How Artists and Designers Learn to be Creative( or, Why most modern art is so alienating )

Kevin HamiltonAssociate Professor of New MediaSchool of Art and Design, UIUC

Pre-professional arts training is passé( for upwardly mobile moderns )

Pre-professional arts training is passé( for upwardly mobile moderns )

Why?

because skilled labor is outsource-ableToday:

Pre-professional arts training is passé( for upwardly mobile moderns )

Why?

because skilled labor is outsource-able

because the language of art should be universal

Today:

Yesterday:

Art’s new universals: object-oriented aesthetics

From the figure to the rectangle

From the figure to the rectangle

From the arch & column to the plane & void

From the particular to the universal

Down with the guilds and salons...

Down with the guilds and salons...

talentgenius

apprenticeshipemulation

...on to the laboratory, the workshop!

...on to the laboratory, the workshop!

expressionsynthesis

accessresearch

Origins in pre-WWII Germany and Russia

Origins in pre-WWII Germany and Russia

Exodus to America - Chicago, Cambridge, and Carolina

Modernism in America

$

Modernism in America

RESEARCH

APPLICATION

Modernism in America

RESEARCH

APPLIED

Research:M.F.A. / Ph.DMuseumsCompetitionsJournals

Modernism in America

RESEARCH

APPLIED

Research:M.F.A. / Ph.DMuseumsCompetitionsJournals

Applied:Design FirmsCommercial Art GalleriesPropagandaTechnical Innovation

Modernism in America

RESEARCH

APPLIED

Research:M.F.A. / Ph.DMuseumsCompetitionsJournals

Applied:Design FirmsCommercial Art GalleriesPropagandaTechnical Innovation

(Sometimes this distinction is very fuzzy)

The scope of universalized knowledge expands

Text

The scope of universalized knowledge expands

Text

The scope of universalized knowledge expands

Text

The scope of universalized knowledge expands

Text

The scope of universalized knowledge expands

Text

The scope of universalized knowledge expands

Text

The scope of universalized knowledge expands

Text

The scope of universalized knowledge expands

Text

The scope of universalized knowledge expands

Text

The art student’s task

The art student’s task

1. identify the building blocks

The art student’s task

1. identify the building blocks2. redeploy and reconfigure

The art student’s task

1. identify the building blocks2. redeploy and reconfigure3. assess and critique

Caveat

Educational theory vs. actual implementation :

Educational theory vs. actual implementation :• Artists are rarely trained to teach

Educational theory vs. actual implementation :• Artists are rarely trained to teach• Romantic individualism protects the classroom

Educational theory vs. actual implementation :• Artists are rarely trained to teach• Romantic individualism protects the classroom• Research and Application not well differentiated

Educational theory vs. actual implementation :• Artists are rarely trained to teach• Romantic individualism protects the classroom• Research and Application not well differentiated• Analytically-minded are rarely encouraged to pursue art

Educational theory vs. actual implementation :• Artists are rarely trained to teach• Romantic individualism protects the classroom• Research and Application not well differentiated• Analytically-minded are rarely encouraged to pursue art• (Sometimes, this is all just as well)

Examples from Research

[ examples of artists and their processes here ]

References

http://delicious.com/kham/art_manual

A non-comprehensive list of entry-level books where you can see what art students learn.

Kevin Hamilton http://www.complexfields.org