Is art important? As art students, the answer should be obvious. If art isn’t important, why even make it? Why spend hours upon hours, countless sleepless nights, and more money than most of us can afford to create it?
But if we think about it, why is art actually important? There is no one right answer, but for me, the importance of art lies in its ability to allow us to see the world from a different angle. Art challenges the status quo. It is not enough to go to a museum once in a blue moon and admire art for the sake of being cultured. It is integral to live with art and be surrounded by it on a daily basis.
Joseph Randall Shapiro shared these ideas. A University of Chicago alumni, a prominent art collector, and the founding president of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Shapiro believed that “The enjoyment of art is something that multiplies by division… share it with people and it becomes a communal experience, a motivational force for drawing people together.”
Led by this belief, in 1958 Shapiro created a program called “Art to Live With,” which offered UChicago students an option to loan a piece of art to hang in their dorm for the duration of the school year.
Shapiro initially donated 50 artworks from his personal collection to be loaned to students. Today, the program is run by the Smart Museum, the fine arts museum at UChicago. The collection includes 137 pieces by world-renowned artists, including Pablo Picasso, Takashi Murakami, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, and Francisco de Goya.
Each student may borrow one artwork per year, though it is not guaranteed. Borrowers must be UChicago students living in university residence halls; the artworks are loaned on a first-come, first-served basis at an annual selection event. Loans are free and last from fall until spring.
Vanja Malloy, the Smart Museum’s Dana Feitler director, spoke to NPR about the program. “[The artwork] could be something you look at as you drink your morning coffee every day, and you see it in a different way, and maybe you notice things that you didn’t before. So living with a work allows you to have this depth of experience that you wouldn’t if you were just scrolling on your phone,” she said.
Although drinking coffee next to a Picasso sounds like a potential disaster waiting to happen, Lauren Payne, the director of the program, told NPR that the museum expects students “to be good stewards of the work, and [students] take it very seriously.” Although accidents sometimes happen, Payne said that there has never been malicious intent, and the museum accepts the risks that come with running such a program.
Malloy also said that the program offers students not only a new view on art, but also on life. That’s the most important point of “Art to Live With”: it offers new perspectives and viewpoints.
Our environments affect us — and the way we think — more than anything else. To create great things, solve difficult problems, and explore new pathways, we need to be in the right environments.
Universities are among the few places that understand the importance of the environment; they exist in part to create the most suitable place for students and community members to flourish. Colleges build food courts because, to work, people need to be well-fed. They design libraries with a focus on comfort, since that is where a lot of the work gets done. Universities across the world work on improving their campuses, making them greener, more modern, and more comfortable. But with this program, UChicago goes even further.
By offering great art for loan to students, UChicago expands on the idea that our homes — or in this case, dorms — should be an extension of the classroom, and should also be environments meant to spark creativity and curiosity. Many of the students participating in the program are science and engineering majors, which proves that you don’t need to be an artist to appreciate and be inspired by art.
If UChicago understands the importance of art being present in the daily lives of its students, and can afford to loan it to them, why can’t a leading art school follow the lead? Why is the School of the Art Institute of Chicago lagging behind?
Beyond being artmakers, SAIC students are also thinkers. Creating art requires in-depth knowledge and understanding of the world around us, and the processes that happen in this world. It requires inspiration and motivation. Having a Seurat or a Chagall hanging in a dorm room seems like a great way to spark thoughtful creativity.
SAIC has the means of creating such a similar program. The Art Institute of Chicago has a collection of nearly 300,000 works of art. On average, major museums like the AIC only display 3% to 5% of their collection at a time. Why can’t 100 of the artworks stored in storage be shared with the student body? Why can’t we have nice things, too?
Even beyond the AIC, SAIC could create its own collection for its students. We have an abundance of accomplished alumni, who, I imagine, would donate a work or two to their alma mater. Many of our donors are collectors as well; maybe they have a piece — or a few — that they wouldn’t mind sharing. This task is not unachievable. The benefits of such a program existing within SAIC are undeniable.
If SAIC won’t take this on, maybe its students can. Next time you make a print, create a painting, or sew a quilt, give it to your friend. Come to their house (or dorm) and hang it for them (because otherwise they will forget to do it themselves). Art does not have to be a masterpiece to inspire and change the world, and that’s what makes it important.
