ku # 485 ~ on being a grasshopper
Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 08:48AM 
Rock, tree and fence post • click to embiggenOver the past few weeks, there has been some discussion here and there about teaching art, or, more accurately, can how to be an artist be taught?
My thoughts on the subject, which really annoy those who don't believe that artists possess anything 'special' (that others don't), is that the 'mechanics'/theory and history of just about any medium can be taught, but mastering mechanics/theory and knowing history does not an artist make - that comes from within. Some have it, some don't. Within the ranks of 'those who have it', some have in spades, some only a lesser allotment.
Back in my halcyon studio/commercial days, my studio was a regular stop on the R.I.T. (Rochester Institute of Technology, Photography Dept.) day trip rota. One professor in particular always encouraged me to give my you're wasting mom and dad's money, just learn the mechanics, drop out of school and use all that tuition money to buy film, processing and prints - just shoot your ass off and discover what, if anything, you have to say speech. And then, after they were suitably impressed with all of my Fortune 500 company clients and work, let them know that I had never had a single day of photography education in my life.
And, of course, then there's my son, Aaron, the Cinemascapist, who seems to have less than a single day of photography education in his life - making pictures for less than a year and he has A NYC gallery show and mounting worldwide fame and recognition.
Go figure on both counts.
That said, in all the discussion about the topic, this little tidbit from Bill Jay - I'd buy LensWork magazine just to read his EndNotes column; "... the only learning which has been meaningful has been self-motivated, self-taught, self-appropriated, self-discovered."
But, when it comes to teaching how to be an artist he also wrote: "I have to admit it: I am only interested in changing lives, not providing information for its own sake. It sounds impertinent and I make the statement with some embarrassment. I do not know why such admissions are awkward but they are, like conducing to virtue, or advocating Beauty and Goodness, or even Truth, or urging on the artist as spiritual seeker. Such notions, nowadays, tend to prompt the gagging reflex. But I cannot imagine the purpose of education if such concepts are not at issue. And centrally so." (emph., Ed.)
A recommendation: back when I was urging photography students to tune in, turn on and drop out, if I had known about Robert Henri's book, The Art Spirit, I certainly would insisted that it be the very first thing that they spend mom and dad's money on, and that they, like student members of the Communist Party who were encouraged to carry copies of Mao's Little Red Book, read it and carry it with them wherever they go.
gravitas et nugalis
Gordon Coale asked; "I've been wondering what you shoot all those square pictures with..."
Hey Gordon, you're not alone in your wondering.
I do my picturing with either an Olympus e510 or e500 and then crop to square. In my film days, amongst many other formats, sub-miniature - 8×10, I learned to love the square format with a Bronica.
Reader Comments (1)
Sometimes I don't catch on very quickly. I hadn't noticed that Aaron was your son. I love his work!
I just ordered The Art Spirit. I've never heard of it but a little googling sold me. I'm really looking forward to it.
And I've been wondering what you shoot all those square pictures with. I havn't been using my square cameras for a while. I need to change that.