Bethel University - Spire Yearbook (St Paul, MN)

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To many, art is better seen than said, that is, experienced rather than talked about. Yet words can more clearly define the aesthetic experience for art ist and viewer alike. As in verbal communication the word gives form to the idea, so in art does the idea or desired effect provide the basis out of which a work of art evolves. Thus the ability to conceive ideas is as necessary to art as the ability to execute them. Courses called Art Appreciation and Elements of Design become as important as those which teach basic studio skills such as drawing or painting. It would seem that few things in this world have not been done before, so the erstwhile artist must be able to perceive existing things in new relationships. Developing his powers of visual observation, the artist trains himself to be sensitive to line, form, color, and space relationships. The more observant and aware the artist, the more he is able to tap the rich reservoir of infinitely possible combinations of these elements to form that new relationship — which is — a work of art. Janet Appelquist Art

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Art: Developing ones powers of visual observation Art ■

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 Four or five thousand steps, no more. Turn to the right. There it is. You've been waiting all week for lab. The inspiration has yet to rise, but no doubt formaldehyde will accomplish that. Work awaiteth. Pulling out the cutlery from those dark little desk drawers, visions of lunch and what might have been, crop up. Stack of instructions, each sheet encouraging creative learning experience, pass down the rows of eager faces. Hands reach out for assignments, then minds for the knowledge to be caught in two hours. There's a low hum as project partners discuss the proper approaches to take. Is there a scientific method? Pencils scratch on paper. Then, as if an alarm had gone off, the stools are pushed back: they're off! Elbows and toes take prominent positions in the search for reference materials. Books plop open; keen thoughts blend with those on the pages. Pans and instruments clatter at the sink. Wet hands plosh and slap in the water. The towel dispenser clangson-and-off all period. Movement and sound make little impression on the students, unless to urge them on in their work. There are those, of course, who'd rather watch and listen ... sensitively ... than actively participate. Some get by with it for more'n, say, five minutes at a time. But the work must be done. Amoebas and such, crayfish and bony sharks: there's enough to tend to. Toadstools and cats and tree bark and butterflies. Something will have to interest someone! Dissecting whatnots and accumulating notes on campus ecology have their place, too. Not all the studies are completed in lab. Traipsing off to that zoo of sorts, diligent students of the animal kingdom ponder multifaceted ways in which Como Park relates to Noah's ark. All those names, and the work, too! The thought is nearly as overwhelming as the atmosphere. Climbing under and over those funny little bars that keep patrons inside walks, biologists peer at leather footwear and teeth enamel. The monkeys look longingly as kids munch on peanuts and other good things to eat. Notebooks drop to the floor, are snatched up again and brushed off. It's difficult to make out pencil scribbles under all that dust. Gleefully the rounds are made. Notes are compared and pencil tips chewed. The paper is beginning to look ragged, torn, beat-up. Wrecked. But the coffccsh-op's doughnuts and pop will rectify that. Apart from the fact that a heap of stuff has to be gathered and neatly annotated, lecture notes must be fairly legible, almost coherent, and exams have to Biology