» Department of Fine and Performing Arts » Art
Greetings from Northwest Missouri State University where I am a professor of Ceramics in the Art Program of the Department of Fine and Performing Arts. The past two years have been an especially challenging time for the arts and art teachers, in particular, have been required to summon enormous creativity and energy to adapt to these new circumstances. I want to express my gratitude for all that you have done to encourage your students to keep making art and to foster their development as young artists. Based on my experience this semester, I am feeling really positive about the resiliency of students and am hopeful that things are headed in a better direction. At Northwest, we have been able to keep classes face-to-face and our art students continue to find careers in the arts and sustain meaningful studio practices after graduation.
We subscribe to a “learning-by-doing” philosophy in the Art Program, where students are immediately immersed in art-making with an emphasis on developing skills that equip them to produce work that increases their self-confidence and self-understanding. At the same time, students learn to analyze art in art history courses that emphasize critical reading, writing, and speaking about visual culture. Our award-winning faculty of practicing artists and scholars are eager to help students reach their personal and professional goals. In addition to our rigorous art curriculum, we offer an array of extracurricular opportunities intended to foster a sense of community among students including a robust visiting artist and scholar program, an art gallery with rotating exhibitions, art clubs, fieldtrips, and funding for students’ creative research projects. Our students are carefully mentored by faculty who encourage them to participate in art internships, freelance opportunities, and submit work to juried art exhibitions before graduation.
We are making plans now for our next Art Visit Day which is March 22, 2022. We warmly invite your students to attend Art Visit Day. This event is focused on sharing information about the Art Program, including art scholarships, our studio facilities, and other resources and opportunities for students. We invite students to sign-up for portfolio reviews with our faculty, which is a great way to connect and learn more about one another. If you have any questions about our courses and programs, or ideas about how Northwest can assist you with a visit to your classroom for an event or workshop/demo, please feel free to email me directly (watkins@nwmissouri.edu). For information on Art Program events, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
Veronica L. Watkins
Assistant Professor of Ceramics
Art Recruitment
Department of Fine and Performing Arts
Northwest Missouri State University- Maryville MO
Phone: 660.562.1324
