9/15/2008 - Western Carolina University students are invited to participate in a campuswide project to create works of original art intended to raise awareness about the importance of registering and voting in the November election.

Students are encouraged to submit original, 11-inch-by-17-inch drawings, paintings or collage (digital or cut out and pasted onto paper). Materials may not include graphite pencil, charcoal or pastels. Ink or colored pencil is acceptable. Submissions must be nonpartisan, cannot contain images of any candidate for elected office, and are due by Monday, Sept. 22. Selected works will be exhibited from Sept. 28-Nov. 8 at Western’s Hunter Library.

Coordinator Marie Cochran, an assistant professor in the School of Art and Design, said the project was inspired by Art the Vote, a “nonpartisan, arts-driven effort to engage, register and mobilize young voters and the creative community in the political process.” Since early September, Art the Vote has displayed original artwork on more than 70 billboards throughout Missouri, all with the message “Vote: Your future depends on it.”  

Because it touches on current political issues, the art project civically engages students by requiring them to become involved in issues beyond campus, said Carol Burton, assistant vice chancellor for undergraduate studies.

“We’re trying to reinvigorate our students in terms of getting engaged politically, civically and socially,” Burton said. “The art project calls on our students to make connections between what they’re learning in terms of their curriculum and the broader issues we deal with as a society.”

The Office of Undergraduate Studies – American Democracy Project Taskforce and the Art in the Library Committee are sponsoring the event.

For more information, contact Cochran at (828) 227-3599 or mcochran@email.wcu.edu.

Maintained by the Office of Public Relations.
Last modified Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008.