My major required it. Then again, religious studies is a pretty useful subject when one is studying International Security.Vault boy Eddie said:
The Useless Arts?
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That last sentence made no sense at all. So, without professional artists, all drawings would be awful? Does that mean that art from societies without artists is not art?CIA said:
Yes most art is useless. Except that, like love, it's the only thing that makes life interesting and worth living. But other than that, yes, no practical financial benefit whatsoever. So why bother?
Without professional artists no one would have discovered how to draw a human form correctly, perspective wouldn't exist, and art would consist of this: http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/NGSPOD/128941~Negative-Handprint-Adorns-the-Wall-of-a-Maya-Cave-in-Belize-Posters.jpgaussiesniper said:
Better now?
Let people learn what they want, it's their choice. Bad as it may be for them.
Give humanity some credit. I don't think we need a bunch of pompous pricks to make people realise that art goes beyond a simple hand-imprint.CIA said:
People who major in the arts and humanities end up with jobs pouring coffee to try and pay off their massive student loan debt. They'd have been better off not going to college at all. Incidentally, even the academic advisor at my school laughed when I said "Core humanities for a business degree? Not sure I see the point of spending good money to hang out with Starbucks majors, but rules are rules..."
Well I'm hopefully taking an English literature degree so that I can create art with the pen, poetry and stories are really art as well, just in a different format but they both do the same thing in portraying an idea, emotion or message. I'd argue nearly every major creates some form of art, Law can help something craft an elaborate case, science can create art through chemicals and physics, everything can craft something artistic, it all depends on perspective.
Well, yes and no. People who haven't done studio arts have no idea what they're talking about. You have to put in a great deal of work to achieve what you want. Now, while on one hand, it seems useless in today's computer generated world of entertainment, it does teach much more than that. You learn the skills to be more observant, and you learn how things work better. It gives you a solid foundation in composition and creative flow.
Apply those to careers such as animation, game design, and visual effects, and you have yourself a neat little skill set on your hands. Now I agree that some arts are becoming archaic and useless, but I don't necessarily believe that they don't teach you something important. They do have a real world relevance, the trick is just seeing how to apply skill sets like those into real world situations. You'd be surprised how hard a lot of us work.
And for the record, I am a game design major with skill sets ranging from the designing and art, to the programming and the science. I will agree that a lot of people sit on their asses and don't do much, but you can't claim a whole unifying group as useless.
Apply those to careers such as animation, game design, and visual effects, and you have yourself a neat little skill set on your hands. Now I agree that some arts are becoming archaic and useless, but I don't necessarily believe that they don't teach you something important. They do have a real world relevance, the trick is just seeing how to apply skill sets like those into real world situations. You'd be surprised how hard a lot of us work.
And for the record, I am a game design major with skill sets ranging from the designing and art, to the programming and the science. I will agree that a lot of people sit on their asses and don't do much, but you can't claim a whole unifying group as useless.
Not to sound like a braggart, but I can get somewhere with art.
I don't care if I'd have to find some other work to suppliment income, I'm happy creating.
And I work my ass off for it. I mean, I'm starting to get caluses on my forearm from all the drawing I do.
Really, though, there are a lot of people who go into the arts that really shouldn't.
Still, you do have to make an effort and bear cumulative knowledge to appreciate the subtleties of art, just as you have to do so with video games. You can't competently judge a video game if you have no understanding of video games in general, right?
I don't care if I'd have to find some other work to suppliment income, I'm happy creating.
And I work my ass off for it. I mean, I'm starting to get caluses on my forearm from all the drawing I do.
Really, though, there are a lot of people who go into the arts that really shouldn't.
Still, you do have to make an effort and bear cumulative knowledge to appreciate the subtleties of art, just as you have to do so with video games. You can't competently judge a video game if you have no understanding of video games in general, right?
*insert obligatory art-student retort here*
Actually, I think I understand what you're trying to say OP, and I will admit that a lot of art majors I know want some sort of fame from their work. But in my experience, most if not all art majors do not go into studio art to just "do the least work possible". Believe it or not, art is not simply intuition and creativity; a truly educated artist creates his or her work through a great deal of conscious effort and attention, not just drawing a line here because they think it looks pretty. There are principles of aesthetics that, while many of them are within us unconsciously, can be utilized much more effectively through education, study, and practice.
I am actually first and foremost an Archaeology student, though I am a minor in studio art. Archaeologists and Art Historians alike can draw countless information about a specific culture or society just by examining their artwork. Art can tell scholars and laymen alike a lot about a society's culture, no matter what time period it was created in.
And in the end, I suppose whether or not anyone else considers art important is meaningless. A true artist is an artist for himself, and no one else.
Actually, I think I understand what you're trying to say OP, and I will admit that a lot of art majors I know want some sort of fame from their work. But in my experience, most if not all art majors do not go into studio art to just "do the least work possible". Believe it or not, art is not simply intuition and creativity; a truly educated artist creates his or her work through a great deal of conscious effort and attention, not just drawing a line here because they think it looks pretty. There are principles of aesthetics that, while many of them are within us unconsciously, can be utilized much more effectively through education, study, and practice.
I am actually first and foremost an Archaeology student, though I am a minor in studio art. Archaeologists and Art Historians alike can draw countless information about a specific culture or society just by examining their artwork. Art can tell scholars and laymen alike a lot about a society's culture, no matter what time period it was created in.
And in the end, I suppose whether or not anyone else considers art important is meaningless. A true artist is an artist for himself, and no one else.
What field do you study RAK?RAKtheUndead said:
As a historian I'll agree with you that we need more focus on the "hard" sciences. That should always be our main focus when it comes to understanding the world around us.
But I'll add that it would be quite a bad thing if we completely disregard the more "soft" sciences, like history or anthropology or whatever. They may not be able to explain the physical world, but I do think that they are a valuable tool in explaining us and our societies and ways of thinking.
I'm not sure precisely what art in the OP encompasses, but I assume it's more than just drawing and painting etc. I base that on my own title of Bachelor of Arts (from history). But I may just lack understanding of foreign educational systems.
However it may be, I think that the "soft" sciences serve their own important purposes. The fact that too many people study them does not negate the relevance of the field. In my own case I can say that way too many smarmy jerks study law (in Denmark, that is) but that has nothing to do with the usefulness of the study of law.
Oh, and your point about the internet is well made and very relevant. I have access to a large amount of academic journals on history and classics via my university and it's an invaluable tool to be able to fetch a pdf of an article from 1911 from JHS if I need it.
Gertrude Stein, specifically:Kangol said:
Art has no function. It is not necessary. It has nothing to do with what anyone wants you to do or wants it to be, nothing but you and itself. The work generates itself and ideas and progress and learning come out of doing the work in a particular way. Creative art is a learning process for the artist and not a description of what is already known. An audience is always warming but it must never be necessary to your work. The work needs concentration and one is often exhausted by it. It takes so much effort just to begin and although going on is mostly a pleasure it is also a great effort. The only thing for a creative artist to do is to do his chosen work. But really there is no choice. Nobody chooses. The only thing left for a creative artist to do is to do his chosen work in spite of everything and regardless of anything because when living draws to its end there are no excuses he can make to himself or to anyone else for not having done it. Either he did do it or he did not do it and very often he did not. Alas very often he did not.
I can't really concentrate for long enough to give my opinions on art right now, so suffice to say that I've been a fairly regular visitor to the Tate Modern for the past few years. It's an interesting day out.
For people who say arts degrees are easy, it depends on what kind and where you get it. Music degrees are hell, with minimum 4 hours practice a day on top of regular homework, if you go to a conservatory it'd probably be equivalent to a double major.
I think the arts are a noble and perfectly fine career choice. That said, I never do anything without a backup plan. I'll get another degree\skill to make sure I always have work until I find a job where I'd want to stay.
I think the arts are a noble and perfectly fine career choice. That said, I never do anything without a backup plan. I'll get another degree\skill to make sure I always have work until I find a job where I'd want to stay.