Meagan Bourne | Banner Caron Rand, adjunct art professor, helps Joan Kalimba, senior biochemistry major, with her constructed circular art pieces in one of her classes. Rand assists Kalimba in filling out the circle with paints inside of a geometric pattern within the borders of the canvas.
Professors strive to pour their passions into what they teach while influencing the lives of students, and Caron Rand, adjunct art professor at California Baptist University, is accomplishing this task through the world of fine arts.
Rand’s artistic interest was sparked by winning an art competition at age 7, which served as an eye-opening experience, taking her infatuation for art to a new level.
“I know a lot of people don’t have that moment in their life; they’re searching as they grow,” Rand said. “That’s where it kicked in for me and I realized there is something unique in my approach to art.”
This realization, she said, leading her toward teaching at a collegiate level. Her inspiration to teach came from an experience from her own childhood teacher, who showed Rand her capabilities by planting artistic seeds into her life.
“She knows her information and wants to relay it to her students in the most true way,” said Bailey Dahlgren, junior biochemistry and molecular biology major. “Her passion for art is very evident by how she lights up with explanation of something new she’s seen.”
Rand often comes across students who are not art majors, but said she believes everyone has a special ability to create, and she strives to assist students in reaching their full potential.
“If I take someone who’s not in the arts at all, but they are doing a piece that they’re proud of, then that to me is really satisfying,” Rand said.
Haley Poole, senior nursing major, said Rand’s passion about her work causes students to respond in a positive way.
“Professor Rand’s class inspires the individual as a person,” Poole said. “It allowed me to find a side of myself that I normally wouldn’t allow to flourish. She challenged us to be creative in ways that I had never thought of or have ever experienced before.”
After taking some time off from her own art, Rand said she is now planning to create a new collection of paintings, which provide more depth to topics such as current political situations and her own religious beliefs. She said she intends to integrate figurative portraits and abstract art to her upcoming pieces and hopes to showcase them to all lovers of art.
Rand also receives personal requests from parents who want portraits painted of their children who passed away and said the stories motivate her to capture an individual’s spirit, rather than their physique.
“I believe art is a calling to be a blessing to others in a way that is unique and preserves their loved one’s memories in honor, love and respect,” Rand said.
She noted art helps people see the world from a different perspective.
“God created people as these pieces of art work that are walking, living, and breathing, it’s incredible.”
