Massachusetts College of Art and Design - Palette and Pen Yearbook (Boston, MA)

Page 9 text:

THE COLLEGE Grass and cement, bricks and stone, glass and steel, wood and brass, paint. . . . These things com- bined form a protection from the elements and a place of meeting. The grass and trees and shrubs and struggling plants move constantly and season- ally around the slower changing form of the cast, the moulded, and the mortared structure of our college. In the interior of our college the gray painted floors change with the academic seasons — in September, they are fresh and shining, filling every nook and cranny with a smooth and un- stained surface — in June they are bare and worn in spots, crackled and spattered and stained by hours of work and dedication. The girders and construction blocks alone do not make our college. Our college is a thing of mind, a thing of intellect, a thing of human structure. Our college is a gathering of people who share their knowledge with one another in order that the whole group may grow. Environment serves as the influence which shapes the attitudes, feelings, and motives of those within its confines. Yet to a mind which is maturing and developing new senses and awareness, to a mind which is approaching maturity, to a mind caught up in the wonders of exploring sight, sound, feel- ing, and self, the environment is a thing of less importance than the search for knowledge. The mind of the student, regardless of place or physical situation, absorbs knowledge — knowledge of life, of art, of self. The environment is overcome. People become the main concern of the student, people who meet in a structure and exchange all those precious things culled from experience and experiment. Our college then becomes a place where people act, react, interact, and share the rewarding task of self fulfillment and intellectual growth. Our college is constructed of grass and cement, bricks and stone, glass and steel, wood and brass, paint and people.