Institutions of higher learning have become sports and career factories—business management, computer engineering, MBAs, research, etc. But not institutions for the education of human beings.
People disparage and dismiss art school. But art school educates the curious eye, the making hand and the creative mind. Woodshop, welding, drawing, painting, design skills are all driven by the development of creative thinking. Nude figure drawing confronts the self laid bare, appreciating the beauty and complexity of the human form. The student population of the studio is diverse, a place where ideas are freely expressed and critiqued—a safe place to grow as a human being.
Academic courses in art school work in tandem with studio courses. More than that, academic courses allow for discovery and understanding through the visual language, giving it a deserved legitimacy not accorded in colleges and universities.
What more could anyone ask of an education?
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