World of Juni Moon Essays

Educating the Artist

written April 4, 2006

There has been an age old argument going on for centuries about artists. Can a person be taught to be creative? Can talent be developed formally with education? Or is art education in schools and universities a waste of time? Seeing that art has been the most popular target for school district budget cuts in the past 10 years, these questions are legitimate and valid ones.

Being an artist as long as I can remember, I have often asked myself these questions. I have also used these statements to defensively cover the fact that I did not, for many years, have what people would call a formal education in art. I would always say, “You either have the natural talent or you don’t, and a college degree is not going to change that”. But now that fate has brought me to the other side of the academic fence, my attitude has been changing on the subject.

Howard Conant writes, “Though it is theoretically impossible to teach art, it is possible to bring students to, and encourage them to move beyond, the threshold of learning.”

Where one cannot be taught, one can be inspired. I myself have the natural talent and a good dose of creative thinking, but being exposed to other artists, along with their own sets of ideas and critical thinking, have developed my work to a place I had only dreamed of achieving before when creating art on my own. I was being exposed to new ideas, new people, and new ways of expressing myself. Having professors to guide me have helped me to focus my work in productive directions where I can begin to give my work life, meaning, continuity and most of all, get it into the view of the public.

“Esthetic vision can be trained best, I think, in three ways: through drawing, through analysis, and through construction or design. These are essential disciplines in art.”, says Edward W. Rannells in his journal, “Training the Eye to See”. Drawing teaches us the technical practice of basic art. Analysis teaches us how to look and examine not only art but the world around us, in terms of inspiration. Construction and design take us into new places of the creative process from two dimensions to three, taking us beyond the flat canvas. I very much agree with Edward Rannells in this philosophy; there is a balance and a well-rounded examination of art in this form of training. Formal training nurtures the raw talent we have inside, using these basic disciplines to draw out what is lying dormant inside. It then brings it forth in a way that is cohesive and productive in terms of a career in this most difficult and competitive field. When I draw, my skills are kept fresh and active. The more practiced and active I am in the studio, the faster and more profound the ideas and concepts come to me and the work comes together at a quicker pace. Analyzing my work and the work of others causes me to look deeper into not only how I am executing the work, but what I am trying to convey through it. Does my piece have something to say, and if so, what? I liken my experience with construction and design to using new techniques and applications of media, such as fabric or objects mixed in the paint, or using a palette knife instead of a brush. Thinking outside of the toolbox of my trade in this way makes me more creative and less afraid to work outside of conventional thinking.

In these modern times of the new century, art education is being reconsidered in a whole new light. Arnold Packer, in his opinion paper states, “the dominant new technologies will be the marriage of computers and communication and the increasing importance of multi-media technology.” Our society is now recognizing a true need for aesthetics and art in important careers of the day in this modern age. He also explains that we are moving out of an era of mass production into one of communication, information technology, and demand for quality, making art a work-standard rather than an elective. I found in my own personal experience of art as a professional graphic designer, that being self-taught wasn’t enough. No degree garnered only rejections to see my portfolio, no matter how good my work was. Graphic design is a highly charged and competitive field, with corporations seeking out the best, the brightest, and the most educated in the latest tool of choice, computers. If you are going to cruise artistically on the new information highway, you’d better have a nice degree for the toll booth.

On the flip side of this concept, there is folk art. The land of the self-taught artist is raking in plenty for the collections of the upper class that is fascinated with this style of work. Dana Micucci, in her article for Art & Antiques titled “Self-Taught Art Soars” reports that “Works on found cardboard by Alabama ex-slave Bill Traylor (circa 1854-1947) that sold for $1,000 about 25 years ago are now selling for more than $100,000.” Self taught artists have found fame and fortune over the years and even centuries. Henri Rousseau, Grandma Moses, Winslow Homer, and even Vincent Van Gogh are among the luminaries that give natural talent and vision a good name. Being self-taught without outside influence can produce highly original and purely individual creative works, even paving the way to new art forms and movements throughout history.

Self-taught artists of the urban subculture have also found a place as an art movement in the form of street graffiti. From its heyday in the 1970s in New York City to its commercial art appeal of today, graffiti has gone from being criminal vandalism sprayed over ads to the actual artwork for ads. Still, graffiti is illegal, which will keep this art strict to its subculture roots as a social movement and not quite a fine art statement. Purists of graffiti bristle at the thought of their tags and throw-ups seen under gallery lighting.

I have found in my own personal experience with education as an artist, that I am better at what I do because of formal training. From my first high school experience with an art teacher, my mind has been challenged to think outside of convention and mere imitation of what I see around me to speak through the paint and digital layers, to convey concepts and my beliefs to the world around me. I have taken my natural talent and ideas to a new, more sophisticated level. I have learned and been inspired by the artists and art professors around me, even traveling to Manhattan to the best galleries the country has to offer, to observe, discuss and learn more about art and what makes it resonate in our society. I love what I do. I feel that being formally educated in what I do has focused me and given me confidence in what I do so I can show it to the world and say with confidence, “I am an artist.”