Press • SCAD at 30, "Art is long, life is short" WTOCBy Karla Redditte
SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) - Its motto is, "art is long, life is short" and that continuation of expression is what hundreds of people celebrated recently at the Richard Arnold Hall, the newest home to Savannah College of Art and Design's school of liberal arts.
But the true belief in the words of this motto brings thousands of students to Savannah each year, each with a dream of mapping out or painting prosperous futures.
"When I was 16-years-old, I saw a poster for the Savannah College of Art and Design and I've always known that I wanted to be a professional artist, that was my path in life and I wanted to obtain a formal education to do so," said professional artist Tiffani Taylor . "When I saw the poster with the Spanish moss, I knew that was where I needed to be."
In 1998, Taylor traveled more than 2,000 miles from her Utah home to attend SCAD on a presidential scholarship.
Ten years later, she is a professional artist with her nature-inspired paintings mixed with poetry on walls, pottery and even on cashmere sweaters around the nation.
"I'm absolutely thrilled to see my poppies on cashmere," said Taylor.
And she said her national exposure began right here at shop SCAD, a gallery in downtown Savannah where students and alumni showcase their work.
"The editor of Vogue has come in there and discovered my work and have given little pottery gifts to Oprah and Diane Von Furstenberg," said Taylor. "Recently, some of my drawer pulls were discovered and featured at Hallmark for Hallmark Magazine. So you know just magical synchronicity. Many blessings have occurred in my life because of my education at SCAD."
Taylor is one of the many success stories to come out of SCAD, which actually started in a building now known as Poetter Hall. It started with this one building and 71 students.
30 years later, SCAD boasts more than 9,000 students and over 70 buildings in Savannah, Atlanta and Lacoste, France.
"People say there has been some vision involved but I definitely did not envision this," said SCAD co-founder and president Paula Wallace. "I thought we'd be a much smaller college."
SCAD started offering classes in 1979 and the first graduates, the class of 1982, helped to pave the way for artistic greatness.
Over the course of 30 years, SCAD has grown into the nation's most comprehensive art and design university, with students making their way to Savannah from 90 different countries studying such fields as industrial design, animation and even fashion.
However Wallace says such variety meets one goal.
"The concept has been to create a college where students can actually learn disciplines in which they could pursue careers, as opposed to thinking about art as a hobby or something one might do and it might not be financially rewarding," said Wallace. "You couldn't support your family on your earnings, so here, students really learn how to be contributing members to society and to have a really successful career."
This was the dream of Wallace and her family 30 years ago.
It is now Taylor's reality, a continuous masterpiece in motion.
"I'm so thankful that they conceived this idea and this family, this great family, followed their dream and surrounded themselves with dream believers," said Taylor. "I'm so proud to be a part of it."
"Just to see them happy and to see them pursuing their lives and dreams and due to their own talent but also due to their education.that makes me very proud," said Wallace.
Join us tomorrow as we look at what the future holds for Savannah College of Art and Design.
And to see more of Tiffani Taylor's art, log on to www.TiffaniArt.com