What themes do spiritual dances, graphic designs and a quilted children’s story share? And how will art make a difference in an age of rapid, global change? Those questions were among the topics discussed Jan. 23 in one of a series of forums held as part of the Winter Term 2009 theme “Emerging Futures: Foresight for Global Good.”
The forum, “Emerging Futures in the Arts,” invovled students from three courses who met during the lunch hour in Belk Pavilion.
The Winter Term 2009 theme considers the issues the community faces as it reflects on the past and look toward tomorrow to make a difference in today’s age of rapid, global change. The Emerging Futures Forums bring together groups of faculty and students who have been focusing on emerging futures topics.
“I hope they will be empowered to use and appreciate art from the experiences and information learned during Winter Term,” said Jane Wellford, an associate professor of performing arts who led the Sacred Dances course that performed three spiritual dances. “What we did here was share the commonalities that these three very different courses have.”
Wellford, joined by adjunct professors Barbara Rhoades and Peg Gignoux, led discussions with the nearly 50 students on those shared traits, whether they be social, commercial or design commonalities.
Rhoades’s students in “The Arts, Ads and Aesthetic Response” examined the way art is used in marketing. Students designed ads for products and explained to forum attendees how advertisers rely on art to sway tastes and opinions in a digital age. For instance, product placements in movies and television shows has proliferated as Tivo and DVR technology allows viewers to bypass commercials altogether.
Gignoux’s students in “Story Magic: When Words Ignite Images” created five quilted panels using fabrics they cut and dyed themselves to tell a short “Welcome” story. Upon completion, the quilts will be given to The Newcomers School in Greensboro, N.C., a public school that accepts young children who have just immigrated to the United States – in some instances from refugee camps or war-torn nations.
The art in the panels, students explained, conveys warm messages to young non-English speakers in an increasingly multicultural society.
Wellford’s students in “Sacred Dances” also shared what they learned through the course.
“You can experience faith and spirituality through many forms of communication,” said Elon senior Dave McClain, a sociology major from Philadelphia. “All of us learned how to express ourselves religiously through dance.”
More than 300 students and 17 faculty members have explored the Winter Term 2009 theme in four sessions to date. A fifth forum with a focus on public service is set for Jan. 27. The session is open to the campus community.