Schneider Museum of Art

Luis Bermudez' Table Offering,
2004

Rick Nagle's Sketches of
Spetses

Soaring Spirits, Feet of Clay

I have always thought of a university Art Gallery or Museum as the equivalent of a Library- a library of images rather than words. And if the artist’s work can be compared to that of an author, then the materials and the style the artist has chosen can be compared to forms of writing an author can choose, such as poems, novels, biographies or short stories.

Just as librarians collect as many books as they can, by as many authors as they know of, about as many subjects as they need, for their libraries, those of us working in art museums and art galleries try to present as varied a program of exhibitions as our budgets will allow.

We feel it is important to provide students and members of the community with as wide a range of visual experiences as possible, in order to acquaint them with the broadest spectrum of expressive points of view and stylistic developments covering the entire gamut of materials used by artists.

To see and experience art helps sharpen our ability to make judgments, develop critical faculties and during that process, discover our own predilections as we learn about artists whose works we are drawn to.

In all cultures the younger generations learn from the older one. This system has worked for centuries until world travel and mass communication changed this traditional way of imparting information and learning patterns.

In a relatively short period of time, distances have been virtually eliminated, blurring cultural boundaries and producing homogenized mixtures of what were once separate social, political and unique civilizations. Computers and other forms of instant communication have brought about access across continents making it easy to know what goes on in any discipline as dropping in to our next door neighbor’s house.

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