MassArt at 150: Tradition and Innovation

Annie “Lou” Rogers earned her certificate in Elementary Drawing and Design in 1900 from Massachusetts Normal Art School. She began her career submitting work as “Lou Rogers” to get around the barrier of sexism at the time. She became a successful cartoonist, with work featured in publications such as Judge magazine, New York Call, Woman’s Journal, and Birth Control Review. Throughout her life, Rogers was clear in her support of “radical” activism efforts, such as feminism, socialism, and women’s suffrage, with the latter being the most notable topic in her published cartoon work. While working as a staff artist at Judge, Rogers met illustrator H. G. Peter. Her feminist-slanting work inspired Peter to develop what would become the Wonder Woman cartoon, and it is because of Rogers’ focus on depicting women freeing themselves from existing social bondage of the time that Wonder Woman emerged as a feminist icon.

The Studio for Interrelated Media (SIM) was founded in 1969 by MassArt faculty member Harris Barron, class of 1954 (Ceramic Design), who taught from 1963 until his retirement in  1988. Influenced by the rise of performance art in the 1960’s, SIM was one of the first-of-its kind interdisciplinary, idea-focused, and non-media specific programs. SIM students explore their ideas through light, sound, digital media, and performance with a focus on experimentation, collaboration, and civic engagement. This makes much of the artwork produced meant to be experienced in the moment and ephemeral.

The precursor to SIM at MCA was ZONE (1968-1972), a visual theater troupe founded by Barron, his wife Ros, and their former studio assistant, Allen Finneran. In 1972, MassArt created the Media and Performing Arts Department and Harris served as its first chair. With the creation of the department came the opportunity for students to major in SIM and the program entered its first stage of real growth.