Google has partnered with some great art museums to create an online website where anyone can take a trip or tour around the world’s great art museums. It’s called the “GAP” for short. http://www.googleartproject.com/ It’s a wonderful site and I encourage everyone to check it out.
When I came across this website today I was taken back to my beginnings as an art student at Michigan State University. It really is amazing that I even ended up remotely connected to the art world. I never had an art class in all of my K-12 education experience. This is one reason I so fervently believe in art education. I feel like in many ways my young life was deprived because I missed out on the creative playfulness and unique perspective the arts provide in a world ruled by math and science. The most interesting and intelligent people I have ever met are “creative” people.
I remember thinking I was going to college from around seventh grade on. It seemed to be a “given” that I was planning on attending college, even though I came from such a large family. My older sisters did not have that “given” in their minds but they were ten and twelve years older than me and times were tough. I, being the youngest, had more opportunities than they did. I think I probably knew I was going to college because many of my older brothers had gone to school. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. However, for a few years I wanted to be a veterinarian like my brother Joe. I really looked up to him and I wanted to be like him I think. Well, until I saw him go down to Ed and Jessie’s place up north and do something unspeakable to a cow. That sure put a kibosh on the idea of becoming a veterinarian. I never even thought about anything in the art world because I never even knew what it was. Nobody in my family was connected to the arts. You might be wondering how in the world I ended up involved in art.
Botticelli, The Birth of Venus
I liked to draw. I didn’t obviously have any training and I simply used a pencil and whatever paper was around. When I was a senior in high school I can remember not sleeping all that well and staying up late and drawing. I remember drawing a picture of President John F. Kennedy from our “World Book” encyclopedia. Of course I sort of left my pictures out for my parents to notice like any kid might do. I remember them thinking they were nice. There was no real encouragement to pursue art at any time in my life from anyone when I was young. I took all college prep classes peppered with a lot of math and science. I didn’t have any room in my course schedule for art until my senior year. I had one free hour. I chose choir because I like to sing and because I was afraid to take an art class. I would have to take the beginning art class and be put in with freshman students which I didn’t want to do but really I was afraid that my secret would be out. The secret was that I had never had an art course and felt inept! Heaven forbid that I could take a course that I knew nothing about! Isn’t that the point of an education? To learn about things we don’t know? Oh, well, I digress.
Botticelli, The Birth of Venus Detail
I moved on to college not knowing what I wanted to do. I was an “undeclared major” college student. I just wasn’t sure what I wanted to do possibly because I hadn’t been exposed to what my true passion would become. Back in the seventies the first two years of most college education was liberal arts anyway, so I took a lot of different courses. I took quite a few philosophy courses which is amazing because I don’t consider myself to be very logical in many ways. You know the old “If, then phrases”? They never made a lot of sense to me. However, as time went on I continued to draw. I remember putting up my drawings on my bulletin board in my dorm room. One drawing I did I really remember well. I don’t know how I was exposed to the picture, maybe it was through a humanities class. However, I fell in love with the painting by Botticelli, the Birth of Venus. I loved the face on Venus so I drew it on typing paper and put it up on my bulletin board. That one drawing probably created a turning point in my mind to consider taking an art class. Other students kept asking me why I wasn’t taking any art classes. I started thinking maybe I should. I still didn’t have the confidence to take an art course but it kept nagging at me.
During my sophomore year I finally got up enough nerve to take a beginning drawing class. The first day of class I can remember sitting in the art room waiting for our instructor and listening to the other students. Most of them were bemoaning the fact that they had to take this “dip shit” beginning drawing course before they could take anything good. I was petrified. I thought what have I got myself into. I was looking for an exit. The first class was just an introduction. After class I went up and talked to the instructor and told him my dilemma and how the other students were obviously much more experienced and how maybe I thought I should drop the class. He asked me if I was willing to do all the assignments and come to class. I told him of course I would do that. He encouraged me to stay in the class and he offered that some of those students would end up dropping out because they wouldn’t be willing to do the work. His “pep talk” worked. I stayed in the class and never looked back. I went on to take many art courses, much more than I needed for my B.A. so I earned a B.F.A.
Most people that I know today in education don’t realize how precious I feel a well rounded education is to the development of the whole person. I think art is crucial in my life and opened up my imagination in ways that never would have happened otherwise. As a teacher I have high expectations and hopes for my students. I want to share with them my love of art and creativity. The feeling I get when I create something with my hands, brain and heart connected cannot be measured on a test. The push to create something new and original is always in the back of my mind. As a teacher, I try to help my students reach their full potential and hopefully see that there is more to life than just looking at things through the eyes of some test that they won’t remember thirty years later anyway. I see the value of creativity. In our world today people must be creative just to survive in the high stakes of unemployment. The world of the future will depend on the innovation and creativity of our youth.
Technology today is a wonderful tool for art education. There are so many resources online that it is amazing what can be learned about art. Many people even openly share their knowledge on sites like YouTube. You may have to watch a few bad videos to get to the good ones but it is all worth it. Here is a man creating a Greek/Roman style vase on Youtube. It really is exciting and educational to watch him work.
Art touches everyone. Even people that profess to not care about art carefully pick out their car, clothes, jewelry and furniture. We all live in a society where we want to be surrounded by some element of what we think is beautiful. When I watch those “Hoarding” shows, I even see people collecting items that they think are beautiful. The items may get lost in all the surrounding trash, but they are there.
I encourage everyone to get involved in the beauty of the world of art. If you cannot leave your home, travel online all over the world and view art from your own private perspective. If you have always wanted to take an art class but were afraid, go ahead and face that fear. You might be surprised at how wonderful you catch yourself feeling when you create something with your own brain, hands and heart! If you don’t have access to an art class, make your own class up. Go on Youtube and learn something new. Many people are sharing all of their wonderful artistic talents online. You can learn about everything from drawing and painting to basket weaving. The world we live in is amazing and shrinking in many ways. FDR said the only thing to fear is fear itself. Don’t be afraid to discover your creative side. Your brain is more than willing to create new connections to learning as you discover the beauty of pushing your creativity beyond the scope of what you thought possible. We are all creative beings even those people that profess to not be very creative. Push yourself to discover all the beauty art has to offer. You might be surprised to discover your hidden talents and when you do, it will be a wonderful feeling of mental self satisfaction and fulfillment.