Sara Relojo
Senior, Illustration Major
Q: What are the best and worst parts about your campus?
The best part is definitely how accessible it is. Our six-floor building is totally secure and open 24 hours a day, and most upper-classmen get huge, accommodating studios with windows. Our print facilities are always open, and our student-run gallery gives us all a chance to participate and get exposure. We also have close relationships with our teachers. In a lot of ways, our faculty treat us more like peers than like students. We call them by their first names, and it’s all pretty casual. Being in an intimate community of 200 students and faculty can be a double-edged sword. We just don’t get the depth of experiences here that you would on a campus where social activities are more associated with the school.
Bob Million
Senior, Drawing Major
Q: Where are the best
places to unwind around campus?
We have the luxury of our massive
downtown area, which is a great way to escape school stress. Older
students often go to Kaldi’s for a drink before or after class.
Tucker’s and Coffee Emporium are our favorite restaurants for lunch
off-campus.
Since we all have student studios, we congregate
in one studio between classes or late at night before a big project is
due. The ping-pong table in our commons is a huge source of
entertainment, and doubles matches usually get pretty intense. Faculty
games are always great. But Final Fridays are the social activity that
really unites us. We have openings in our school galleries and also go
to shows at the galleries on Main Street or our off-campus student-run
galleries.
Q: What
do students know about your school that outsiders don’t?
Lots of
outsiders think going to school in Over-the-Rhine is dangerous. But
our building is pretty secure, and we have really tried to integrate
ourselves into this neighborhood. We’ve already seen a huge improvement
in the three years since we’ve moved from Mount Adams. We hope our
presence can improve the whole neighborhood without changing the
character of OTR.
Q: Describe the cyber culture on your campus.
We
use Facebook and MySpace to get the word out about gallery shows. Other
than that, we don’t really use online social networks because we’re all
in the same building, usually in the same computer lab right next to
one another. We have a visual resource center where we have access to
cameras, projectors and other technology. Cyber culture usually comes
second, with art being our first priority here. We usually just use computers or cyber culture as a means of informing our art.
Cori Ogleton
Junior, Art History Major
Q:
Is diversity respected on your campus?
Diversity is improving. I don’t
think anyone is treated differently because of their gender and race.
Racism is definitely not an issue here. That has a lot to do with the
embodiment of the artist, how liberal most of the students and faculty
are. As a community, we appreciate individuality and encourage it.
Narrowness of mind as far as race, religion, sexual orientation
translates into narrowness of mind in a person’s artwork and that’s not
what we’re about at the Academy. (The faculty) make a point to expose
us to other races, religions, and cultures.
Q:
How healthy is your school?
The faculty is pretty adamant about using
equipment and media properly and safely. Safety hazards are probably
the biggest issue we discuss here, as far as health goes. Working with
toxic paints and chemicals is something we don’t take lightly. We use
respirators, spray booths and take every precaution we can. The
administration tries to be informative about how to be healthy as far
as substances and diet goes, but since we are in a working environment,
not a living environment, we tend to take our health into our own hands
as individuals.”
