WHY Art Cannot be taught but can be Learnt
I am going to discuss what art is through the text of Why Art Cannot be Taught by James Elkins and What Good are the Arts? by John Carey vs IB Diploma subject guide.
What is art anyways? The IB suggest that, ' Art is a part of everyday life, permeating all levels of human creativity, expression, communication and understanding.' This statement is so true, I believe that art is a part of everyday life no matter where you are or what your surrounded by. Art are not just paintings but art can be expressed in music, poems, food, pictures, films, buildings and even sculpture!
The text also expresses that ' art ranges from traditional forms embedded in locals and wider communities, societies and cultures' , 'we celebrate art the visual arts not only in the way we create images and objects, but also in the way we appreciate, enjoy, respect and respond to the practices of art-making by others from around the world.' This shows that art can be anything and that art do range from many things that are all around the world. We can celebrate art in many ways and for it to be enjoyable for the audience they need to be open minded, appreciative, respect and give feedback to the art-makers.The IB presumes that the audience should be mature to acknowledge the arts. I believe that you do not need to be mature to judge art; you can be young or old but no matter how old you are allow to have your own opinion on the art.
By the end of the course the IB subject guide suggest that the course should be able to make us :
- analyse art work with a wide variety of perspective
- understand relationships in life
- express art and look at it from different views
-become consumers and makers of art
-challenge our creative and cultural expectations and boundaries
- develop analytical skills in problem solving
Why art cannot be taught by James Elkins. Elkins states that why art cannot is because its impossible to teach just like science. I feel in some ways that it can be taught and cannot be taught. I think art can be learnt but you as an individual will teach yourself. Your teachers are there to guide you but you are the one teaching yourself all the techniques. An example: your teacher can teach you how to hold a pencil but then its up to you to learn all the drawings skills. Your teachers can also shows you but then you interpret it to make it your own way. You learn it form your teacher but then teach it to yourself. Also I feel there is no right or wrong in art so what is there to teach? I think that's why it cant be taught. Because there is no right or wrong you can just do what you want to do. You can your your imagination and create an art piece that is 'art' to you.
Lastly you can't really be expected to be an artist by the end of the course at all unless you are so focused and very determined to be one. IB guide does mention that the course will teach us about ourselves. I think by it saying that it means that once you know what you a capable of doing in art then you will be able to teach yourself how to do things with a different approach. With being able to teach ourselves we will then prove that we are capable of being ' Art-makers'
The IB subject guide agrees with what Carey's view more than James Elkins I feel.The view of ' art doesn't make us unique' by Carey was made. I feel like that is true. Nowadays there are loads of artist all around the world. The word 'Art' itself can mean paintings, sculptures, music, films and even poems. The world of art has evolved since we were younger, many more things are now considered as art. So art isn't as unique anymore.
Carey's then mentions different point of views and examples on art from different people; Arthur C Danto and Jeanette Winterson, and Hitler. Arthur C Danto view is that only art makers are able to really understand the paintings. This view in my opinion is bias; not only artist will understand what other artist painting means but also the audience. The audience will have their own ideas going through their head as for anybody who looks at art.It may not be the same idea as the artist who produced the art but somewhere along the lines.But I think that only the artist will know the full story behind his art piece that is why I don't agree that other artist will understand the art piece fully.
What I think I will think and hope to be doing in this art course
I hope to undertake new challenges ( develop analytical skills in problem solving) that I have not faced before as well as improving my thinking in each task. I would like my thinking skills to be more unique and more meaningful to me, I would like to take time to think about each task so I put out the best effort of work. Also I would like to gain new techniques in my drawing/painting skills as an individual 'art-maker'
Lastly I want this 2 years course to be as meaningful as it could probably be; I want to see what are my strengths and weaknesses and see how I could improve them so that it could give me an idea of what I would like to pursue as a career for the future.