Agility, Dimension, Imagination: SCAD Scripts the Future of Arts Education

ARTPULSE Sr. Editor Stephen Knudsen interviews Savannah College of Art and Design President and Founder, Paula Wallace

Savannah College of Art and Design stands apart in higher education by offering unique, forward thinking degree programs and relevant majors for creative professionals. With locations in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia, and Lacoste, France-in addition to SCAD eLearning-SCAD is the largest university of art and design in the world. ARTPULSE’s interview with SCAD President and Founder Paula Wallace shares a story of agility, focused intention, imagination, and openheartedness that could not be timelier. Our conversation* transpires as the world endures, now, at the time of this interview, the ninth month of the COVID-19 pandemic. President Wallace generously elucidates innovative solutions to pedagogical challenges for this worldwide crisis. Our interview foreshadows a post-pandemic world where educational modalities and advances, engendered and proven during the pandemic, form a courageous, transformative, and even surprising new trajectory in arts education and lifelong learning.

Through SCADnow, students are virtually connected to technologically innovative instruction. In this life drawing class, students choose the model and angle of their choice across nine different cameras.

Stephen Knudsen - President Wallace, may I take you back to Winter Quarter 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic? Even then, before SCAD transitioned in Spring 2020 to 100% virtual learning, almost a quarter of your 15,000-plus students were already taking at least one course through SCAD eLearning. This certainly gave strong footing for the major virtual transition. What enabled the university to so quickly implement such sweeping changes?

Paula Wallace - You’re right, Stephen-as SCAD readied for Spring 2020, we nimbly shifted operations and curricula to virtual venues, truly a heroic transformation completed in under three weeks. Let’s rewind even farther, though, to 2016 and Hurricane Matthew. As a Category 2 storm, Matthew neared just a few weeks into fall quarter and prompted SCAD-and much of the East Coast-to evacuate. After the storm, as live oaks lay toppled in Forsyth Park, Savannahians trickled back home. And during that time, from evacuation on, we had to ensure our students, faculty, and staff were safe and engaged. Yet, more storms would follow: Tropical Storm Irma in September 2017 and Hurricane Dorian-a near miss that delayed residence hall move-in and orientation-just as Fall Quarter 2019 was scheduled to begin. The university’s response to these storms affirmed two SCAD advantages-technology and positivity-which we harnessed to orchestrate our Spring 2020 virtual transition.

With COVID-19’s arrival, we approached the pandemic as a design challenge, one we would solve because we possessed agility, and-as you noted-SCAD students and faculty have historically and enthusiastically embraced virtual learning. Yes, in Winter 2020, a quarter of our students were already enrolled in at least one SCAD eLearning course; additionally, all of our on-ground courses utilized virtual platforms like Blackboard. Our award-winning SCAD eLearning program, launched in 2004, primed us to pivot. Still, SCAD honed a host of other advantages.

SCAD’s information technology infrastructure is peerless. Ahead of Spring 2020, in a matter of three weeks, SCAD IT: secured extended licenses (free to students) for more than 100 software titles like AVID, Cinema 4D, and TVPaint; deployed Zoom, Slack, and other platforms for university-wide collaboration; and debuted SCAD vLab, which supplied students with off-site access to high-powered SCAD resources. Through SCAD vLab-from the comfort of their own homes-our animation and game design students, for example, access Maya to create 3D designs. And here’s a fun fact: we’d already created the concept for SCAD vLab beforeCOVID-19 entered the world’s daily lexicon.

Indeed, SCAD has always prized invention and practicality, traits baked into our academic calendar and curriculum. We believe in the quarter system-used by only 5% of four-year colleges in the U.S.-because it mirrors the pace of the workplace and better prepares students for meaningful careers. Was it challenging to transition SCAD’s curriculum to virtual learning between the Winter 2020 and Spring 2020 quarters? Yes-yet much more preferable than shifting mid-semester. As the world’s largest art and design university, we are the preeminent source of knowledge across our more than 40 majors, 70 minors, and 100 degree programs. Faculty, students, and industry partners come to SCAD to access our unmatched dynamic of multidisciplinary learning and collective genius. Head on, we meet design challenges, be they SCADpro assignments-more on those later-or the pandemic.

Still, our most distinct advantage echoes within the university’s mission: SCAD prepares talented students for creative professions through engaged teaching and learning in a positively oriented university environment. SCAD’s transition to virtual learning mirrors work-from-home within the creative disciplines, and the SCAD family surmounts real-world challenges to embark on new, exciting adventures.

SCAD furniture design students navigate form and function in real-time instruction through SCADnow. Virtual studio visits, gallery talks, masterclasses, and showcases introduce students to art and design tastemakers.

S.K. - Today, what differentiates SCAD eLearning from SCAD’s transformed virtual offerings?

P.W. - We thoughtfully designed SCAD eLearning to elevate the accessibility of SCAD degree programs for students and working professionals alike. SCAD eLearning courses still follow the 10-week quarter system, yet they prioritize asynchronous study-while students certainly have live interactions with classmates and professors, they are able to work at their own pace. With our transformed virtual platform-which we call SCADnow-we have captured the intimacy of on-ground, real-time engagement and infused it throughout the digital sphere. I like to say that we’ve extended the learning continuum by expanding the confines of the traditional classroom.

Through SCADnow, students choose from a suite of engagement opportunities. In courses like PRO 540-a new offering launched this fall that I’ll touch on later-students meet in-person, in socially distanced and stringently cleaned venues, or tune in live, from their residence halls or homes. Plus, lectures and class activities are recorded on Zoom for personalized viewing. And SCADextra workshops, another new feature I’ll highlight in a moment, are available to all students and provide deep-dives into specialized skillsets. Truly, SCADnow maximizes student connectivity and choice: at a time when daily life can feel constrained, SCAD Bees revel in the freedom to chart their academic journeys.

In August 2020, the university partnered with renowned artist Carrie Mae Weems to launch her new public art initiative RESIST COVID TAKE 6! at the SCAD Museum of Art. The initiative draws awareness to the ways in which racial inequities have manifested in the COVID-19 pandemic.

S.K. - For our next plot point, let’s fast-forward to the current quarter, Fall 2020-while many universities opted to return to in-person, on-ground instruction, SCAD opened up more methodically. Most courses remain in eLearning and virtual modalities; however,you’ve reopened select buildings and studios. What new safety protocols have you installed, and how effective have they been?

P.W. - First and foremost, SCAD Bees wash their hands and wear their masks! If you were to walk into a section of PRO 540 in SCADshow or Trustees Theater right now, you’d see students, appropriately distanced, smiling at professors who likewise promote health, hygiene, and compassion. Every member of the SCAD family currently working on-site or learning in-person completes a daily health screening, and color-coded lanyards grant access to select buildings. In all SCAD facilities, non-contact, temperature stations and one-direction walkways bolster safety and comfort. In the event of a verified case of COVID-19, robust contact tracing will quickly ensure containment, outreach, and care. Our transparency, conviviality, and design-think, user-focused systems engender peace of mind and exemplify the SCAD ethos.

S.K. - Many of SCAD’s majors utilize high-tech equipment and software-what are some examples of industry-standard tools that your students use long before they start their internships and careers?

P.W. - Look no farther than Clark Hall and Number Nine, two of our recently renovated classroom buildings in Savannah, and the achievements of our SCAD animation majors and film and television students. At SCAD Atlanta, Associate Chair of Animation Matt Maloney and fellow professors across SCAD empowered students to collaborate virtually-using software like Katana, developed by SCAD alum Steve Lavietes-to create shorts likeBearly, Box Boy, Hanami, Ma’ii, and To Love A Ladybug. Now, these films are making the rounds at festivals. At Number Nine, SCAD School of Fashion’s newest gem, four digital dye printers, a heat press, and a steamer enable our Bees to add color, patterns, and pizzaz to both natural and synthetic materials. Inside Clark Hall, architecture students delight in industry-standard rapid-prototyping equipment, laser cutters, 3D printers, and more. As for our film students, they enjoy sound stages, greenrooms, and lighting grids at facilities like our 22,000-square-foot Savannah Film Studios and the 60,000-square-foot SCAD Digital Media Center in Atlanta. From 4K cameras and Fisher dollies to a Techno-Jib computer-controlled crane, our Bees benefit from the best and bring home the awards-the short, Let Loose, created at SCAD, took top honors in this year’s Coca-Cola Refreshing Films Competition, following SCAD’s 2019 Choose Happyfor back-to-back SCAD wins.

SCAD Art Sales is an art and design consultancy offering services from professional curation and custom commissions to white-glove installation and contactless pickup for a global clientele including Facebook and Sotherly Hotels.

S.K. - I understand the new mixed-modality course­-PRO 540 High Performance Collaboration-is being tested this fall quarter. A student can take PRO 540 by walking into the classroom or virtually, via Zoom. In other words, students on Zoom are part of the gallery on a monitor in the on-ground class sessions. The professor, on-ground students, and virtual students all come together in the same space synchronously. And the course is filmed and recorded, so there is asynchronous access as well. Would you tell us more about PRO 540 and its benefits?

P.W. - We designed PRO 540 with the same thought, care, and depth that we direct toward every SCAD signature event-like SCAD Film Festival-because, like those events, PRO 540 enlivens dynamic spaces and exists as a multi-dimensional, extended learning opportunity. Yes, PRO 540 creates a safe venue for in-person engagement-another point of connectivity our students want-yet it does so much more. The course primes students for future SCADpro assignments-real-world design challenges that pair SCAD students and professors with top-tier partners like BMW, Google, and NASA, who prize SCAD’s research-and-design prowess and fabrication capabilities. As an introductory course for many first-year students, PRO 540 challenges them with adaptive thinking and equips them with supercharged power skills-to present and pitch persuasively and professionally, conceive and communicate complex ideas, and contribute seamlessly in collaborative, cross-disciplinary scenarios. Just think about that for a minute: in their first class at SCAD, our students learn applicable, professional, multidisciplinary techniques-creative business leadership!-while building a network of friends and colleagues andboosting their résumés.

S.K. - Is PRO 540, as a mixed-modality course, a kind of test of a completely new teaching system at SCAD, and how successful has it been?

P.W. - Our students delight in the sense of community in PRO 540, because the course immediately connects them with so many touchpoints of the SCAD family. For example, we have “SCADpro Fridays,” when current students and alums-all veterans of SCADpro assignments-visit and offer case studies of their own experiences. The added bonus, of course: students witness firsthand the lifelong engagement and commitment of our alumni. PRO 540 is also a natural marriage of two initiatives at the heart of the SCAD curriculum: SCADpro, our in-house design consultancy, and SCADamp, the university’s professional communication studio. In addition to critiquing students’ pitches and presentations, SCADamp communication coaches teach mindfulness and meditation techniques, and even offer improv workshops. Given today’s climate, I can’t think of two more important traits-the ability to be present in a moment and roll with it, come what may-for tomorrow’s pioneers. So, in answer to your question, yes, PRO 540 thrives on experimentation and imagination-hallmarks of all SCAD courses.

Through SCADpro, students solve creative and business challenges for global clients like Google, Amazon, NASA, and Disney.

S.K. - Will you soon be implementing other mixed-modality courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels with this on-ground/virtual mix of students?

P.W. - For Winter 2021, about 5% of courses will be offered on-ground, with most of those employing mixed-modality formats. Of course, all in-person offerings utilize stringent health and safety protocols, and students have access to recorded lectures should they feel ill or otherwise uncomfortable attending class.

S.K. - If I could interject a comment: it seems to me that this mixed-modality teaching is exactly the kind of system that could help primary and secondary schools struggling to go back on-ground, partially, safely. It keeps the on-ground student population lower and preserves a virtual alternative for parents not yet ready to send their kids on-ground. I hope we have principals and school board members reading this interview.

P.W. - As a former elementary schoolteacher and current high school parent myself, I empathize with the challenging decisions that moms, dads, educators, administrators, and elected officials must weigh. SCAD always strives to serve as an exemplar of student-centered education and lifelong learning, from the university level to the hallways of our elementary and secondary schools. We are called to serve, and I’m proud to say that, pandemic or not, SCAD continues to do so. In support of accessible technology and health-conscious instruction, SCAD donated 160 computers-the same high-powered machines SCAD students use in our labs and media centers-to the City of Savannah, to ensure our neighbors have the tools they need to learn. In addition to making PPE for frontline health care workers, SCADpro teams developed solutions for K-12 education partners transitioning to learn-from-home. And, just as we have reimagined our courses and signature events, SCAD museums have hosted dozens of K-12 students for virtual and in-person tours since reopening in September. We discover peace, perspective, and empowerment when we view art, and we’re honored to offer poignant displays and moments of respite.

See what SCAD is all about at scad.edu and @scaddotedu.

S.K. - Both faculty and students have been remarkably resilient during the pandemic. How has SCAD positioned professors and learners to thrive, and what success stories illustrate the academic community’s tenacity?

P.W. - Where to begin? I’ve already mentioned our festival-darling animated shorts and Let Loose-keep in mind that so many of these extraordinary productions transpired virtually, across state lines and even oceans. SCAD excellence forever spans the globe! Jaylyn Lassiter, pursuing her M.F.A. in painting, wowed collectors at our June Virtual Open Studio-yet another event adapted digitally-where her depictions of the power of natural beauty and Black hair garnered an immediate commission. At the inaugural online i-D x ARTSTHREAD Global Design Graduate Show, 2020 SCAD fashion alum September Park earned top honors in the Sports and Denim category. And three other recent alumni-Tamra Gould (fashion), Rose Jerome (photography), and Erin Robey (visual communication)-earned plaudits as winners in the Communication Arts 2020 Photography Competition.

On the faculty side, SCAD Architecture Professor Brent White’s Architecture Studio VI course was profiled by CannonDesign, whose architects-along with those from ZGF Architects and West Workshop Architects-partnered with SCAD to provide critiques and evaluate pitches; what a wonderful networking opportunity initiated by Brent. And who can forget Academy Award-winning sound design professor Jamie Baker, who transformed her living room into a fully functional soundstage-then helped her students do the same. Now, that’s SCAD hustle!

SCAD’s esprit de corpsfueled endeavors like these, and our unwavering support ensured their success. Our professors, for instance, benefitted from the assistance of Faculty Peer Partners, experts in teaching, learning, and technology deputized at the onset of the pandemic to answer real-time questions, manage Zoom and Blackboard interfaces, and offer encouragement. Prior to Fall 2020, we shipped our professors 725 Virtual Teaching Kits, which included an iPod touch that doubles as a second camera, a portable tripod that (with the second camera) creates an overhead projector, wireless Apple AirPods, and an external battery for seamless instruction anytime, anywhere. For our students-in addition to extended software licenses and SCAD vLab resources-we’ve created virtual social support groups through SCAD Bee Well, the university’s array of wellbeing offerings dedicated to emotional, social, and physical health. From virtual SCADfit yoga and Pilates sessions over Zoom to our brand-new platform YOU@SCAD-an individually tailored one-stop for information, resources, and connection-SCAD Bee Well exemplifies care, community, and connection.

Through SCADnow, user experience design students connect face-to-face with award-winning, industry-leading faculty like BC Hwang, preparing them for professional success as they harness the power of tech in an increasingly virtual world.

S.K. - To summarize, it seems SCAD’s response to the pandemic has: increased collaboration; transformed eLearning courses; launched the virtual classroom; and pointed the way to a mixed-modality classroom. We are all looking forward to a post-COVID-19 world, just as we appreciate silver linings that will endure after the crisis. In that future world, what will the SCAD classroom look like, and would you unpack further what SCADnow means?

P.W. - Earlier, I mentioned SCADextra-extended learning opportunities that delve deeply into unique subjects and skillsets. This fall, we offered almost 200 such workshops, about 10 per week, on everything from “COVID-conscious Film Production” to “Make Ink: Guide to Natural Ink-making.” You could say there’s a bit of variety! For instance, consider “Back to the ’70s: Gesture Jam with Music and Fashion”-in Trustees Theater, SCAD Foundation Studies Professors Nick Reszetar and Henry Dean teamed with SCAD Fashion Professor Laura Wolf (who Zoomed in from home) to teach the finer points of fashion illustration. The trio set up eight of the Virtual Teaching Kits, which placed cameras on the on-stage fashion models, Nick and Henry’s easels, and Nick’s turntable-he served as DJ! Laura set up her own camera that welcomed students into her home studio, and students joined via Zoom to draw their own sketches of the models. This is the future, Stephen. Immersive. Multidimensional. Multidisciplinary. Fun! And it’s happening now, at SCAD. Students have unprecedented access to faculty. Professors expand learning across the continuum of engagement, from real-time in-person to live Zoom to asynchronous opportunities. Moreover, students and professors alike enjoy elevated perspectives-over-the-shoulder, first-person POV of artistry in action, immediate feedback for budding professionals developing their disciplines. The classroom is wherever it needs to be. Learning is anything but passive. Teaching is layered and intimate. This is SCADnow.

In partnership with Mayor Johnson and the City of Savannah, SCAD gifted 160 computers — equivalent to eight classrooms — to make distance learning more accessible for K–12 students in Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools.

S.K. - Peter Schjeldahl, former contributor to ARTPULSEand art critic of TheNew Yorker, wrote a June 2020 review of “Edward Hopper: A Fresh Look at Landscape,” at the Beyeler Foundation. His opening salvo is characteristically smart: “I’ve been thinking a lot about Edward Hopper-so have other stay-at-homes, I notice online. The visual bard of American solitude-not loneliness, a maudlin projection-speaks to our isolated states these days with fortuitous poignance. But he is always doing that, pandemic or no pandemic.” Schjeldahl could not resist writing the Hopper piece, even though he could not see the show on-ground. He relied on past viewings of Hopper paintings, the catalog-and I sympathize. It is an illustration of how COVID-19 has changed the complexion of exhibition and criticism.

Before the pandemic, Schjeldahl would have never reviewed an exhibition he could not visit. But COVID-19 changed that-just as COVID-19 has changed M.F.A. thesis exhibitions. I am aware that since the spring of 2020, SCAD graduate students in painting can choose from several options: to mount their thesis exhibitions virtually through the platform Artsteps; to mount the exhibition in a real space with very limited access and strict protocols; or, to exhibit in a real space but with video-only access. Safety is an obvious advantage here with these new options, yet are there other benefits?

P.W. - What a fascinating question, Stephen. We need to acknowledge that, in many instances, viewers are as receptive to considering works virtually as they are to seeing them in person. And when we encounter art multi-sensorily, a range of dynamic, linked content and interpretive materials enhance every aspect of the visual experience. Art sales have continued to thrive in the virtual environment. Consider initiatives like Gagosian’s “Spotlight” Series: a $1.5 million Damien Hirst painting was placed with a collector, and works by Urs Fisher, Mary Weatherford, Titus Kaphar, and Jennifer Gaudi garnered six figures-proof that audiences welcome opportunities to collect new art. Further still, each edition of Art Basel’s Viewing Rooms evinces the ongoing engagement of top-tier galleries. With in-person fairs postponed to 2021 and beyond, more than 230 dealer galleries participated in Art Basel’s inaugural online exhibition. Clearly, today, virtual has as much virtue as it does verisimilitude.

As far as Peter Schjeldahl reviewing an exhibition remotely, we ask students, all the time, to identify and evaluate works from images. What art history student doesn’t have memories of a slide-identification test? So, let’s extend professionals the same leeway. Yes, seeing a work up-close-walking through a space-is different, but critical and conceptual insights are always valuable. Schjeldahl brings precise awareness to every work he considers. Our experience with art is becoming more dimensional and egalitarian-both positive developments. How arts institutions and our expectations adapt is the question. Now, whether Hopper is truly a harbinger of loneliness, if you will, or the bard of the American maudlin, is a query for another conversation.

Guided by experienced communication coaches in SCADamp studios, students polish their pitch in a virtual setting, preparing them to capitalize on career-making, peak-performance moments in our new digital age.

S.K. - I know SCAD currently counts more than 46,000 alumni-would you care to share an anecdote about a graduate who exemplifies the SCAD mission?

P.W. - I’ll share two-Kacie Willis and Eric Ross, our Fall 2020 SCAD Alumni Atelier Ambassadors. We’re currently celebrating the fifth anniversary of SCAD Alumni Atelier, the university’s artist ambassadorship I endowed to help advance the artistry and careers of our Bees. Each year, our Atelier Ambassadors return to SCAD not only to realize their visions, but to mentor future SCAD graduates-to imbue them with the same focus, professional preparation, and camaraderie that define the SCAD Mission. As a sought-after podcaster and cultural influencer, Kacie examines the complexities of identity-given the climate many Americans are only just beginning to grapple with, I can think of no endeavor more relevant, empowering, and compassionate than Kacie’s explorations. In 2019, she was selected as one of 10 participants in the Spotify Sound Up program, an initiative to amplify underrepresented voices in the podcasting world, and her new series, White-Angle, examines empathy, perspective, and privilege in storytelling and documentary filmmaking. Meanwhile, Eric-as Atelier’s first architect ambassador-is pioneering advanced building techniques and promoting zero-waste design. Eric and the firm William McDonough + Partners-where he is a director-are soon to announce a major project he’s completed for two tech giants, and his commitment to sustainability epitomizes SCAD ingenuity and élan.

S.K. - SCAD Museum of Art has reopened-what exhibitions are currently on view?

P.W. - I’m delighted that SCAD museums are open again, with safety protocols, limited hours, and social distancing requirements in place. At SCAD Museum of Art, Kenturah Davis’s “Everything that Cannot Be Known”has been extended through mid-December (a SCAD publication on her works is forthcoming), and painter Emily Mae Smith’s “Feast and Famine”is up through January 1, 2021. Meanwhile, in Atlanta, Derrick Adams’s“Patrick Kelly: The Journey”-think Piet Mondrian meets mid-1990s Jasper Johns for an idea of his vibrant and complex works-continues through January 3, 2021 at SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film.

Additionally, we’ve implemented a range of new series, including “back-of-house” online tours-so the public can learn more about our permanent collections-and Guests & Gusto, which features revealing conversations from the art world’s most intriguing figures, from Jerry Saltz to Pat Cleveland and beyond. We’ve even offered curbside pickup through SCAD Art Sales, our very own art consultancy representing 400-plus student, alumni, and faculty artists through digital sales and offices in Atlanta, Lacoste, and Savannah.

Guided by experienced communication coaches in SCADamp studios, students polish their pitch in a virtual setting, preparing them to capitalize on career-making, peak-performance moments in our new digital age.

S.K. - Film lovers worldwide know that fall is the season for the SCAD Film Festival. This year is the 23rd edition. How did COVID-19 impact the experience?

P.W. - I like to think of this year’s festival as a virtual multiplex, a week-long, star-studded showcase of more than 100 incredible scripts, revealing screenings, and exclusive personal insights from the industry’s finest. Everyone-headliners like Samuel L. Jackson, Billy Crystal, Ethan Hawke, Tessa Thompson, Rachel Brosnahan, Millie Bobby Brown, and each of our attendees-settled into a front-row seat. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we must relish every opportunity to connect-safely, creatively-and share a conversation. And what we did at this year’s festival was make the conversation more intimate and more universal, simultaneously. People look to the SCAD Film Festival to share a communal, curated experience; this year, we took the show on the road, sharing future Oscar-contending films with aficionados in all 50 states and over 50 countries.

S.K. - As we reflect on the pandemic, what do you believe is the most important quality or skill a person should possess today?

P.W. - Successful people combine imagination with intention. Imaginative people are hopeful, insightful, and open-hearted. Through focused intention, imagination becomes real.

S.K. - Onward and thank you, President Wallace.

P.W. - Thank you, Stephen, and thank you, ARTPULSEreaders. I welcome every opportunity to share SCAD’s story and to champion creative professions.

For more information about SCAD, please visit: https://www.scad.edu/

* This interview was conducted during October 2020.