“The arts tutors provide us with the opportunity to casually talk to career artists of our generation, which is something that the VES department doesn’t often do,” Wecsler says.

Drawing new Blueprints

Although many members of the arts community agree that the arts tutor system is a positive component of artistic life at Harvard, some say there is still room for improvement.

Mergel says she believes that the greatest shortcoming has been the lack of communication among tutors of different Houses—which she says prompted her organization of “Networks.”

“I realized this fall that I didn’t even know who the other arts tutors outside of Adams,” she says. “It’s much more fun and efficient to produce art when you have a strong sense of community and an awareness of the available resources.”

Mergel says she has tried to address the disproportionate distribution of arts resources among the Houses.

“It’s great that Adams ArtsSpace is available for student use, but it’s not realistic that all the Houses will have identical resources,” she says. “Improving the lines of communication will facilitate the sharing of resources, which is much more realistic.”

In addition to organizing “Networks,” Mergel and other arts tutors have established the first-ever interhouse drawing class, which pools the resources of Leverett, Adams and Dunster House to provide free figure drawing instruction on Sundays.

And Mergel says that she hopes to set up a web server where the tutors can post announcements and answer students’ questions. She also plans to hold an arts tutor orientation at the beginning of each school year so that the tutors can meet their colleagues.

McKiness says that while the pooling of resources would be beneficial for artists, arts tutors also need to pay more attention to what students want.

Many students, like Mergel, say that the increased networking among the house tutors and the pooling of available resources will help alleviate the current state of the tutor system.

Wecsler says she believes that there needs to be more standardization of House resources and a stricter designation of tutors’ responsibilities.

Wecsler, who recently started an initiative to give students more opportunities to display their art in locations around campus, says she is still concerned about the lack of available student and exhibition space.

“There are many talented artists here, and I think finding space should become a higher priority for the arts tutors and student artists,” Wecsler says.

Other students, like VES concentrator Tsitsi I. Gora ’05, say that Houses should adopt a weekly arts discussion like that in Adams House and sponsor more hands-on workshops.

But Mergel says the system will not require a complete overhaul.

“I don’t think there has to be wide sweeping changes to the existing House arts system,” she says. “There’s so much energy and enthusiasm for visual arts here, and that’s what’s really important.”

—Staff writer Kimberly A. Kicenuik can be reached at kicenuik@fas.harvard.edu.