University of Miami - Ibis Yearbook (Coral Gables, FL)

Page 5 text:

Change is the ultimate origin of art. Reactions and accommodations to crises are filtered through tech- niques and materials and become self-expression. What does form matter? Self can be expressed in many ways. UM ' s art department has looms, kilns, machine tools, presses, a foundry, and photographic equipment. Our music students embrace classical music, jazz, rock, and folk. Theatre? UM has its own. Recitals, art and photography shows, plays all student work and all available right on campus, if you know where to look. But these things are just the forms of what is important self-expression. The energy crisis? Yes, it will make a difference. Less power for electrical instruments. Shortages of mater- ials and equipment. But the energy crisis will also force us to rely upon ourselves, to look at our lives in new ways, to find new uses and methods. We ' ll have to reconsider everything. New lifestyles, new at- titudes, new art forms, new materials and techniques. The forms will change, but self-expression will be stimulated, not stunted. Our reactions to the energy crisis may make 1974 the year of self-expression through art. The energy crisis is change, and change is the origin of art.

Page 7 text:

Just aluminum foil. No pins, no tape, no string, no staples, no rubber bands. And you ' ve got to do something with it. Make something out of it. This just-foil-and- make-something-with-it is a traditional as- signment in the Art Department. An exer- cise in seeing materials differently, a method for considering techniques in new ways. And as it turns out, aluminum foil isn ' t just aluminum foil. Foil is also an ex- pression, a material, a means. And occa- sionally a mushroom.