From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Mathieu_Ren=E9?= <creaturiste-AT-primus.ca>
To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 18:29:41 -0500
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] hard times


I Agree with Ed,

Art is vital, I've seen what it does to a community when Art is not 
accessible. I grew up in a big-small town where there weren't many Art 
isntructions available. I was in an "enriched" Art class, and I can tell you 
the title meant nothing. We still did crappy stuff with no proper 
instruction. I was blown away when I moved away to study in an actual Art 
School. I was late in EVERY art technique I was supposed to already have 
studied in regular school. I had no grasp of any of the fundamentals 
(perspective, color theories, paint making, clay work, anatomy, you name 
it!)

Back then, I was known as a great drawing artist, and was constantly 
complimented by anyone who saw my work. As soon as I left, the disillusion 
spell hit me, and I realised I had been merely one of the few who had drawn 
a bit further than the "teenager cool cartoon" level. And that was enough to 
impress people?
Yikes. I almost abandonned my artistic journey right there. Thankfully, I 
was addicted already by some techniques, and we had a lot of great teachers 
to inspire us at my new school (in Graphic Design). Although I soon found 
out it wasn't my true calling, it was refreshing to finally have a structure 
into which to learn something artistic that was widely recognised as a 
"legit discipline". So I stayed and got my college diploma in it, and a ton 
and a half of debts.
I couldn't work full time as a graphic designer, it was too constricting. 
Still, I use the graphic design skills everyday for my own work and some 
occasional freelance contracts (mostly image processing , theatre posters 
and business cards).

After the graphic design I did the big jump to University, for a major in 
Painting and Drawing.
I had a great time as a student meeting international artists, but the 
curriculum was weak at best.
That from the university that was supposed to be the best in Canada for fine 
Arts, and that had dizzyingly high tuition. Yikes. The Fine Arts department 
was lodged in a separate building, more akin to an inadequate factory than 
to an artistic environment. We were the "poor relatives" of the entire 
school. The other dozen or so buildings were all in great shape and well 
furnished. It was like a different world, when we had to go to these other 
buildings for a few classes.  Our budget was ridiculously low. Our learning 
and activities therefore suffered. The really good classes were ALWAYS 
overburdened and no more class slots were made in the schedule for the vast 
amount of people on the full waiting lists.  I recall only two educational 
field trips organised, but they were only available if you could pay for 
them, either by being an heir,or by scraping what was left of already 
depleted pockets.

If anyone wanted anywhere near a reasonnable amount of life drawing classes 
per week, he had to pay for the evenening sessions, out of his own pocket, 
so that we could organise and be able to pay the models (not really well, at 
that). The models needed to bring their own props, we had near nothing to 
offer.

The light fixtures in the small art gallery were a shocking hasard for the 
whole 2 years I was there.  Funding was obviously lacking, everywhere.  The 
student associations were bullied by the Marriott Empire, when they tried to 
do bake sales for funding activities: the school contract with Mariott 
stipulated that all food sold on campus must be supplied/sold by Mariott. 
Yikes.  Some mediocre teachers were there I can only guess because there was 
nobody else available to work for such low salaries. Some great teachers 
with more workload then some tenured ones could not get tenure and were paid 
as freelancers (lower pay) because there wasn't enough for them.

I don't how it is now, since they moved the Fine Art Department to a brand 
new building, but I'm guessing "only as guests" of the school of business, 
which was renamed after a Beer company's founder, after a big donation.

I sound bitter because I am.
I am one of those kids who would have thrived in a proper environment where 
Art would be available.
That is why, isntead of just being bitter, I fight back. I try to get as 
many opportunities to go into schools and teach workshops. I would have been 
thrilled by anything of the sort, but we had nothing remotely close.

CONSEQUENCES:
To this day, I still struggle with the basic artistic academic skills, 
studying them whenever there is a bit of time.
I sometimes feel like I am late of at least ten years. At university, I met 
so many people from elsewhere in the world, and those from here who studied 
college abroad, and their most modest fine-art education (in those other 
countries) yielded what we here would call amazing talent. But I know it now 
to be great technical skill, earned by working hard in a proper learning 
environment. By comparison, what theyconsider their worst is seen here as 
amazing.

I've been to the USA twice now, and met kids in public schools. I see Canada 
and the USA share the same problems overall. I hear what they are allowed to 
do and what tools they can't even use, for lack of budget or even for fear 
of injury (hot glue guns, craft knives). How can you create with such 
restrictions?

It's time we opened up to the Old world and see what they do right with Art 
teaching, and bring it to the Americas, to public schools of every level.

There is no telling where I would be today with those skills learned earlier 
as should have been, but one thing is for certain: in adversity, there is 
great learning to be had. Maybe not the official academic way, but you 
certainly pick up original and miscelaneous sets of skills, by necessity. 
Still, I am convinced there are other, better ways of learning than 
suffering and sweating blood all the way.

Like bicycling in the melted snow, a skill I learned out of necessity to 
save money on bus fares...
  which I'm just about to go do.

FUND AND SUPPORT AND PARTICIPATE IN YOUR SCHOOL'S ARTISTIC PROGRAMS, 
wherever you are.
Make your art in public once in a while, make it accessible. You'll benefit 
not only the people you touch, but those they will touch with their Art.

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