Art School, Schmart School, Part 1

To college, or not to college – That is the question. Whether tis nobler for the artist to suffer the sleepless hours of assignments and anxiety of grades, Or to muddle through drawing and painting alone.

I've got art schools on the brain. I'm sitting here in my in-laws living room, listening to them lament in the dining room over the possibility, in two years, of hubby and my youngest brother-in-law (who's in art school) graduating on the same day. On Tuesday, because not taking art classes right now makes me cry) after my finals I crashed some freshman art students' critiques (the professors are my two biggest mentors). After one boy's crit, the professor was asking him where he wanted to transfer to and, when the kid didn't have an answer, told him his summer homework was to research and find 3-4 schools he was going to apply to. This got me thinking about my own transfer. I'm picking up associates number 2 at the end of next year. I still want to get my BFA and eventually maybe an MFA, which means I need to find a school to go to. Of the “nearby” schools, there's an unrealistically expensive one 20 minutes away, one I've gone to and hate an hour away, and then a private and a public both an hour 40 away (actually more like 1; I speed). The two viable options are RIT and Binghamton University. RIT is expensive, but has a track record of giving a lot of money to OCC grads. Binghamton University is cheaper and a close friend of mine goes there and has an apartment in Binghamton. So I have some decision making to do, but that's not the point of this particular blog.

No, this particular blog is inspired by my youngest brother-in-law. Earlier this evening, I asked my BIL if he wanted to see if we could get a friend of ours to get naked for us tomorrow night, so we could have some figure drawing. Even after I secured a model, my BIL has declined to join me. While I was still on the phone with Friend, I mocked him for not wanting to draw tomorrow night. This prompted Friend to mention that he just got home from school and is on break. I countered (loud enough for him to hear me) that it didn't matter, if he was a “real” artist he'd be drawing everyday.

This is an idea that's been hammered into me by the two professors mentioned at the beginning. “Work, work, work,” and “Let your mother tell you how wonderful you are,” are their two favorite sayings. I actually have quite a bit of guilt about how little I've been drawing lately. Some how doodles during my philosophy classes don't seem like they ought to count. So I actually am a little annoyed my BIL won't come have a figure drawing with me. Don't his professors beat the work ethic into him? Doesn't he want to draw to improve his skill and because he enjoys it?

But this attitude isn't foreign to me, not by any stretch of the imagination. I've encountered it among a lot of art students. So it leads me to question, is art school necessary? If half to two-thirds of art students aren't totally dedicated and there's more than that number of people not in art school who are dedicated, then does one really need to go to art school to be an artist?

The answer, obviously, is, “Of course not.” So then it begs the question, should one go to art school to be an artist? This is a little murkier. Because dedication, I think, is the real necessity, and no amount of art school can teach that. But there is something to be said for the skill and knowledge one can gleam from working with an experienced artist.

This, of course, is the endless Academic Art vs. Outsider Art debate. Which is only really a debate to the pretentious. Academic and self training both have their merits and pitfalls; so is one really better than the other?

For me, I think academic training was essential. The professors I've had, almost without exception, have opened my eyes to so many wonderful things that I'm not sure I'd have seen or thought of on my own. Not any time soon anyway. So really, all the tens of thousands of dollars I'm spending is for a sort of short cut.

I've got a lot of other thoughts on this topic. More tomorrow.

Artist You Should Know: Henry Darger

So apparently I totally missed last week's Artist You Should Know. Bad me! I've got a goody this week to make up for it.

Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone in between: Henry Darger.

(The pictures are scans from a book I highly recommend, Darger: The Henry Darger Collection at the American Folk Art Museum by Brooke Davis Anderson and Michel Thevoz, hence the warping at one side.)

Darger (1892-1973) was a foster care group home-runaway turned hospital janitor and an Outsider Artist* completely unknown in his lifetime. And when I say completely unknown, I mean completely unknown. His work wasn't discovered until his landlord went to clean out his apartment after his death.

His life and work are fascinating. During his lifetime he wrote what is believed to be the longest novel. A 15,000 small type font page epic he called The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion. In addition to writing this epic, he illustrated it. With 10ft long pieces that were a combination of watercolor, drawing, and collage.

His disturbing portrayal of children is probably what stirs the most debate about him. We know he was an extremely devout Catholic, hence the horns and demonic imagery on the villains. It's the penises on the little girls that give pause. Originally it was thought that he was a pedophile (over the period of time that he lived in his apartment, several little girls went missing, later found raped and murdered), but now experts wonder if it's possible that he just didn't know what female genitalia looks like. There aren't any indications from his journals of any sexual experience, ever. It's entirely possible that he thought since he had a penis, girls and women had small ones too.

His technique was interesting. He overcame his lack of training by tracing images close to what he wanted, then tweaking and redrawing and tweaking and redrawing them until he had the image he wanted. His near endless supply of tracing and collage material came from the hundreds of papers and magazines his collected from the trash regularly.

Darger is a truly intriguing figure, and I find him to be sort of like a onion. As I study and research him, peel away a layer so to speak, there always seems to be a fresh layer waiting for me underneath.

*An Outside or Outsider Artist is an artist with no classical, academic training.