- You see a tutor every now and then. Who you might have
little to no connection with, but they are sometimes incredibly helpful and are
sometimes an important part of being at art school? Tutors don’t get given the
opportunity to do their job because they are often on a precarious contract and
don’t get paid enough to spend the amount of time that is necessary to
"mentor" a student. The whole tutor student thing is a bit weird
anyway. There should be a scheme where artists do long term residencies in
schools so they can get paid and don’t have to also rent a studio.
-The process of leaving the school is so harsh, degree shows
albeit good fun don’t function well. Its not even possible to see all the art
properly! Effectively destroying a school each year for a third of the students
doesn’t work.
-Students should leave school when they want to, some
people are done after six months, some need 5 years or more!
-Art schools are inherently racist. They are hostile to people
whose first language isn’t English. During critiques speakers whose first language
isn’t English often fear to speak and when they do there is a patronizing atmosphere
from those listening. Art schools are failing to actively dismantle racism. This is the most important
problem at art schools.
-There should be some accommodation on site available to
students. Living in my studio works well. It’s helpful if you can just wake up
and get started. I understand for some art school Isn’t their whole life, but
some might want to make it theirs.
-You are sold "fantastic" workshop facilities.
But often the experience can be frustrating. Students are often scared to use
the facilities they came there to use! Sometimes the technician is intimidating
or over worked/under paid and therefore grumpy. Workshops are often dominated
by people who devote all their time there and are accepted into a sort of ‘inner’
circle. Often there is lack of protocol for how to use them or its limited to
the constrains of what the technician wants to do. Often the facilities aren’t any
good to start with!
-Art schools produce good work. Why is the 'artworld' or art industry so
far from it? Musicians start their ‘careers’ young. Why does it take till someone’s
in their 30’s or after finishing their masters that they start getting paid for
anything? Galleries, museums, project spaces should be more connected to art
schools. Art systems move frustratingly slow.
-There should be like an Art Apprenticeship loads of
people want to make stuff but aren't allowed to because the "table saw is
too dangerous." Loads of people end up going into fabrication after anyway
and are sort of half qualified tradespeople. There should be some sort of
middle ground for this.
-By the time things get going, the term ends! Studios aren’t
open late enough and aren’t cohesive social areas. Why are arts courses
squeezed into the same time boundaries as academic studies.
-There should be kitchens. Students should be able to
make their own food and not settle for shitty meal deals. I found eating and drinking
with other students an essential part of being at art school, you should be able
to do it how you want to and cheaply.
- You get given a desk and a wall. The architecture of
the studios tends to be alienating, some people are happy to be on their own
and just paint but I knew a lot of people who wanted a more co-operative environment,
one that feels creative and not like a fucking office! I thought that students
could build their studios/move change studios as it doesn’t make sense if
someone wants to do some big installations when someone else’s desk is empty
because they're off using blender (no offense to people who work using
computers it’s just people have different needs.). It could get quite
neoliberal/hotdesky which would be shit if done wrong. But maybe just letting
students do what they want with the architecture and increasing student
communication would work.
-Schools should be more interconnected! It doesn't make
sense that you can't go use a forge (for example) that’s in a different school
5 miles away, when no one is using that forge anyway. Art schools are all run
completely differently and could learn a lot from each other.
-The option of letting you discover what you want to do,
works and doesn't. I know a lot of people freak out when they get to art school
because of the freedom, other art schools are too prescriptive and therefore
boring for the students due to a lack of creativity. I think the hope that art
students ‘find’ their way themselves is a bit lazy on the institutions part. There
should be a general structure e.g. an essential reading list. Even if the
students choose to disregard this is okay too! The institution should stand for
something, instead of being this creepy place where you don’t really know what it
wants.
-There is so much waste! Big skips at the end of the year
where everyone chucks away all the stuff, they spent hours making, or throwing
away all their equipment because their going to a different country only for
other students to buy the exact same stuff the next year.
-Why does no one talk about careers and money? Seems
quite unrealistic to me to never talk about that. Maybe you can go to a career’s
advisor in your uni but that’s not really of any help to an artist. Maybe it’s
not good to prescribe a route for artists and inevitably there will be moments
where people say that’s bullshit why would you want to sell your art. But if you’re
going to have to go get a job after art school anyway why not talk about it
instead of leaving it as an elephant in the room?
-I'd like to be on a fine arts course where practices are
more mixed. Why doesn’t a fine art course accommodate software engineers, theater people, why not even bankers? (I don’t know).
-Foundation courses seem to work quite well I recall a
lot of my friends saying they enjoyed foundation much more than their BA's.
Filled with optimism and fun, but also strange spending a lot of time making a
portfolio that you end up disregarding when you get to art school.
*I’ll keep working on this list. Please let me know if you share some of the same ideas or have other ideas of how an art school could be. Please let me know if you disagree with any of these points. Noah x*
