‘The arts belong to everyone’: Dean Adams encourages students to see art in the monotony of life

Have you ever wondered about the embossed tile structures on the outer wall of Renne Library, or paused in Cheever Hall to take in the artwork on display? 

Although the details may be easy to overlook during the campus hustle-and-bustle, Dean Adams — the dean of the College of Arts and Architecture — wants students to embrace creativity and engage with art. 

“Through all of human time, all of human history — the prehistory as well — we find engagement with the aesthetic world as part of it,” he said. “I think the arts belong to everyone and I think it defines what it means to be human.”

Adams, who was raised in Billings, earned his bachelor's degree at MSU in 1992 and completed his master’s of fine arts at the University of Iowa. 

After graduating, Adams became a resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena and later completed an artist residency in Banff, Canada.

Adams said that art has allowed him to create, exhibit and display his work across the world, in places such as China, Finland and the U.K. Despite this, he said he always felt a strong desire to return to Montana.

“My nickname when I lived out of Montana was usually Dean from Montana [or] Dean, the mayor of Montana,” he said. “Montana was always sort of part of my identity.” 

Though he has been at MSU for 24 years, Adams said he always wanted to be a full-time artist and never expected to work in higher education. Now as dean, he is often jokingly referred to as “Dean Dean” or “Dean Squared” due to his name and title.

“I'm sure for some people, [they wonder], ‘Is he a dean, or is his name Dean?’" he said. 

He entered the higher education sector in 2001, after nationwide art sales declined. He said he appreciated the stable income teaching provided.  

“Then I got offered another class because I got good course evaluations and then I was like, ‘This is really good,’” he said. 

“What I realized was I loved teaching,” he said. “I love being around students. I love their ideas, their minds, their energy.”

Adams said that despite his lack of teaching experience, he appreciated how it brought new perspectives into his artwork, bringing him closer to students and engaging with their creativity.

“Part of the wonderfulness of my job is to be in an exhibition like this and to be around the student art, because every one of these pieces was made by a different student in our program.”

Adams is often recognized in the art world for his ceramic sculptures of interesting and unique phallic birds. 

“There are lots of other visual cues that I could use to explore maleness — that's just the one that I picked because it works with the birds,” he said.

However, these sculptures are just one of the many projects he is passionate about. His other main bodies of work consist of two-dimensional drawings and wood-fired architectonic, which are forms of reference architecture.

“This is why I say you can't pick your own nickname — you can't pick what work gets successful, you know, because I was making all three bodies of work,” he said.

Adams said he sometimes feels frustrated that the birds are his best-known project, because he has much more to offer as an artist. Despite this, he remains grateful that his work is appreciated by so many.

“Of course, it's flattering when your work is liked,” he said. “So, the frustration comes in that I have other ideas, but I only have so much time and how much time I [can] commit to my work.”

For Adams, art comes in many forms and can be interpreted in different ways — which is why some people love his work, and others are not the biggest fans. According to him, his work attracts people from across the globe.

“All types of people from different cultures, varied ages and assorted backgrounds have purchased my work and attended my exhibitions. Art attracts a wide variety of interested people,” he said.

Adams said students should feel inspired by the arts and use their intrinsic creativity. Engaging with art changes how people think about the world around them, according to him.

“Taking a drawing class will make you better at the things that you want to do. It'll make you more observant. You'll learn how to see differently,” he said. “Taking a music class will teach you how to hear differently. Taking a photo class will teach you how to see differently.  The arts belong to everyone and they will enrich your lives.”