Reflection on Prof. Jiesamfoek's class Discussion

We spent the entire first class discussing "What is Art?" and "What is Education?" With the final conclusion that a majority of art is dependent on perception. Almost halfway through the semester there is still a debate which is particularly frustrating for me as many people still insist that art be put on a pedestal. Even after watching the Art 21 videos from Visual Culture class people are still putting a label on things that are and are not 'ART'. How you could not consider Pepon Osario's work art simply because it doesn't fit into a typical MFA perspective is an extremely limiting viewpoint, in my opinion. This is completely contrary to all that we have been taught this semester and a really sad reflection on an inability to see art from the perspective of those different from us.

During a discussion we read a few of our reading synthesis, my point of view was that any art education is better than none. Everything starts somewhere; even an opera tenor begins singing the same 'Twinkle twinkle little star' that the rest of us do. Several students were saying mechanical drawing is not even drawing or art. I would ask if any of them had ever studied drafting? Do they know the weight of line has differing significance? Is this the ideal art education? Probably not, but it is a starting point that gets students to pick up a pencil to do something besides write letters. And this was the 19th century for goodness sake! Life was a bit more of a survival game back then. Say, create art or forage for sustenance?

I was especially upset by the comment from one student that someone who designs greeting cards is not creating art! Why is this? Because its not in a museum? What about the student who has never been to a museum and will never go? If they were to purchase a card and hang it on the wall does that make it art? Perhaps they don't consider Jackson Pollack's work art, its just splattered paint from their perspective. How can we ever expect to be good teachers if we put everything in a place that is so mighty, is so unattainable and so unrelated to their experience? Where were all these fellow students of mine last semester in Prof. Louis' class when we talked about making art relate to student's experience? This anti-greeting card arrogance can only serve to separate us, as educators, from the students who need us most! Students don't need us to judge their culture, they need us to teach them the qualities of other perspectives of creative expression. By saying that a greeting card is less-than, we are not only belittling the artist who does sit at their table creating lovely little scenes but we are also saying the desire to appreciate it is not appropriate.