Tyler School of Art

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Tyler School of Art is Temple University's school of art, located on a separate campus in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania and offering BFA and MFA degrees.

The Tyler curriculum encompasses programs in the fine arts, crafts, design, art history, art education, and architecture. Tyler students work with a faculty who are dedicated teachers, accomplished studio artists, and highly respected scholars.^[1]

The architecture program, while part of the Tyler name, is not located at the Tyler campus. It is located on the Temple main campus. The former dean is Keith Anthony Morrison.

1 History
2 Foundation
3 Notable alumni
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

"For more than seventy years, Tyler School of Art at Temple University has offered students the opportunity to pursue study of the visual arts within small learning communities while also providing the advantages afforded by a large, comprehensive research institution. The Tyler curriculum encompasses programs in the fine arts, crafts, design, art history, art education, and architecture. Tyler students work with a faculty who are dedicated teachers, accomplished studio artists, and highly respected scholars. From advanced technology to the most traditional methods, Tyler School of Art is dedicated to providing education in the arts to aspiring and talented students who share the belief that the arts are fundamental to life in the 21st century. Tyler is acclaimed for a challenging curriculum, enabling students to explore and expand their ability to think creatively, refine their natural talents, and prepare them to be leaders in a society that is becoming more visually oriented each day.

"Stella Elkins Tyler donated her estate to Temple University in the early 1930s. With an interest in progressive education and a deep appreciatin of her mentor, sculptor Boris Blai, Mrs. Tyler offered her estate with the expressed wish that, through Boris Blai, it would become an environment for the advancement of the fine arts, scholarly study in the arts, and individual creativity. As founding dean, Blai instilled Tyler School of Art with a commitment to progressive education, emphasizing the student's mastery of technique within the framework of a liberal arts curriculum. Dean Blai insisted upon individual attention to each student's needs as the basis of successful teaching. During his 25-year tenure, Dean Blai shaped the school into one of the finest visual arts centers in the country, and his founding ideals still remain paramount to Tyler's educational philosophy.

"In 1960, Dean Charles Le Clair succeeded Boris Blai. During this period the Tyler campus was improved with construction of a residence hall (Beech Hall), and two studio/classroom buildings. In 1966 Dean Le Clair founded the Tyler Study Abroad program in Rome, Italy. Tyler's Rome campus thrives today as one of the most respected fine arts study abroad programs in Europe. The program has expanded to include a full range of liberal arts, architecture, business, and law courses with an emphasis on Rome and the European Community.

"Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Tyler's curriculum continued to grow in response to new definitions of art-making and the role of art in society. New programs and modern facilities in design, ceramics, glass, metals, and photography were added. During this time, Tyler developed the Art and Art Education Department and the Art History Department on Temple's Main campus. These departments serve majors seeking the BA degree with a major in art or art history, the BS degree in art education, and non-majors throughout the University. In 2001, Temple's Architecture Program joined the Tyler School of Art. Today the curriculum at Tyler conitnues to address contemporary needs by incorporating digital technology, video, installation, and performance. In order to meet the demands of a growing student body and align itself with Temple University's core liberal arts curriculum the Tyler School of Art will soon be moving into a new facility on main campus, adjacent to Tomlinson Theatre, and Temple's School of Music.

"From it's modest enrollment of 12 students in the first freshman class in 1935, Tyler now boasts a student body ofmore that 1500 and serves another two to three thousand students each year in elective and core curriculum courses. Today, Tyler is a dynamic organization, serving students at its Elkins Park campus, as well as Temple's Main campus, the Ambler campus, the Center City campus, and the Temple University Rome and Tokyo campuses. For more than 65 years, the foundation of Tyler's program has been a faculty of practicing artists, scholars, and architechts teaching highly talented and motivated students." - Tyler School of Art brochure

[edit] Foundation

One of the things that makes Tyler the same as other art schools is the requirement of a Foundation year. Studies for the BFA degree at Tyler begin with a common freshman experience, the Foundation Year. During this year, students are enrolled in studio courses in Drawing, 2-D and 3-D Principles, and Foundation Computer. The Foundation Program is highly structured and intensive. It forms the fundamental basis for studio practice, critical thinking, and the understanding and implementation of principles of visual art expression. The program emphasizes creative and critical thinking, problem solving, visual thinking, perception and observation, as well as presenting traditional vocabulary, theory, media, and techniques of artistic practice. The Foundation Faculty is composed of faculty from all major areas in the School, providing freshmen with a broad perspective and diverse points of view from which to build their experience as artists.