills neces- sary to work in a par- ticular medium. There would be 3-week (0.75 credit), 6-week (1.5 credit) and 12-week (3 credit) Workshops the size of which would be determined by the degree of difficulty the medium demands and how easily the medium can be broken up into smaller components. The Workshops would be pooled in the center of the school for all students to draw from. They would be technically based, taught by people who have expertise with the skill (perhaps by technical assistants?). The classes would be hands-on, most of the work would be done in-class through small assignments designed to teach specific skills. Work from other classes could be brought in to address problems, and to critique the technical nature of the work. Workshops would increase in difficulty and improve the skills of the student the higher up the student goes working with that medi-| um. Pre-requisites for senior-level Workshops would be junior-level continued on page 19.