Celebrate the Goshen College Art Department’s first 50 years at the Afternoon Sabbatical Series on Oct. 10

GOSHEN, Ind. – The Goshen College Art Department has undergone many changes over the past 50 years, from offering merely a few classes to graduating over 400 students with art degrees. This growth will be celebrated during the Afternoon Sabbatical Series program on Oct. 10, with a gallery reception for a show of faculty artwork, immediately following in the Hershberger Art Gallery.

The program begins at 1 p.m. in Sauder Concert Hall. The faculty art exhibit will remain in the gallery until Oct. 22.

Prior to 1955, when Ezra Hershberger began to build the program, Goshen College did not offer an art major, though a few classes were taught. “It wasn’t considered a valued endeavor by many Mennonites,” said John Blosser, current chair of the art department. At that time, Mennonite students who wanted to study art usually had to go elsewhere, such as the nearby Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. What finally brought an art major to Goshen was a change in state guidelines toward licensure for teaching, which began to require preparation to give art instruction, according to Blosser.

The Goshen College Art Department has blossomed into one of the larger majors on campus. It sponsors the annual Eric Yake Kenagy Visiting Artist Program, bringing renowned artists to the campus, and a growing collection of professional art. Blosser is also pleased about the program options offered by the department today, as it allows students to focus on a specific area for their profession beyond studio art, such as art education, architecture or graphic design. Blosser explained, “A department shouldn’t look the same as it did 10 years ago. We don’t. You have to continue to adjust to the times and demands.”

For Blosser, the evolution in the attitude among Mennonites about visual art has been one of the most gratifying changes. “I just think it’s amazing that art is so strong at this school [today],” said Blosser. “Traditionally, Mennonites believe their actions should reflect their faith. This value often came out in the art pieces, valuing the functional at the exclusion of the aesthetics. But big questions can often be best addressed by metaphors. That is one of art’s higher callings.”

Future lectures in the Afternoon Sabbatical series:

·    Nov. 11, Chicago bus trip to see “The Pirate Queen.” Cost: $105 (sold out)

·    Nov. 14, 1 p.m., Sauder Concert Hall, “Our Community Connection: The River Race project” with Tom Stark, chair of the River Race committee; Everett Thomas, City Council President, and Mayor Alan Kauffman

·    Dec. 5, 1 p.m., Sauder Concert Hall, “A Baroque and Renaissance Christmas” with Danielle Svonavec, soprano, Amos Burkholder, recorder, Mary Anne Ballard, viola da gamba, Rosalyn Troiano, viola and Kathryn Sherer, harpsichord

·    Feb. 13, 1 p.m., Sauder Concert Hall, “ Hand-Me-Down Songs: The Power of Melody,” with Jim Heiks, associate professor of music

·    March 6, 1 p.m., Sauder Concert Hall, “Imagining the Serengeti: Landscape Memory as History in Tanzania,” with Jan Bender Shetler, associate professor of history

·    April 10, 1 p.m., Sauder Concert Hall, “International Luncheon: Senegal” with Gwen Miller, assistant professor of art and co-leader Suella Lehman Gerber. Cost: $20

·    May 16, Chicago bus trip to see “The Color Purple.” Cost: $110.

Goshen College’s Afternoon Sabbatical program is in its 30th year of offering rich diversity in programs for the community. A committee of area representatives and college personnel look to the wealth of knowledge and talent at Goshen College and among Elkhart County citizens and selects programs that will appeal to a wide variety of interests. Programs have an integral connection to the college, either through subject matter or in ways in which the campus and community are interrelated.

For more information on the Afternoon Sabbatical series call the Goshen College Relations Office at (574) 535-7565 or e-mail edutravel@goshen.edu.

– by Megan Blank

Editors: For more information about this release, to arrange an interview or request a photo, contact Goshen College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

###

Goshen College, established in 1894, is a four-year residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu.