Skip to main content

Art Students at Work

For the first time I encountered (ten) art students drawing something or other on a road that my dog and I were biking on this morning. I tried to be quiet and non-intrusive. I wonder what objects they were drawing.

The area has an austere attractiveness, rather than the "postcard prettiness" that you'd expect to attract an art class. That's why it started me thinking. Were they there for the variety?

What if somebody had walked up to the teacher and asked, "Have any of your students chosen to draw the sheer terror of a ground squirrel, scurrying for his life, with a hawk circling in the background?"


She might have liked the idea. Or do they draw only pretty things? And what if they did draw something more out of Darwin or Jack London than out of the tourism industry -- would they automatically get a poor grade in this art class, regardless of how effective their drawing was at transferring emotion to the viewer? I don't really know.

Comments

XXXXX said…
You didn't say how old the students were. If younger than high school, the teacher probably wouldn't encourage psychologically difficult themes though probably wouldn't forbid it either. Just maybe downplay it a bit. You are probably aware that art is a powerful tool used in therapy for both children and adults. For victims of horrible violence, etc. it's easier to relate to a terrorized squirrel first before getting in touch with one's own personal terror. The toughest thing about the terrorized squirrel is that there's no real fixing it, is there? The hawk has to eat too. George
George, the art students were probably college students, who now look like junior high school students to me. Thanks for your comments, which can stand on their own, without any more commentary by me.

I don't know the answers to the questions they provoked in my mind, because it is difficult to engage with a stranger who is busy with something. It would make life more interesting to be able to do so, and I know people who are good at it. I seem to succeed at engagement only when they have a dog!