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October 21, 1977 - THE RANGER - 7 Art chairman utilizes creativity to express social ideas, values by judy woller Sitting in a metal dentist's chair circa 1940s and facing a man with a quiet authoritative voice and all-knowing eyes can be intimidating. But Mel Casas' casual manner and obvious self confidence puts one at ease immediately. The man knows who he is and what he is doing. Professor Casas is the new chairman of the art department here and has been with the college for 15 years. He is a teacher, artist, lecturer and book reviewer with a long list of exhibition and publishing credits. Seated behind his desk wearing slacks, white long-sleeved sweater and replete with handcrafted silver jewelry, Casas busies himself with pencil and scraps of paper, creating designs and speaking at the same time. "When I was 6, I realized I was an artist. There's still some dispute about that, but I use the same awareness. I worked for the railroad when I was young, doing a man's job and earning a man's wage," he said. Casas served in the Korean conflict, and he did not start college until he was 23 years old. He received his bachelor of arts degree at Texas Western College (now the University of Texas at El Paso) and his master's at the University of the Americas in Mexico City. His favorite medium is acrylics, and his favorite subject is social commentary. "I relate to art as a didactic means. Art is a series of social evaluations. My art is not decorative art because it expresses definite social values and evaluations," Casas said. Pausing in contemplation, Casas continues, "Most of the artists consider the products of their work as products to be sold. In cultural residual thinking, we value things in terms of consumerism. Our young artists relate in terms of monetary concepts. Successful artists profit monetarily from their ideas. "The type of art that I try to do doesn't allow much room for that," he said. "Only if you are creative can you really be considered an artist. If you are dealing only with technical aspects, then you are an academician. "Artists go for unknowns. Their aim is to go beyond the established norm. Academicians operate within history. Creative people are outside of history and become a part of history. American artists now are finding their own identity. It's about time. America is history making," he said. Sitting back and smiling, Casas said, "I create for humanity. I create for an insouciant audience." He does not have a specific work schedule for creating his paintings. "Sometimes painting experiences take place in the mind, and then it's just a matter of exercising them physically. I'm always critical. Even with my own work I'm pedagogical,' he said. Casas thinks as an artist grows and matures working becomes easier. "One of the main characteristics of time and experience is it helps one define oneself in the terms of artistic and cultural values. "Culture really means readymade solutions. There is really no such animal. The artist, to me, has a moral obligation to constantly re-evaluate cultural values," he said. "I deal with education through art. Our biggest problem is to move away from the word into the image; trying to keep the students from being so literary. There was an imagery culture before a literary culture," Casas said. Casas thinks more problems like the recent one at the Witte Museum will happen. Museum director Jack McGregor removed a piece of art by Ron Cohen, an art professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, from a faculty art show after a patron complained. "The artists feel they have to show their work, and they are invariably caught in the web of power struggles. There aren't that many places to show their work. There are the art galleries or the museum, which equals prestige," Casas said. "The artists are also taxpayers, and they should have the right to show, but it is set up so that other people have control and decide what art is and what it isn't. Artists seem to fall into the category of a cultural scapegoat," Casas said. [[image]] Art chairman Mel Casas, new chairman of the art department, discusses his views on the relationship between current social attitudes and their effect on his art. Casas said he creates art for humanity. An art teacher here for 15 years, he became department chairman last spring. Future engineers develop saleable products Engineering 300 students are _king on several projects which, _ed properly, could be _ _ments for wheelchair users, automobile controls for handless persons, wake-up system for the_ _dations on the state of the proposals in the fourth phase. The final phase concludes with judging the proposals on the basis of creative effort, engineering _team cooperation, eco_
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the "Future engineers..." section is torn, what is written is what is readable.
