New VPA art course takes students to India

New VPA art course takes students to IndiaApril 06, 2007Daeya Malboeufdmking04@syr.edu

When someone asks John Thompson, professor of illustration in Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA), about his new course, Painting and Drawing India, he tells them, “First you have to go there.”

Thompson launched the studio art class this spring. It kicked off with a 15-day trip to India over winter break, offered as a short-term program through SU Abroad. Students are spending the remainder of the semester creating bodies of artwork based on the India experience.

Thompson led SU art students through Delhi, Nawalgarh, Jaipur and Agra in India’s north central region. They visited museums, historic sites and temples, workshops, craft centers and markets, and met with local artists, pausing for sketches and photo shoots along the way. “I wanted them to see that India not only possesses a rich artistic tradition, but also has a lively contemporary art movement that is very much abreast of the international community,” says Thompson.

Painting and Drawing India marks VPA’s first involvement in the SU Abroad India Program. Thompson went to India last year to explore the possibilities for a study abroad program in art with Susan Wadley, professor of anthropology in The College of Arts and Sciences, who had already begun a study abroad program in India. The paintings and drawings Thompson completed upon his return from India generated student interest in the course, and Thompson plans to offer the course again next spring.

SU Abroad programs foster scholarship in action through a combination of world travel, academic excellence, internships and community collaboration. The University currently operates six centers: Beijing, Florence, Hong Kong, London, Madrid, and Strasbourg. New centers are under development in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa.

Through the World Partners program, SU students may also study in more than 20 additional countries, including Australia, Chile, Ecuador, Israel, India, Korea and Russia. SU Abroad consistently ranks among the highest quality international education programs in the country. More than 2,000 students from both SU and colleges across the country study abroad with SU every year.