Did you know Carleton has an art gallery?
The Carleton University Art Gallery (CUAG) is housed in the St. Patrick’s Building, on the edge of campus. There is very little advertising, and no signs directing students to it. Without searching for it on the university website, a student walking around the quad would never know where the art gallery is.
This is unacceptable.
Carleton is growing, with two new buildings. Classes for at least one major school have moved out of St. Patrick’s Building into new digs in the sunny River Building. The university is moving forward with more space and newer buildings, but CUAG seems to have been left out from this equation, banished for now to its basement.
Students at this school are interested in art. They want to see art and they want to exhibit their art. Students applying to this school want the same things. Having an art gallery pushed underground – quite literally – sends a very negative message about the priorities of our university and its approach to art.
There are no avenues for studio art at Carleton, and students deserve a space to showcase their art. CUAG deserves a new, larger space to help facilitate an expanded role, which would see it involve more members of the campus community.
CUAG also needs more visibility, so more students actually know it exists. The university should be proud of its art, and advertise it aggressively. Signs leading to the gallery should be set up, and events at the gallery need to be more prominently publicized.
Let’s pull art up from the dungeons of this school, and give it its rightful place in the Carleton community.
