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The Art of Craft

July 1, 2006

Is there anything left of arts education?

INSTALLMENT TWO:

The plane landed from Austin two hours ago and it's Saturday afternoon on Sept 2nd. Yale Art is tonight. And, Mitch, I'm not gonna make it again. Geeze Louize. The last few weeks I have been in and out of town working on the education consulting end of my life. I have been traveling all over the state doing presentations, doing consulting and generally making a nuisance of myself over some of my pet education issues. I retired from full time teaching a couple of years ago. Since that time I have probably been in 50 + schools at various levels. During those visits I see large sums of money being spent on everything, it seems, but Art. While I think that has been a continuing refrain in Texas education, but it seems worse now. I also see the same thing happening across the country and in colleges. Seemingly art and craft programs all over the country are tightening their belts or dying.

There are some constants I have noticed in my various travels. First constant is the decline of art education in just about every school I have visited. Testing is up, electives are down. I continue to wonder what is going to happen to the more creative end of human development in this day of high stress state testing. There are other indicators coming in.

For instance, the 2150 Fahrenheit: Sculptural Glass show presented by the Steinert Glass School may be the last. Steinert Glass is located in Akron, Ohio. Steinert Glass was established in 2001. Since the school was established near 2000 glass artists have received their education in glass technique. The school was a dream but it is now too expensive to run it.

What seems to be going on in the arts begs the question where can a student get training in his or her art of choice. Also one should ask some other questions. Do you need to go to school? Do you need any special training at all? Can you teach yourself? How do you learn to market your art?

In my case, I did an apprenticeship many years ago with a fine furniture maker who did reproductions and custom furniture for high end clients. I learned so much in the time I had to give to my training during the week. At the time I was teaching instrumental music by day, woodworking by night. I went through my career building time as I got older which caused me to ultimately leave the love of woodcraft behind for a while.

That while became 20 long years. During that time I dabbled from time to time. As I moved I left tools in various locations because I needed the money or didn't want to shift them one more time. Many woodworking tools are just plain heavy. Anyway, I walked away from learning anything about my craft during that time.

After my teaching career was established, actually winding down, I decided to get into it again. So this time I bought books and books and books. I also bought every woodworking magazine I could get my wood dust coated fingers on. I even went so far as to become kind of systematic with things. I started a program of skill development that was very useful. Frustrating but useful. Ah, the boardfeet I sacrificed to dovetails.

The point is that my craft education was haphazard at best. But as I wrote in an earlier piece I can no more give up woodcraft than I can give up breathing. There are painters the same way. I know there are young people out there who want to be professionals. They want to make a living doing what they love. It seems to be a given that if they are going to be make a living at their art or craft that they will have to have training.

The question is can you get that kind of an education in today's world. Is it a pipe dream for a kid to think that he or she will be able to get a first class education in ceramics or glass work. What about fiber art, book making, basketry and of course what we think of as the fine arts of painting and sculpture. Is it possible.

What resources are out there for kids in Houston? What exists in Harris County, in Texas? What programs exist for professional arts education in the southwest of the United States?

How does an aspiring artist get an education that will allow themselves to become competent in their art at a professional level? Now that I am back in town after the summer running, I am going to try to explore that in a solid way.

John McGeough is a craft artisan working in wood. He shows his work regularly at the Yale St Arts Market. John is fascinated with craft whether it is wood, ceramic, textile, metal or any of the many available media. He can't pass up a gallery or a booth. This column is an exploration of fine craft. Read more about John

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