[Leica] declining quality now why are these illiterates

[feli at creocollective.com (Feli di Giorgio)]

On Fri, 2004-07-02 at 11:35, animal wrote:
> >From what i have learned from modern instruction and basic teaching 
> >courses
> I know that one has to point out the things that people get right.
> That way pupils learn faster then when you point out the things they do
> wrong.
> Especially in complex fast paced courses their self esteem is fragile and
> has to be monitored for best results.


My point is that back when I went to art school (only about 15 years 
ago), the department heads didn't seem to think that learning your craft
was as high a priority as being a "free spirit". There was very much 
the attitude that the students should simply be cut lose and should do 
what ever pleased them. Everything they turned in was "great" and "fine"
and any criticism was combated with the old standby lines of "who are 
you to judge..." and "in art there are no rules." 
        
Now, being a free spirit and saying what you think isn't a bad thing, 
but as an example lets take a look at someone like Picasso. Now Picasso 
considered himself somewhat of an anarchist and belittled the 
bourgeoisie taste and way of thinking. He was one of the driving forces
behind cubism and modern art, but he knew the traditional canon for 
wards and back wards and built on top of it. That's one reason why his 
work is genius and what we see today is mostly crap. People seem to 
think that an artist just stands in front of a canvas and the art just 
comes flying out of him and that's it. The reality is very different and
involves a lot of hard work, discipline, training, knowledge and 
practice. You can have all of the talent in the world, but without 
proper training you are never going to get beyond a certain point. 
        
So, we had students who could not properly draw in perspective, could 
not properly draw a human figure and had very little knowledge of art 
history, theory or techniques. 
        
These were respectable schools, Rochester Institute of Technology 
and CalARTS, although the character animation department at CalArts was 
far better than its regular art department. 
        
        
Feli