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The Arts at Lehigh: A Community of Makers Perhaps, as Lehigh University Art Galleries (LUAG) Director William Crow believes, “organizations, including universities, really retain the DNA of their founders.” When he applied for the LUAG position in 2018, Crow researched the history of Lehigh and the Lehigh Valley. The more he learned about the university’s founder Asa Packer, the school’s first president, Henry Coppee, and the surrounding area’s history, he says, “it became really clear to me that this is a place for makers.” That certainly could help shed light on why Lehigh’s arts programs are thriving even in a time of pandemic and polarization, as increasing numbers of students find a home in a community of makers. “To be a maker is fundamentally creative. It’s genera- tive,” says Nicholas Sawicki, associate professor and chair of the Department of Art, Architecture and Design. “It’s about producing something that wasn’t there when you started. There’s something very empowering about that. And students are excited by that possibility. It affords them tremendous latitude for innovation, for creativity, for thinking broadly. That resonates with Lehigh students right now, and this is the generation of undergraduates who will be leading the university into the future.” Sawicki, an art historian by training, has taught in the College of Arts and Sciences since 2009, and became department head in July 2020. He is one of three new chairs in the arts, joining Tong Soon Lee, who came to Lehigh as chair of the music department in 2018, and Kashi Johnson, who became chair of theatre in July 2019. And in what seems a serendipitous alignment, Lehigh also has new directors at LUAG in Crow, and at Zoellner Arts Center in Mark Wilson. The five new chairs and directors have been brought together as an informal arts committee by Robert Flowers, Herbert J. and Ann L. Siegel Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. The goal, says Lee, is to explore the role of the arts in a liberal arts context, and “how to make liberal arts education relevant and transformative in these changing times.” The three chairs also have begun discussing among themselves, mainly by Zoom and email, curriculum and collaboration, “trying to explore different ways in which our curriculum can intersect effectively,” Lee says. “Whether that means more cross-listed courses with two or three departments, or whether that means more core teaching or collaborative teaching arrangements, we don’t know yet. We are in the exploratory stages.” With what Johnson calls the “new cohort of leaders” in place, the process of charting a course to a more dynamic, distinctive, and collabora- tive future for the arts at Lehigh has begun. “I can say my department as a whole is very excited about what’s to come. But I mean, the leader- ship in my department before me was strong. I’m just happy to bear the torch and continue to grow the department in this way. I’ve been entrusted with a lot, and I’m up for the challenge” Johnson says. Art, Architecture and Design: Finding Meaning and Purpose As he took over the art, architecture and design department during the pandemic in July 2020, Nicholas Sawicki was confronted with one over- arching question: “How do you adapt a form of teaching you’ve spent your life practicing that right now has to be carried out in a very different way?” For example, students taking courses remotely on their computers at home obviously did not have access to the materials and tools they would have had in a workshop or studio on campus. The innovative answer to that problem came in a box. The department worked with Blick Art Materials, a large national vendor, “to put together materials kits for many of our studio and architecture and design courses that have within them materials and basic tools that students can use as part of the class to produce their work.” In other cases, faculty prepared supplies themselves and mailed them to students. “So, there’s been a lot of unboxing, as my daughters would say, of materials in the homes of our students. Each of them at the beginning of the semester received a box loaded with materials and tools and supplies specific to the particular class that they’re taking, and they’re using that to create a kind of parallel experience to the studio in their own homes or in their apartments, if they’re living here off campus in Bethlehem. And that’s been really exciting. I think we’ve found that if you can work out some of the logistical hurdles, you can really provide a robust and engaging educational experience, even in courses that require a lot of intensive hands-on work.” In courses where it was impossible to replicate or offer a parallel experience remotely, the faculty Sawicki refers to as his “highly adaptable and innova- tive colleagues” refocused class time on “broader conceptual and theoretical concerns, and on the genera- tion of forms, rather than assembly or production.” JACK CROF T Arts programs foster a culture of innovation and creativity that contributes to the vitality of campus life ILLUSTRATIONS BY BOMBOLAND COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 13