As hundreds of thousands of college students begin making their way to campuses to begin the fall semester, NPR's Alyssa Nadworny is touring colleges across the country in order to better understand how colleges and universities are handling this pandemic. The Lamar Dodd School of Art's own Associate Professor Jon Swindler was interviewed by NPR to see how the School of Art is adjusting to these challenges. 

Associate Professor Jon Swindler walks through the art building — the hallways and rooms here would normally be bustling this time of year, but today they're are empty. He has been prepping the studios for the first day of in-person in-person classes on Thursday. Faculty and staff have been working for months to come up with creative solutions for how teaching studio art with masks and social distancing.

"We looked at a lot of different options," Swindler says, "You know, we even were looking into the possibility of holding class in a parking garage." They decided against that idea, but they have set up a painting class with easels outside, near a green area behind the building. Inside, Swindler opens a drawing studio that usually fits 18 students; today it's been set up with just six stations.

Faculty recorded demonstrations on video this summer to cut down on in-person demos when students return to campus.

Even with all this prep, Swindler is apprehensive about the fall semester: "There's just so much unknown still."

He stresses the value of learning in-person when it comes to art. "That moment when a student thinks that they've made a mistake or they think that something went wrong. And you're like, 'Hey, stop, let's look at this,' " he says. Those moments are where the real learning happens — "really important moments in the studio that make being in-person in art school really important."

As Associate Director of Space and Technology, Jon Swindler, working in concert with the Co-Directors Michael Marshall and Isabelle Wallace, has played an integral role in ensuring the safety of our students for the coming year, balancing the specific requirements of an arts-based curriculum with the University’s COVID-related mandates.
 

Read the full feature on UGA, Move In, Move Out: For In-Person College, Everything Rests On The First Few Weeks. 

The Lawrence family moves their youngest daughter, Kelsey (center), into her new dorm room. The university allowed each student only two move-in helpers, leaving mom Vanessa Lawrence (far right) to wait outside.
Elissa Nadworny/NPR