By Julie Cope Saetre / Star correspondent
Cory Robinson holds three key roles at Herron.The assistant professor of furniture design also is fine arts department chair for the school and chair of the newly introduced Master of Fine Art in Visual Art and Public Life program, which awards degrees in sculpture, printmaking and furniture design.
After earning his undergrad degree in furniture design at Herron, Robinson attended graduate school in California, then returned to his original alma mater to fill what was supposed to be a temporary opening.
This month, he celebrates his seventh year as a faculty member and is one of only a few instructors to have taught at Herron’s former and current locations.
What inspired you to study furniture design?
“The tangibility of the object when you’re done. It makes sense in your head. A lot of our students end up in furniture design because they like to make things of function. There’s a very basic kind of connection with the work. And I responded to it the same way.”
What do other graduates of Herron’s furniture-design program go on to accomplish?
“We’re really creating artists who happen to make furniture. Our graduates from the program go on to do very different things — working at a one-person shop, doing craft fairs, showing to galleries. We have a couple recent graduates here in Carmel doing prototyping for a company that exports to China.
Herron’s MFA programs are relatively new. What do they mean to Herron?
“We’ve been able to gain a lot of traction as far as reputation goes with just the introduction of the MFA program. . . . We’ve always prided ourselves on our quality faculty, and the graduate degree allows that expertise to reach a (wider) audience. I really look for our reputation to continue to evolve at an exponential rate because of this new program and what we’re doing with it.”
Your MFA students have the opportunity to teach classes as part of their education. From your experience, is it a challenge to switch from creating work within your discipline to teaching that discipline?
“The teaching is something that I’m actually really good at, and I like. I never thought I would be good at it. But I really respond to a classroom, and I like building the sense of community around the practice of art making. . . . I like that challenge.
You’ve worked at both of Herron’s facilities. What’s it been like to see the dramatic growth of the past decade?
“We went from an institution where some of us were in the basement of a hundred-year-old building with very minimal maintenance or upkeep being done . . . transitioning to a facility where we’re hosting national-level conferences and touting the strengths of our student body. It’s really changed the expectation of going to work a little bit for me. It’s a great place to be.”
Source : www.indystar.com
