Art exhibits by senior students are traditionally held each spring in the Art Department and is a requirement for receiving a bachelor's degree in art. In earlier years, exhibits were held monthly in the Student Union Building. The Art Department has for long played an important role in the Creative Arts Festival. It was through the work and efforts of art historian professor Jerald Slattum that the college acquired a collection of primitive New Guinea art through Ernest LaBoyteaux of Santa Barbara. Slattum annually took art students on international tours to countries such as Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, and Chile. In the early 1980s, the Art Department expanded to also include photography and hired an instructor to teach both beginning and advanced photography. A dark room was first created in the 1980s in order to handle photography student needs.