On being an artist, secret #2: be an artist
April 14th, 2006The title may seem to say the obvious, but in fact, it is not so simple. The problem comes because of the way we think about art and education today.
In the Renaissance, an artist received training from a master by working on the master’s projects. The master had a strong incentive to teach, because good assistants were essential for making a major artwork. Teaching was thus not separate from the master’s work. Instead, it was critical to the productive success of the studio.
A similar method is used for teaching at the highest levels of education today. For example, a graduate student in biology will do research in a specific laboratory, under guidance of a recognized scientist. Only a small part of the student’s education comes through “classroom teaching”. The scientist has a strong incentive to teach his or her students how to do real research, because a group effort is necessary for major research projects.
But art education today is a completely different story. Artists get paid to do “classroom” teaching. But teaching in this mode does not contribute directly to the artist’s own work. Instead, it becomes an impediment.
Why should the wonderful (and profitable) job of teaching be an impediment for artists? I think it comes from the way we think of art as a solitary endeavor. An artist can teach others, but is expected to work alone. This prevents the artist and his or her students from working together. It separates art from art education. A functional connection between art and education would benefit both.
__________
Related:
April 15th, 2006 at 4:33 am
When I put together my home-page recently I confronted the idea of “artist as a solitary worker.” The painting I show on my home-page is a collaborative work with Hanneke van Oosterhout. This collaborative approach breaks with the normal modern concept of the artist-as-loner. I’m happy with this. I hope to do more collaborative work in the future. I think this is an important part of artists communicating with one another at a meaningful level.
April 17th, 2006 at 12:53 pm
‘I read that a well-known novelist, I cannot remember who it was, attracted another, as yet unknown writer to help him write his novels. The well-known novelist said that he had too many ideas for novels to follows them all. The unknown writer has profited from this association by now having his own book contracts as well.
This reminds me of a scientist-graduate relationship or an artist-assistant relationship in the past. ‘
April 18th, 2006 at 6:45 am
This is an interesting example of people working together in a meaningful way. My previous comment relates to artists collaborating as equals, rather than in a teacher-student relationship. I have heard of people team-writing novels as well.
The relationship between writing and painting is interesting to think about. A good discussion was held on this topic recently on the blog Making a Mark
April 19th, 2006 at 11:04 am
I couldn’t agree more.