Being an art major isn’t a marginalized identity, stop making inaccurate petitions
By Josh Hughes
The VU Gallery will have its last three shows this quarter before temporarily closing for the Multicultural Center construction. You may ask yourself, what does this mean for the future of the gallery and the artwork that would normally be hosted there? We talked to VU Gallery Director Josey Butcher to find out more about the process that the space will undergo in the next couple of years.
“The plan is to close the gallery at the beginning of Spring Quarter for construction that will be occurring right above the space for the new Ethnic Student Center and Multicultural Center,” said Butcher.
After the current Andrew Yee exhibit, a solo exhibit by a Maryland artist and a group exhibit of upcoming Washington student-based art, the gallery will shut down for roughly two years. While the space is on the fifth floor of the VU, the construction will be above the gallery, causing disruptive noise and making the space unusable for art exhibitions.
There are a number of plans currently in the works to determine the future of the gallery, but Butcher wants to emphasize the importance of the new ESC Building and its complete priority in this situation.
“I realize that this construction is really built around the ESC and the Multicultural Center, and I think that comes first in all of this. Western has never prioritized the needs of students of color on this campus, so I think it’s an opportunity to at least go further in that direction and start providing resources for them.” she said.
While there are rumors about the ESC taking money away from the VU Gallery for the construction, the two are entirely independent of each other and their budgets do not at all overlap. It purely comes down to an issue of physical space and the restrictions that come with construction of any sort.
In addition to the gallery, the adjacent AS offices on the fifth floor will also have to relocate for the duration of construction.
Of the current considerations on the table, Butcher is hoping that a new space will become available for the gallery, largely because of the current inaccessibility of the location.
“My ideal goal would be to put the gallery in a new space that’s more prominent, where people could more easily find it,” she said.
Other possibilities include the gallery remaining dormant until construction ends, at which point it would start up again in the same space. There
are also certain AS Clubs and offices that may desire taking up the space once it’s usable again, though this would mean renovating the gallery itself.
While its future still lies up in the air, Butcher wants to clarify that there are no tensions between the ESC and the VU Gallery, and that students should be excited for the new Multicultural Center and the resources it will provide for People of Color on campus.
While the next iteration of the VU Gallery is being determined, be sure to check it out this quarter for one of the many different exhibits it has to offer. Located on the fifth floor of the VU, it’s tucked away with most of the AS. Andrew Yee’s show for the space runs until this friday, February 2.
The petition to save the VU Gallery is not inaccurate and being art major may not be a marginalized identity but it is a marginalized major. There are actually no plans currently to reinstate the Gallery even after construction.
This is such an inflammatory and honestly insulting article that doesn’t actually provide the full picture. Why didn’t you speak to an actual art student or faculty member or someone with the ethnic student center? Josey is an art history student and has often been kept out of the loop and given misinformation from her supervisors.
Art students are not against an ethnic student center. But there should be enough space for both things. The ESC and VU Gallery should not be constantly pitted against each other, they’re separate entities that are both valuable for student life. And having a professional gallery space on campus is essential for any legitimate university with an art major.
Art students aren’t raising this issue because they’re “a marginalized identity” but the art department has been severely neglected and underfunded for decades. A gallery space in the VU is for more than just art students.
For someone who is not an art major, its a pretty big claim to say “being an art major isn’t a marginalized identity, stop making inaccurate petitions”…
For other majors like chemistry or computer science, it would be completely unreasonable for those students to have their labs taken away for 2-3 years, and to not have an alternative plan for those lost labs.
Let’s try to interview other Art/Art History faculty, staff and students to get a more clear view on this issue before writing something that is completely disgusting.
Let’s try to do your job, and instead of painting a group of people as one color, try talking to them, getting down to the core of the issues, and then form an opinion.