Week 3 Response

In this week’s article Arts And Culture And Kcet Debut 'artbound: Arts Education, I was interested in the funding and art education model of ArtBound and KCET. In the art culture, many had struggled to support self-research or directed projects based on low funding support. In my previous short practicum, a student’s parent reached out to share that their child has a strong interest and skills in art but stated that “they wouldn’t wish to be a starving artist.” It is very devastating as art is just as important as other subjects and can be a foundational skill for careers that are often not publicized. In the article, I enjoyed the statement "We see in this documentary that arts education nurtures future generations of artists and cultural workers, as we would expect. What is remarkable is that arts education is also recognized by our scientists, entrepreneurs, and leaders as a crucial part of their development." as this highlights the importance of art education inspiring young and future artists to develop their own expression through artistic practices. Programs such as Artbound can open up art directions and career opportunities for students to explore as well as KCET can illuminate more interests in art education.

Thus in the next article Contemporary Approaches to Teaching, I was very touched to read the article’s emphasis on “Avoid mimicking the style or working methods of a single artist. Instead, introduce a range of artists who may have divergent ideas or approaches, and can offer multiple perspectives and working methods related to a chosen theme, idea, or question.” This allows me to think back on my first-year experience as a contemporary art student at Simon Fraser University. I was introduced to many contemporary artists and artworks but was unable to connect to how can I transition from institutional commercial art to creating unrestricted contemporary art. It took years of exploration as many professors may succeed in their explorations of contemporary art concepts, but as students, we may require to develop further self-critical perspectives in order to create contemporary art. I agree that expressing our choices through materials, representations and context are important factors, just as connecting artwork ideas across media. Contemporary art has no boundaries, however, it is asking the artists to ask questions to themselves and should not have one definite answer. Artists such as Marina Abramović explores connections between human, movements and inter-conceptual expresses through performance gestures. Contemporary art can be structureless, but it is more than literal and superficial perfections.

References:

Contemporary approaches to teaching. Art21. (n.d.). https://art21.org/for-educators/tools-for-teaching/getting-started-an-introduction-to-teaching-with-contemporary-art/contemporary-approaches-to-teaching/

Arts and culture and KCET debut “ArtBound: Arts Education.” LA County Department of Arts and Culture. (2023, January 13). https://www.lacountyarts.org/article/arts-and-culture-and-kcet-debut-artbound-arts-education