Time to cover your canvas, students, as a new policy has been put in place that prohibits students from making art depicting the nude body. I was luckily able to get an interview with Leon Metoyer, an on-campus faculty member, to shed some light on the matter. When I asked about why this policy was put in place, he had this to say:
“As a school, we are responsible for the possibility of a negative impact on the work of all students and families that attend or enter our campus. This practice was created out of an abundance of caution for everyone who enters and attends an event at CSArts-SGV.”
This new policy has gained some heat from those in the visual art world. An anonymous faculty member in the visual art sphere had this to say about the policy:
“Whether you look at the birth of Venus, or if you look at the dying seated boxer, or if you look at the Menes Olympia, every epoch, every millennium has artists who deal with the nude in some way.” The anonymous art teacher went on to say, “If you create a zero policy against it, you’re not exposing students to it when they need to be exposed to it. When they need the education, you can’t say, ‘Oh, they’ll just do it in college.’ It’s too late by then.”
I asked whether this teacher felt there was a positive influence this policy could have and they said: “Well, there is an argument to be made that because students aren’t allowed to depict the nude body, that they will be forced to use their creativity more, to kind of work around that… Another good thing that might come out of it is it’ll help students decide where they stand, on whether they agree with it, or whether they don’t agree with it. You don’t have to agree with every policy everywhere you go, you know?”
Housewife to Director: Women in Media