Geoff Steiner-Scott came to Ireland to paint, but spent 30 years on the staff of Crawford College. Now, he's getting out the brushes again, he tells Aidan Dunne
For someone who has been, in effect, an accidental academic, Geoff Steiner-Scott has enjoyed an unusually long stint as principal of Cork's Crawford College of Art and Design. Steiner-Scott, a cheerful, broad shouldered man with a certain gravitas about him, is a bit on the young side to retire, but when he retires at the end of the month he will have spent 23 years as principal of the Crawford, preceded by seven years as a lecturer there. He is American, born and raised in suburban New Jersey, and when he arrived in Ireland in 1974, such a career was the last thing on his mind.
At that point his hair was long, he wore beat-up jeans and sneakers, and he had the romantic idea of being a painter in Ireland.
His childhood was fairly idyllic, he says, and he went on to study art at Rutgers University where some high-profile New York-based artists were among the teachers. Leon Golub particularly impressed him. After college he made a living by working for fine art printers, editioning prints for artists. "We had a great time, though it was probably desperately unhealthy, breathing in all sorts of solvents all day." He'd studied painting and printmaking, but his aim was to be a painter, so when he came to Ireland it was to paint.
"Within a few weeks, though, I was itching to make prints." He arrived on the doorstep of the National College of Art and Design and managed to get to talk to Jonah Jones, who had just been appointed director. He was looking to use the college's print facilities and, remarkably, Jones said he could. "It couldn't happen now. The college was in a process of transformation, and I think he just liked me and said, sure."
The print department was known to be conservative in its outlook, and Steiner-Scott was an incongruous presence there. It didn't bother him. "I think I produced 12 editions while I was there." He was offered part-time teaching work and took it.
Then a vacancy arose in the Crawford, and he applied. The college he first encountered is substantially different to the one he is leaving. "Cork is so cosmopolitan now it's hard to imagine it then. There was no real art scene here in 1976, now it's one of the major visual arts centres in the country.
"If you look at the National Sculpture Factory, the Glucksman and Crawford galleries, Triskel, the commercial galleries and the various artists' studios it's clear that there is a vibrant, viable arts scene. It means that Crawford graduates are staying in Cork whereas before they would have left."
The Crawford's current premises, in Sharman Crawford Street, has its limitations, but it is centrally located in the city, and there was dismay among the student body when plans to move the college to a purpose-built space at CIT's Bishopstown campus were mooted, which would effectively consign it to the suburbs. There were echoes of the suggestion that Dublin's NCAD might move to UCD's Belfield campus. In both cases, staff and students were quick to point to the benefits of being in the city centre.
Steiner-Scott is certain that their view has prevailed. "We've been given assurances that the college will get a site in the city.
"Provided it works out, the idea is that it will be linked to the new architecture centre. There's a logic to linking art and architecture and there's a practical benefit in that certain resources, such as the library and workshops, can be shared. The college will have more space than it has now and by sharing facilities it means more space still."
In such an arrangement, it's important that the Crawford retains its identity and Steiner-Scott says that it will continue to have its own principal.
His job has, he readily agrees, meant a huge amount of administration. "I came to see my role as dealing with the bureaucratic structures, as a kind of buffer. I hoped that by doing that, people here could get on with their work, which was to teach art."
He reckons Ireland has figured out its own art educational direction. "Things had to change, but I'm glad that in the end we didn't simply mimic the British system - or, for that matter, the American, or the Dutch or whatever. We sort of took a little from all of them without totally buying into one of them. I think in Ireland now a fine art student can expect to get a good, balanced studio- based education."
THE CRAWFORD HAS retained its reputation for fostering work in the traditional media, though without becoming retrograde. As this year's graduate show demonstrated, there is no shortage of students working across the range of available media, including photography, video and performance. But Steiner-Scott has consistently emphasised that students who want to work in traditional ways will not be discouraged at the Crawford.
The college has built up a strong staff with an impressive number of practising artists among them, including Sue Cunliffe, Jill Dennis, Catriona Hearne, Breda Lynch, Leo McCann and Maureen O'Connor.
In terms of his own future, Steiner-Scott intends to do more or less what he originally intended to do when he came to Ireland. "I'm going to paint. And I have a specific project in mind. It goes back to a concept I had years ago, which is about demystifying art, taking it out of the ivory tower. I've spent years explaining abstract art to people, and I think the best way to do it is if they see that an artist at work is just a normal person."
He doesn't have any regrets about his long detour into teaching. "Well, no regrets exactly, but I will say that I was too young when I became principal. I mean, it was something I really wanted to do and I'm really glad to have had the opportunity. I'm just sorry it lasted nearly 25 years.
"But coming to Ireland as a young man was the best thing I ever did. It gave me a whole new life, and I've never regretted that for one second."
