On and Off campus partnerships highlight the Art Program’s focus on collaboration and community.
On Campus
On campus, the Art Program has collaborated meaningfully with the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Our students have illustrated children’s books, designed book covers and designed medical posters. Recently Butler student authors from four colleges—Business, Education, Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and Jordan College of the Arts (the Art Program) wrote, illustrated, and published a children’s book on asthma. The book features Tim BurWulf, a mischievous wolf pup who’s hungry for bacon but puzzled that he’s running out of breath and can’t blow down the three little pigs’ houses. Aimed at kids ages 5–11 who have asthma, the story follows Tim as he visits a doctor and a pharmacist, who help him—and readers—learn how to recognize and control asthma symptoms. This book has been featured by the American Lung Association in their Fight For Air Walk program.
Butler is fortunate to be home to the Center for Urban Ecology. This dynamic center studies the interactions between and among organisms and their urban environment as well as a systems ecology perspective where the city itself is viewed as an ecosystem. The Center developed the Butler Campus Farm, a resource that Art students and faculty take advantage of. With the Center for Urban Ecology, we have designed a field guide to the flora and fauna on the Butler campus, and we have designed a book highlighting different aspects of the Butler Campus Farm. Photography students have also used the Farm as a source for location shots and still life subjects.
Secondary Majors
Art students often have a secondary major and thus have formed connections all across campus, including with the areas of Anthropology, Psychology, Creative Writing, Strategic Communications, Philosophy, Biology, Spanish and Digital Media Production, among others.
Off Campus
Indianapolis, with its vibrant art and design scene forms a ready resource for partnerships off-campus. The following are some highlights among the many connections the Art Program has fostered. See also the section on internships for more coverage of these partnerships.
Service Center for Culture and Community
This nationally recognized art-based center focused on community development houses galleries, a library, classrooms and an urban farm. The Butler Art Program was an early partner and over the years we have collaborated in numerous ways including exhibits curated by students and faculty exhibiting in the gallery.
The Harrison Center for the Arts
The Harrison Center for the Arts is a force for cultural development in Indianapolis and a model for community arts, education, and urban revitalization programs across America. They are an amazing cultural resource in Indianapolis and we enjoy working with them. The Butler Art Program has sponsored Art events (Food Con II) and held workshops at the Harrison Center. Additionally, our students and faculty regularly exhibit their work at the Center. Butler has also had students complete internships at the Harrison Center.
On Campus Highlights:
- Center for Urban Ecology
- Butler Campus Farm
- College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
- Department of Dance
Off Campus Highlights:
- People for Urban Progress
- Studio Outside the Box
- The Harrison Center for the Arts
- Big Car Service Center