Throughout their tenure at the Frostic School of Art, students learn that making art is not the sole component of what it means to be an artist in the 21st century. Artists must also develop professional contacts, learn to speak freely about their work, answer challenging questions, contextualize and promote their work.
The mission of Frostic School of Art’s Visiting Artist program is tri-fold: to provide students direct, meaningful contact with working artists, both established and emerging; to elevate the regional, national, and international profile of the Frostic School of Art and Richmond Center for Visual Arts; and to nurture a sense of community among students, faculty and staff within WMU’s College of Fine Arts.
As a program that integrates all disciplines within the Frostic School of Art, our Visiting Artist Program also encourages students to step beyond their given major and explore techniques outside their given practice. As such, the Visiting Artist program provides a broad and solid foundation that seeks to expand each students’ view of professional practice after graduation.
Since the 1960s, the rich history of the Frostic School of Art’s Visiting Artist and Scholar Program includes such curators, writers, scholars and artists as Richard Hunt, Christo, Jerry Saltz, Julia Christensen, Roger Shimomura, Eleanor Heartney, Lucy R. Lippard, John Cage, Ivan C. Karp, Benny Andrews, Squeak Carnwath, Haroon Gunn-Salie, Chun-Hak Oh, Yoshisuke Funasaka, Brigit Skiold, Maria Gaspar, Tyanna Buie, Ashley Hunt, Patterson Sims, Dr. David Pilgrim, Victoria Finlay, Lev Manovich, Ladislav Hanka, Shaun Leonardo, and Angela Davis, among hundreds of others.