Lecturers urge students to be passionate about their craft

The Art Lecture Series has become a staple in the ARC event calendar since coordinator and Fine and Applied Arts adjunct professor Joy Bertinuson started the series four years ago. The James Kaneko Gallery is funding the Spring 2013 series from March 18 to May 7.

In previous semesters the series has been funded by programs in the arts on campus including Ceramics, Art New Media and Photography, all of which helped determine the theme of the lectures. This semester is no different, as the “Behind The Scenes” series piggybacks on last semester’s focus on curating exhibits.

“The museums and art galleries require an army of people to make this stuff happen,” says Bertinuson. “In focusing now on behind the scenes, I thought we would just give another flavor for that.”

Patrick Minor, a former preparator at the Crocker Art Museum for 27 years, spoke on the first date of the series. He displayed slides of exhibits he had set up and humorously retold the stories behind each one. He answered questions, much like a laid back press conference, and closed out the lecture by showing a brief video he had written music for titled “Get Drunk,” a poem read in French with subtitles and elegant imagery.

After all of the stories were told and the audience had left, Minor hoped they would take just one thing with them. “Get drunk,” says Minor. “Just like the message of the poem: whatever you do, do with passion.”

ARC student and Criminal Justice major Julio Amaya attended Minor’s lecture as a class requirement for his elective art course. Though he says he won’t take any of the information he learned and use it in his daily life, Amaya was still entertained. “[Minor] was a good speaker,” says Amaya. “He was funny.”

Unlike Amaya, art majors see art as more than a hobby, but aren’t always entirely sure what they’ll pursue once they’ve got their degree.

“You’ve got an art degree, you don’t want to teach, you don’t want to go into commercial work but still want to do your own work,” says Bertinuson. “Maybe you can work behind the scenes.”