I thought I might share some interesting information. I have been working through our collection of art magazines and I read in a couple of letters which were addressed to the editor, in the September 2007 issue of 'Art in America' critiques of the teaching of the visual arts in their school system. It seems that our TAFE course has it all over them in some areas.
One letter was from Melany Terranova, an experienced artist of over 30 years, who had attended the Art Students League (NYC), and Scottsdale Artists' School. Her letter was one of dissatisfaction with the lack of subjects taught and topics covered in the visual arts. Specifically, she had yet to find a program that encompassed enough skills needed in addition to the primary art skills to succeed in the arts world. The missing areas were; social, computer, photography, writing, marketing, negotiating and financial skills. In other words they lacked those skills needed for professional practice in the real art world of business. She also went on to make the claim that this was indeed a huge problem for American aspiring artists trying to launch their careers because these were the areas that often determined success or failure.
In the same issue, yet another complaint was made, this time from a frustrated teacher, who saw a great need to teach his students the skills to develop their own personal vision by gaining a real understanding of creativity. Claude van Lingen from Austin who had taught at the School of Visual Arts, New York, and at the Johannesburg College of Art, South Africa, recognized the overlooked area of creative thinking and so then he took it upon himself to design a course for first year students that introduced them to the process of not just creative thinking but also the related area of problem solving. By means of a combination of both traditional and non-traditional methods, materials and approaches, he urged students to find their own style rather than work in the style of their teachers. He considered the individuals as an artists in the making, each coming from a different background, with different talents and varying views, living in ever-changing times.
The above two discussions got me thinking about my own growth as an artist and the range of skills I still need to develop.
