Hwa Young Caruso

Dr. Hwa Young Caruso was born and educated in Seoul, Korea. She received a doctorate from TC Columbia University, completed a MFA at the University of Connecticut and a BFA at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. Dr. Caruso is a Full Professor of Art at Molloy College NY. She teaches Painting, Drawing, 2D Design, Printmaking, Senior Thesis Project, Western Art history I & II, Women and Art, and East Asian Art History. Dr. Caruso presented at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Vassar, NYU and Dartmouth. She published chapters in textbook “Art and Human Values” by Cognella, and articles in The Journal of Aesthetic Education, the University of Illinois, and art reviews in International Journal of Multicultural Education as Arts Review Editor. She had exhibitions at SOHO20 Gallery, Phoenix Gallery, Ceres Gallery, Columbia University, University of Connecticut, Chrysler Museum, Springfield Museum, Berkshire Museum, Clemson University and in Japan, Korea, Italy, Poland and Columbia.

In Dr. Hwa Young Caruso’s Talk, “Engaging Cultural Diversity Through Face Masks in Studio Art Instruction,” she explores the following:

Studio art teaching, learning and practice are based on a Euro-centric approach. As a culturally diverse professor in a liberal arts college, my studio art classes help students increase their knowledge of global cultures through a face mask project. In my introduction to Drawing class, one assignment is an interdisciplinary project that combines, research, writing and artmaking about global cultures. After researching cultural, religious and artistic meanings and background information, students selected and created a national or tribal facemask which represented a diverse culture and ceremonial activities from various areas: Pacific Coast and Mid-Western Tribal Americans, Jamaica, West Indies, Haiti, Korea, Japan, China, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Africa, South and Central America, Papua New Guinea, Mexico, Brazil, Italy, ancient Greece, Egypt and other locations. Students use pencil, charcoal, acrylic paints on 18” x 24” paper to create a 2D facemask image from that culture. After creating a facemask, students submitted a short essay about the artistic, cultural, religious and social meanings, background and significance of the mask. Students share their knowledge with peers in an open discussion. Engaging students in cultural diversity appreciation and understanding was accomplished through research, writing, studio art application, discussion and reflection. I believe when we understand each other’s differences we can live more harmoniously. I included examples of student artworks in the PowerPoint presentation and E-Poster.

Find more information here: https://www.molloy.edu/academics/undergraduate-programs/art/fine-art-faculty-and-staff