Attention: Messers. Mayor,
Kowall, Hudson, ECCAD,
1399 Johnstone St.,
Granville Isld.

Dear Sirs:

The arrival of this letter on your
desk is due in part to the persuasions
of T. Baker and E. Allen — although
they share no responsibility for its
contents — but more importantly, it
was motivated by a desire to clarify
and make known my position in
withdrawing from ECCAD, and with
the fervent hope that some will see fit
to address the problems stated herein.

Although I will readily admit that
the calibre of instruction in the
Graphic Design Department has im-
proved notably since the inaugura-
tion of the new school facilites and
addition of a new faculty member,
yet it is blatantly evident to the objec-
tive eye of everyone, that the forcible
molding of a better design cur-
riculum is occurring at the cost of
each student’s artistic integrity. This
act of forcible molding lends itself not
only to hoped-for improvements, but
also results in the free play of over-
riding egotism on the part of certain
instructors, and in a sphere of
demoralization, fear and intimida-
tion. The third and fourth year
Graphics students are widely aware
of their own sublimated individuality
and self expression, of having all
distinguished themselves as ‘‘semi-
swiss-style clones’, and yet through
the real fear of ostracism, inhibit the
free exploration of their own artistic
expression within the structure of
given assignments.

It is indisputable that a successful
designer is known by the hallmark of
a unique style, yet the constricted
viewpoint of certain members of the
Design Department disallows the
development of a personal signature
and insists instead on_ overall
homogeneity. It is a case in point that
the illustrative style of Q.Lo (till
recently a fourth yer Graphics stu-
dent), received acknowledgement
from the acclaimed illustrator John
Long, and has since resulted in
several freelance assignments, and
yet at the same time was discredited
by the Department’s illustration in-

LETTERS

structor, as the work of someone
“‘who can’t draw’’.

It is a regrettable situation when
the potentially enlightening and in-
spiring interchange between students
and instructors is undermined by the
manipulative ploys of some of the lat-
ter, resulting in the addition of severe
stress and psychological handicaps to
the already rigorous curriculum of
the former. It is no surprise to find an
appetite for the learning process quite
dminished in the third and fourth
year students of the Graphics Depart-
ment, and the accompanying joy and
excitement withered. It should also
be no surprise, therefore to find that
three fourth year students withdrew
from the Graphics program within
one week of registering for their final
year, when it became blatantly ob-
vious that the coercive attitudes of the
Department were still heavily in ef-
fect.

In closing, please note, that as I
understand fully the far-reaching ef-
fects of a completed formal educa-
tion, I do not hesitate in my convic-
tion that I would have continued in
my final year at ECCAD had not the
intolerable situation in the Graphics
Department already preconcluded
my decision.

Sincerely,
E.B. de Vink

* * *

*Editor’s Note:

Four graduate students, from the
total of eight, have now officially
resigned from the Graphic Design
program in this college, a 50%
dropout rate. These kind of statistics,

- combined with the fact that only eight

students registered for fourth year
courses, definitely exhibits a need for
a formal review of the situation. Let
us hear your views on this subject, as
there are a number of students in this
institution who are seriously con-

sidering entering the Graphic Design’

program and have a right to be aware
of the circumstances which they will

encounter.
* * *

Cover By: Zazu, Sara Leydon Photographed Collage.
TYPESETTING: AD WORK GRAPHICS

Editor,
THE PAPER

Dear Sir:

“The Paper’’ has got off to a good
start with a few brickbats aimed at
the annual faculty exhibition. Since I
seem to have stirred the ‘most em-
phatic objections’, I would like to
clarify some issues.

First of all, the politics which Chris
Bradshaw imputes to the exhibition
are largely imagined. The faculty ex-
hibition is not a contractual obliga-
tion. Work is submitted on a volun-
tary basis and indeed some faculty
members chose not to participate.
Secondly, the reviewer fails to
recognise that the theme of the show
as stated in the catalogue was for
faculty to ‘examine, by participation,
the role drawing plays in their recent
work’. For myself it meant drawing
for ideas, an activity where no at-
tempt is made to eliminate crudities
since it is not intended to be read as
professionally finished art. No doubt
the confusion arises since the work is
placed out of context on a gallery
wall.

Chris has some ideas about what
drawing is not, namely, Sally
Michener’s piece. I would be in-
terested in his definition of what
drawing is. Must drawing be
relegated to a flat, square or rec-
tangular piece of paper set in a
frame? Are the cave markings at
Altamira or the petroglyphis of
British Columbia drawings? Is draw-
ing not an important part of Japanese
Haniwa sculpture, Picasso’s ceramic
jugs, or Roy Lichtenstein’s heads
with shadows? Surely we live in an
age where simple definitions are dif-
ficult and where the categories
established by recent art history
dissolve into each other.

I would like to point out that Chris
is on dangerous ground when he
dismisses Fred Peter’s piece because
it includes a message. Art has always
been political and far from detracting
from the work can often greatly re-
inforce its meaning. Are we to reject
Goya’s ‘Horrors of War’, Picasso’s
‘Guernica’, or George Grosz’s
‘Republican Automata’ ‘simply
because they promote an_ idea?
History tells us that artists have often
had axes to grind.

Chris certainly stimulated my
thoughts; I hope he will continue to

provide us with art reviews.

PRINTING: TRIUMPH PRINTING

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN CONTRIBUTING TO THE PAPER, WE
ARE LOCATED IN THE STUDENT SOCIETY OFFICE. WEEKLY
MEETINGS ARE HELD ON FRIDAY’S AT 12:00 NOON. OPEN TO ALL.

Tam Irving

Chairman, 3-D Division
* * *