Shawn Brixey, VCU School of the Arts dean (Photo courtesy VCU)
When he interviewed for the dean’s job at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts, Shawn Brixey asked the search committee about its ambitions for the school.
“The first thing they said was, ‘intergalactic,’ ” he recalls. The answer convinced him that the university’s goals matched his own ambition. “I’m not talking bigger, stronger, but what impact we want to have, what lives of consequence we want to have.”
Brixey, 56, the son of an actor father and cellist mother, arrived at VCU on July 1, having served as Faculty of Fine Arts dean at York University in Toronto. The successor to Joe Seipel, who retired in 2016 after four decades at the school and five years as dean, he takes over a top-ranked public fine arts program.
At VCU, Brixey will have dual appointments in the School of the Arts and the School of Engineering. He likes being what he calls a “hybrid.” Science, technology and art cannot only co-exist, but function as collaborative partners for the good, Brixey says. His own background demonstrates that belief: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology-trained Brixey is also the Kansas City Art Institute-trained Brixey. And always the twain shall meet.
As one example: In a public art project called “Alchymeia,” commissioned for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Japan, Brixey used steroids from the blood and urine of Olympic athletes to stimulate the growth of snowflake-resembling ice crystals that wouldn’t be found in the natural world.
“The philosophical, moral, existential question I think for artists is: ‘Who am I making this work for, what am I making it about?’ ” Brixey says.
To compete globally, those with great ideas need the spark of creativity to penetrate the noise of social media and the internet. That spark, he says, can be honed through the arts.
Brixey expects it will be increasingly more common to see dance students pursuing interests in astrobiology or media students exploring gerontology or public domain law. Inversely, he envisions students from other disciplines nourishing their creativity through study of the arts. He sees his relationship with the School of Engineering as a model for partnerships that foster a culture of innovation.
“We’re at one of those rare moments where the art school is not just an add-on, but a core pillar of the institution, and it’s going to drive this transformational moment on campus.”
