THAT WAVE IS ON THE BEACH, PART I

This piece is the first in a series of articles concerned with a new model for art education. In response to the questions submitted to Big RED writers concerning the role of art in academia, Ms. Stovall was particularly interested in considering “ . . . the consequences of outmoded structures [and]hidden agendas for teaching art in this country.” The hierarchies inherited from yesteryear hardly seem applicable anymore, yet artist and art educators alike are hanging onto conveniently invented, arbitrary designations that hardly seem to accommodate the needs of our rapidly changing culture.

These twenty questions inspire a different strain of thought about art and act as a primer, defining the shape of Ms. Stovall’s argument for the articles to come.

Twenty questions: an art survey

1. Do you recognize art as a noun or as a verb?

1. What is the point of the practice of art?

1. Do you believe that we are moved by everything around us, that our surroundings affect our behavior?

1. Do you believe that art can serve as a positive force for affecting change?

1. Do you sense that art has served in this capacity over the course of its historical path?

1. Would you agree or disagree that art’s generating force draws its substance from the imaginative faculty of the human mind in concert with the emotional experience of the individual.

1. Would you agree or disagree that the ‘fine arts’ have long been positioned at the top of a constructed cultural hierarchy?

1. Do you sense that this privileged position is losing relevance?

1. If so, what does this indicate?

1. Do you support the idea that art and design are mutually exclusive fields?

1. Are youb willing to recognize the fundamental historical function of the design process within the creative process?

1. Are you willing to embrace art’s alliance with the design process?

1. Do you agree or disagree that an artist can create a design that manifests her/his idealology with intellignce, economy, and imagination?

1. Would you agree or disagree that this ‘original’ has the potential to serve as a prototype?

1. If you believe this is possible, do you agree or disagree that the prototype can be responsibly reproduced through a manufacturing process so that it can be offered to the larger community at an affordable price?

1. Do you believe that the ‘new original’ is also qualified to be viewed as art or has it lost its former status (as in applied or commercial art)?

1. Do you recognize the evolving capacity of industrial technologies to produce quality originals for the global community?

1. If not, are you comfortable with the exclusive ‘original’ artwork’s limited ability to participate in the conversation of our daily lives?

1. Do you believe that it is critical for artists to engage in more collaborative projects with designers, architects, engineers, business, and community leaders in order for art to regain a more vital relevance in our culture?

1. If you feel that art, design, and community are fundamentally interconnected, do you support a strengthening of the alliance?

Please feel free to respond to these questions in our Forum.

Photo found here.