I think it's safe to say that Miller has zero experience with university art programs. Zero. He thinks I must be blind to the reality but in actuality I have broad and deep administrative and teaching experience with all sorts of art programs for decades. I'll just assert that I am very well informed on the subject.
Actually, the MFA is not always required for teaching. A career and other contributing attributes trump degrees in the best programs, most often in private schools free from legislative strictures. The more selective the program the more ambitious the students and the more ambitious students are always the most challenging, the most questioning, the most experimental. A good art teacher is one who prompts those qualities of ambition and helps students find a path for their own abilities. There are many ways to do that and pickled cats might be one way as valid as students painting purple sunsets is another. What counts ultimately is knowing why one does something and what place it earns in a serious art context. How comforting or troubling the task is to the student is not a measure of success. WC --- On Sat, 1/31/09, Chris Miller <[email protected]> wrote: > From: Chris Miller <[email protected]> > Subject: Tinkering with the System > To: [email protected] > Date: Saturday, January 31, 2009, 9:36 AM > William wrote: "One should presume, with much > evidence, that students in any > context are primed to question their teachers, to challenge > ideas, to tinker > with the system. " > > So --- let's ask David Shelby how he and the other > students responded after > the art teacher brought in the pickled cats. Did anyone > protest or quit the > class? And if they quit -- did the same institution offer > an alternative > class where students were told to paint their favorite, > most cherished things > ? (BTW -- that is exactly the approach of Richard Schmid > -- a very successful > painter, teacher,and author--but also someone who has never > taught within a > university -- and without an MFA - he's not qualified > anyway) > > William has recently been telling us about the "rose > colored glasses". > > Perhaps he's been wearing a fine pair of his own. > > > ____________________________________________________________ > Looking for business phone systems? Click here to reduce > your phone bills by > up to 50%. > http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2231/fc/PnY6rc3PPLlsuMCWmpvjgdFZrm0OQZ > 87SMqbzfRHRaVs7jlYpWUvS/
