Contact Us
Carrie Patterson, Chair
Associate Professor of Art
Phone: 240-895-4252
Email: ccpatterson@smcm.edu
Office Staff: 240-895-4225
Alumni Where are they now?
Matthew Fishel (studio art, 2001) completed an MFA at Maryland Institute College of Art in 2010. Originally interested in painting, Matthew has expanded his practice to include animation, video, installation, and digital imaging. He is a frequent contributor to RedStarKGB, an ongoing collaboration of filmmakers in Baltimore. His own film, "A Short Film Regarding Possibilities", was selected by the Maryland Film Festival in 2006. See his work at http://www.matthewfishel.com
Art Education in the Soviet Union: Breeding Grounds for Dissidence
Abstract:The Soviet Union was a complex totalitarian state that infiltrated every aspect of the everyday life of its citizens. This intrusion included the realm of the visual arts. To reinforce the Communist system as a positive governmental organization, an official art style known as Socialist Realism was introduced in 1934. This style called for an art that was realist in its portrayal of subject matter with a content that supported the dogma of the Soviet Union while not supporting religion or depicting erotic nudity. Eventually, a counterculture emerged that chose to break with the rules of Socialist Realism. These artists became known as the nonconformists. This SMP culminated in the curation of an art exhibition of four nonconformist artists from the Soviet Republic of Georgia entitled "Nonconformist Art." Artists in the exhibition included Vladimir Kandelaki, Georgi Mikeladze, David Monavardisashvili, and Sergei Paradjanov. In conjunction with the exhibition, and the SMP, the college hosted a gallery opening with a public lecture, and a symposium on Georgian art featuring Norton Dodge, James Steffen, Thomas Barrett, Julie Christensen, and Irena Popiashvili. Two pieces of writing were part of the project: the exhibition catalog, which has biographical information on the four artists, a history of Soviet control in the arts, and an introduction by Dr. Norton Dodge, and a formal paper addressing the issue of art education under the Soviet Union and how this highly regulated practice in fact helped to produce nonconformist reactions to Soviet Realism. [Project includes film on VHS: Georgian unofficial art lecture and symposium; and exhibition catalog: Nonconformist art: works of the Soviet Republic of Georgia from the Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection, February 17-March 7, 2000, Boyden Gallery, St. Mary's College of Maryland]
