President's Message
Speaking with Rick Rogers, CCS President
What can you do with an art school education? There is a new answer to the question and it's ‘just about anything.’
There are artists all around us
There has never been a better time to be an art school graduate. There are a remarkable number of occupations that require people with artistic talents. Many of the things that lead to improving our quality of life have input from artists. The physical things in our lives—the art that inspires us, the products we use, the things we see on the screen, the materials we read—all of these affect our sense of what it is to be a complete human being, and all of them are touched by artists. You know it...there are artists all around us. Many of them are called designers. Their influence may be invisible to the typical person but it's there and it's real and it's growing all the time.
A community built around creativity
CCS is a community built around creativity. It exists to nurture creativity, and it strives to be a creative institution itself.
Artistic creativity is central to the ability to compete
It used to be that artistic creativity seemed to be on the margin of society. That's no longer an acceptable way of looking at things. It is now becoming more and more acknowledged that creativity is central to the ability to compete, to human well-being in general.
Go out and make a mark in the world
It is always exciting to hear what the students are doing after they graduate; places they have gone, jobs they have gotten, recognition they have received. Our object here is to produce students who will go out and make a mark in the world—literally and figuratively. So it's always great to hear about the successes of our graduates.
They will find a way to succeed
Parents want to know: Can my child make a living? Well, yes, your child can make a living. I think the great thing about students who go to art school is that they are very entrepreneurial, highly independent-minded. They are very determined and committed to what they do and they will find a way to succeed. We see it consistently.
The heart of the urban fabric
Detroit is a gutsy, gritty city that is always in a process of rebuilding and recreating itself...and we are right in the thick of it. We are in what's called the Cultural Center. Our world-renowned art museum is across the street and Detroit's other museums are within a few blocks. It is a very safe neighborhood. There are residential areas around us. Being right in the heart of the urban fabric contributes an exciting, unique character to CCS.
The biggest names at work today
We have a parade of really important people in art and design coming through to work with our students. We have two endowed lecture series right now, one on the fine arts side and one on the design side. These enable us to bring in some of the biggest names at work today.
Functioning in a global economy
In the last few years CCS has become more international. We want our American students to be able to go study in other places, and we want more students from abroad to come study at CCS. We're working on various initiatives to encourage both. We are helping students develop global perspectives because they will be functioning in a global economy.
Encouraging service to the community
We also do a great deal of community outreach work, working with local city kids — very extensive after-school programs. This is also an important part of our mission: encouraging service to the community as part of the value system of our students and the college
The reason that we are here
I love commencement. I love watching the students cross the stage and shaking their hands. I love seeing the families and the pride that they hold in the students' accomplishments. The moment when the ceremony ends and the procession leaves the auditorium and the families gather outside and the graduates come and merge with the crowds of family and friends and embrace one another – that's when I get a little choked up. It's the moment that best captures for me the reason why we are here.
All this new work
The annual student exhibition is an incredible high point. When school starts in September, CCS is like an empty box. There's nothing on the walls. There's nothing in the classrooms. We are starting fresh...but by the end of the year when the student exhibition opens, that box is full of stuff! Every room, every hallway has been turned into gallery space. To think that none of that existed in September and now there is all this new work. It is just remarkable! When the public comes in they are always so amazed at the talent and the productivity of our students.
Talking with students
I love the monthly President's coffee hours, which are open to everybody at the college: students, faculty, and administrative staff. I enjoy talking with students who either have things they want me to know or just want to socialize. I was at a doctor's appointment, and the doctor said to me, "I know a student who attends CCS. She says the coffee hours are great," so I guess the students like them too.
Drawing since they could hold a pencil
Our students come here already knowing what they want to do. It's a demanding program and they can only really succeed in it if they are sure this is what they want. Most of these students have known that being an artist is what they were going to do since they were little. Most of them have been drawing since they could hold a pencil. It's just a natural form of expression for them and I think our faculty finds it extremely satisfying to teach students like these.
People who are very comfortable with change
The uses for the kinds of disciplines we teach are constantly changing. Graduates of a school like this have to be extremely adaptable and flexible—the education here evolves to produce people who are very comfortable with change and will actually lead change in their fields.
One of the first
The history of CCS is very present in its current configuration and approach to teaching art and design. The institution started out as the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts. It was one of the first of a number of Arts and Crafts societies that developed in the US when the Arts and Crafts movement migrated from Europe in the late 19th century. The movement was essentially about restoring aesthetic values to industrial products in the age of mass production. So it was both a reaffirmation of the importance of the fine arts and crafts...and also in a sense the beginning of industrial design and design more broadly.
Making people's lives better
I think the values that were expressed by the Arts and Crafts movement are the values that we subscribe to today at CCS. We still believe in the importance of aesthetics. We believe in the importance of craft. We believe in the importance of quality. The Arts and Crafts movement was about making people's lives better and our mission at CCS is to educate students to go out and make people's lives better.
We keep getting stronger
Our values are expressed in all our departments, in all our majors. We continue to reinforce the fundamentals of art making and design making. We maintain equally strong commitments to the traditional fine arts fields and the high-tech design fields. We continually embrace new areas of study, new technologies, new techniques, new approaches, and new ways of conceptualizing. We keep getting stronger.
