foundation studies chair profile

Lynda Monick-Isenberg

Chair Foundation Studies
MA, University of Minnesota
BA, College of St. Catherine

Teaches
Drawing 1, Drawing 2, Teaching Artist Theory and Practice

View Lynda's Work

What do you hope to teach a CVA student?

Our goal in the Foundation department is to make certain that each student will thoughtfully choose a major at the conclusion of their freshman year and has the experiences and knowledge necessary in studio and liberal arts to excel in that major.

How do you prepare your students for their professional practice?

Foundation students are prepared for upper level classes through our standardized sequenced Foundation curriculum. It develops craft, skills, and techniques in materials, reflection and evaluation strategies, and engages students in research and problem solving.

What do you love about the discipline that you teach?

Drawing, it is not like other art or design forms. It is the visual language of all we do as artists and designers. It creates a conversation with ourselves and with our viewers. For me drawing is simultaneously analytical, emotional, and a spiritual activity. It makes ideas accessible in a gesture, creates deep understanding through close observation, and creates emotional and intellectual connections through discovery, representation, and metaphor. It is an act, an emotional reaction, a system that connect looking and thinking.

How would you describe your discipline to an incoming student?

The ability to draw is not a talent or gift. It is a learned process, an action, reaction, that leads the artist/desgnger to discovery. Drawing takes time, practice and patience. My goal for my students is that they will eventually draw with the ease of writing their names. The drawing becomes an extension of their mind and the tool is nearly forgotten.

In addition to teaching you're also a practicing artist. Tell us about that.

As a founding member of the gallery collective Form+Content in Minneapolis, I exhibit in the gallery yearly and am intimately involved with the gallery and its exhibitions. Though my teaching schedule, chair, and community duties at times make it difficult to get into the studio, I find that active participation in the gallery allow me to focus on my work.

What does CVA do better than other art and design schools? What's unique about CVA?

We know our students, connect with them individually and work for their success as artists and as people. We grow artists and designers.