Traditionally, Fine Art was that avenue which equipped us with the skills the craftsmanship possessed by the painters and sculptors we see in art galleries or history books. We chose Fine Art because of a love of image-making and a personal vision which seeks expression. But in the 20th Century, art went through a crisis of identity which saw its focus move away from representation and towards expression. Traditional skills were devalued in favor of philosophical issues of contemporary art theory.
Traditional and contemporary values don't always sit together well in education, and many art schools ended up in a strange no-man's-land where manual skills still defined the subject matter, but were not properly taught.
The situation has been problematic for artists at both ends of the spectrum. Artists who chose realism were left to explore their chosen route on their own, taking the odd private class and researching the old masters, wasting hours re-inventing the wheel as they struggle to learn. The occasional art-school graduate with a natural eye and an able teacher might be fortunate enough to independently develop the expressive and technical skills needed to create a worthwhile work of art, while the rest fall by the wayside. Meanwhile, the conceptual and performance artist - unless they were fortunate enough to find an avant-garde city school - was frustrated by the emphasis on the (to them) outdated skills of painting and drawing.
Thankfully things are changing. Thane Peterson writes in Business Week online that: 'Artistic skills also are in far more demand than most people imagine. Bill Barrett recalls a recent visit to Pixar, the movie animation company near San Francisco, with a group of art school presidents. One of the presidents, of course, asked Edwin Catmull, the company's president and chief technology officer, what qualities he looks for when hiring recent college grads. Catmull surprised the academics, Barrett recalls, by replying: "We look for people with incredible drawing skills." Much of the early work on a film, Catmull explained, is done on paper, not on a computer, so an ability to draw is crucial. '(my emphasis).
Meanwhile in the opposing camp, Paul Reader even makes the dubious proposition, based on a handful of interviews, that "The making of art, and the process of critique used in art school are very powerful tools for personal development. The idea that art schools have a responsibility to an art industry, or to vocational training, job-creation, and the making of practicing artists is a very dubious proposition. The real work for visual art educators, is about people creation, stimulating creative thinking, and broadening horizons."
I'm not convinced by Reader's arguments. This type of rhetoric is typical of art schools and theorists seeking to justify their own existence. Arts faculty pages cite a conglomeration of non-specific employment aptitudes - you'll be valued for your lateral thinking, for instance - that are of little marketable value for graduates who don't succeed in the competitive world if Fine Art.
Research indicates that less than 5 percent of Fine Art students will be making art 10 years after they graduate. If that was said of engineering or science there would be an outcry - what a waste of education resources and years of study. Less than a century ago, artists were able to support themselves as illustrators, portraitists and decorators until they 'made their mark', spending their time in a creative environment, and using their training.
The key issue here is for artists and students to be pro-active in their choice of study, and to be realistic about their employment opportunities. If you want to make a living with a brush in your hand, get the technical skills that you need by selecting the right institution with expert tuition in the traditional arts. If you want to work in a more conceptual form of art, find a college that focuses on that, and challenge yourself with the intellectual rigor of philosophy, sociology or psychology classes, depending on your field of interest.
Coasting along with half-baked skills and lightweight thinking is how most graduates find themselves unemployed and unable to afford art supplies for their increasingly direction-less art, or their energy sapped by hours of unskilled labor. Don't let your ambitions become a not-so-funny joke.
"Q: What did the art graduate say to the engineering graduate? A: Would you like fries with that order sir?"
