character of the instruction became manifest. Increasing numbers of students from other departments of the University were taking courses in the College of Architecture for cultural reasons or as an avenue toward creative self-development. The work in drawing and painting had become better suited to the needs of the general art student. Pictorial composition had been expanded to occupy two semesters; etching, portrait, and life painting had been added; and beginning in 1937 a class in fresco painting was inaugurated by Slusser and taught by him for several years; later this became a class in mural painting in which various techniques were employed.
Parallel with these developments, a more objective point of view was being advanced in design. A kiln, first set up in the East Engineering Building but subsequently moved to the Architecture Building, made possible the introduction of ceramics courses as a logical extension of the elementary course in clay modeling. Work in this area was for some years under the supervision of Mary Chase Stratton, owner and co-founder of the Pewabic Potteries of Detroit. A series of grants from the Earhart Foundation during the years 1938-42 provided adequate hand and power tools, together with equipment for carrying out projects in wood, metals, and other materials in a newly organized workshop set up in the Architecture Building. Looms were also acquired for the teaching of weaving; the whole policy was to provide opportunity for the student to learn through practice as well as through theory.
In the year 1937 several changes occurred: Professor Wells I. Bennett, a member of the architectural faculty, became Director, and the following year, Dean, of the College; and Gores was informally placed in charge of the work in design. Professor Fowler resigned in 1939. Progress in formulating a comprehensive educational policy was made when in 1939, partly as a result of a survey by Gores of art teaching in other institutions, a major reorientation of the work here was undertaken. The former emphasis on academic theory gave way to a more direct and creative approach in the content, method, and objectives of courses and their sequences; this was reflected in the appointment of new staff members with a more modern and realistic point of view.
Certain changes which had already made their appearance in the work of the school were further accelerated by the happenings of the war and postwar years. During the early part of World War II male students virtually vanished from the scene, and the fact that the College was able to keep most of its staff together and continue its operations was due in large part to the steady enrollment of women in the drawing and painting and design classes. The special demands of this group had an influence upon the character of work offered. At the close of the war, with the sharp increase in staff made necessary by the sudden influx of veterans, there inevitably came, with new personnel, new ideas and new viewpoints. Throughout the University there was a readjustment in teaching methods and objectives to meet the changing times.
Among the newer members of the drawing and painting staff whose influence has proved stimulating both to their students and their colleagues is James Donald Prendergast. A graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago, with varied experience both as painter and teacher, he came here from the University of Arizona in 1944 as Assistant Professor. Several of his attitudes proved especially valuable: his preoccupation with color, his interest in surrealism, and his belief that the student should be encouraged to find the answers to his own artistic
