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more thoughts on art education

XKCD's take on Academia vs. Business

Upon reflection, I realize that my last post might have given the impression that I am down on liberal and creative arts education, which was not quite my intention. This Chronicle article hits a little bit closer to what I am thinking about. There is a divide between the goals given - and assumed - in higher education and those possible for the majority of students.
While I am grateful that my personal education was not "career-focused," there was always in the air the notion that success was to be found in academics, specifically as a professor of art exhibiting regularly at university galleries and "important" art venues around the world. While never openly discussed or stated, this has been the assumed, singular goal of "success" that all BFAs/MFAs were to aspire. There were other things people became - portrait and wedding photographers, web developers, middle school art teachers, etc - these were all seen to be lower on that "invisible" hierarchy.
However when I first began teaching directly out of graduate school, I was expected to teach students skills and abilities which I had never been taught or had to deal with myself. What is it like to work with a "client" to design a website, photograph a wedding, or create a brand identity? Of course I realized that I had intrinsically picked up these skills anyways and could hypothesize the rest, but always felt a bit like an imposter as the authoritative voice on how these creative skills applied to professional fields. Now that I work outside of the classroom, but still within the creative field, I have found an opportunity to use those skills that I had previously assumed and hypothesized. Fortunately for me and my former students, my assumptions have been, for the most part, spot on!
But more importantly I've learned that there is more than one success to be had with my degree. That "invisible" hierarchy was limited and a big cause of the problem. Art students shouldn't feel as though they've failed because they couldn't reach that presumed ultimate goal of the "academic" - that limited scope of a model of success is really the problem.
For many, academics is not the right place. (Believe me, you've probably encountered many professors who have no business being in a classroom!) I love academics because I love to teach. I have been told by so many that I am a good teacher and I really try to understand cognitive processes to better enhance my teaching. But there are so many out there "mucking up" the works, hogging all the jobs if you will, because they are scared there is nothing else to do with their degree. They've been given the same, narrow model of success - that to "make it" you've got to land that tenure track position with a small teaching load (how ironic is that, be a teacher where you don't have to teach!).
But really is that the only success there is? Should we redefine the professional goals we present to students not just as options during preview days to satisfy fretting parents, but truly and meaningfully throughout their education? We should teach students that there is more than one success to be had and that academics is just one path, not the only path to success. We must broaden the narrow "invisible" hierarchy to be more inclusive if liberal arts educations is to thrive in the 21st century.

What is the value of Humanities today?

image credit: Anna Gay

Academics is a seasonal business. Just as we come to expect the leaves to turn in the fall and the tulips to bloom in the spring, as a professor in the visual arts, I was always prepared for the "breakdown."

The "breakdown" is the moment when a student, usually in their last year or last semester, suddenly realizes that the cyclic pattern of school will soon be over and yet they have absolutely no idea why they started the whole thing to begin with. Their thoughts would usually go something like "why did I go to college for this?" or "what am I going to do with myself now?"

This is the hard part, as there are no easy answers. I am reminded of Thomas H. Benton's advice article in the Chronicle of Higher Ed earlier this year which outlines what he considers the lie in the notion of the "life of the mind."

So so many young people are in school to get degrees they have been told will lead to greater success while at the same time opportunities for that success are disappearing and transforming into part-time or adjunct positions - not to mention the first thing to go during an "economic downturn."

How then do we answer these students' questions? Better yet, what should schools be telling students and parents before they even enroll? I always hated preview events when I had to meet with prospective students and parents because the later would always invariably ask "what will my child do with this degree?" Being an honest person it was hard to have a good answer that would soothe a concerned parent. "Well I have a job" would be my joking answer, but underneath, that current of doubt was still there.

Now that I work outside of the classroom but still within the institution I see this approach continue. And I see that not only are parents but even administration and trustees hard pressed to really feel confident in what a degree in the humanities will prepare students to do. In a time when career application has become the focus, nay, the obsession of higher education, humanities is having a hard time defending its existence. And during some of last weekend's college football games it was painfully obvious that even the commercials for R1 institutions were pushing the notion that their graduates were getting jobs rather than degrees.

The pain for me is that I am the product of a humanities-based education. And having taught in the humanities I believe and know that the the skills developed provide more than just the ability to take pretty pictures or write eloquent prose. But does this pedagogical model work when the focus of higher education has shifted away from a "life of the mind" to more of a linear career-path mindset? Should we re-examine the role humanities plays in higher education? Or does that just leave higher education masqueraded as vo-tech?

real life vs. "art" life?

 I live in the "real" world. Sometimes I think too much in the real world. Thinking about bills, work details, groceries, laundry etc. sometimes keeps me from being as fully immersed into art making as I'd like. I've definitely come a long way in balancing these two parts of my life but I still get frustrated by the pull away from art making and the mindset that art is something I'll get to once everything else is "done."
But you know what? Everything else will never be done.
So tell me, how do you balance making art and dealing with the real world?

photo credit: Karl Jonsson

And the new banner design winner is....

Number 4!

Thanks to everyone who helped me decide by voting here and on facebook.

I'll be updating lizmurphythomas.info soon but I've been a little bit busy this past week or so because I have some big news that I've been waiting to share - I have accepted a new position in Tennessee and we're moving this weekend!

So once we've moved and settled in I'll be updating my website and this blog with all the details. So hold tight for now and thanks for helping me pick my new banner!