Tricia Wang’s Neighborhood

the early mornings are here... since Fiesta/JOB is consuming my time most evenings I am starting to run in the mornings... and despite the painful agony of waking up at 5:45-6am, once I am out running with the nice morning,  breeze it is worth it. Yesterday morning I had a great run at 6:30- ran 4.5 miles. Was sore for work but it felt great! I was actually mostly conscious and functioning by the time I walked into the office. This morning I met up with a running buddy who lives down University, we ran in each others direction til we ran into each other- and then ran 5.5 miles-- up some hills and around Balboa Park, it was AWESOME :)

now its 9:30 am I am at work and I want an ice pack for my feet and a nap.

Half Marathon, I am going to own you! :)

-"You know, she was one of those arts fartsy types so she let him draw a picture in her class to express his feelings, or whatever." UCSD Professor
-"Oh you are an artist? Well good for you!" - Lots of people
"When are you going to get a real job? You should be an engineer like your Dad. Or a Doctor. Or a Lawyer." - Lots of people
-"OK, you all got to have fun all morning! You got to paint and dance. Now it is time to do some thinking. We are going to do Math!" - Elementary School Teacher speaking to her students.
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*Warning: Generalizations about artists abound in this post. Also, I am referring to artists in general but my perspective is that of an actor and dancer so most of my experiences have been with people in this branch of the arts.

For a number of months now, I have been trying to figure out why the arts are considered a frivolous filler in educational settings, and why Artists are not generally taken seriously. I firmly believe that if we want to change anything we need to be honest with ourselves about its' condition. Apart from the fact that the arts are generally not appreciated in society and therefore not appreciated in schools (because any small organization is usually just a microcosm of the larger organization it is housed in), I want to look at the role of the artist in this whole big picture and how s/he furthers this notion. Here are my list of reasons so far:

1) It is often difficult for artists to explain their work which makes people think that they might not really know what they are talking about.

1a) There is a lot of intuition involved in art making and intuition is difficult if not impossible to explain.

For a number of reasons many artists have a difficult time explaining their work. Half of this can be attributed to the fact that it just isn't possible to verbalize every aspect of ones art work. There is a quote by someone (whose name is escaping me right now) that says "If I could write it, I wouldn't have to dance it." or something along those lines... Every medium communicates with the audience on a level and in a way that only that medium can. Words can't say the same thing that movement can. A line on a canvas can't convey the same meaning as a musical note. Any combination of these mediums creates yet another.

1b) Artists are not asked about their work frequently enough.

Verbalizing ones reasoning behind such a complex task as art making requires practice. In my experience not many people ask artist to do this. Even in classroom settings, artists are never grilled about their work because teachers and students are too afraid to ask. They don't want to put anyone on the spot for fear of damaging their delicate self esteem. Or they don’t understand the art work themselves and so won't know how to respond to the response. It is also impossible to grade an explanation so why bother right?

1c) The arts are a refuge for people that might have trouble expressing themselves in more analytical ways.

Many people turn to the arts as a last resort of expression. Feeling abandoned by other disciplines, they see the arts as the one subject area in which they can communicate with other people effectively. Because some artists might not have done so well in a traditional academic setting they probably have not been asked to explain their reasoning on a regular basis and so don't feel comfortable doing so.

2) Many artists are flakey.

Yes. It's true. Why might this be? Let's break it down. Because introspection and reflection are integral parts of the art making process, artist are often self absorbed (I am not saying this in a judgmental way, just a matter of fact way - I consider myself to be fairly self absorbed). Being self absorbed often leads to being late, unreliable, and generally thinking that the world revolves around you - hence the flakiness. Also the nature of an art maker tends to be whimsical, spontaneous, and rebellious, all qualities that can lead to an artist having trouble staying committed and being on time.

3) Many (but certainly not all) of the artists that are present in educational settings are there because it is almost impossible to make a living as an artist.

For many teaching artists teaching is choice #2. Because it is very difficult to make a living in this line of work, many turn to teaching jobs in the arts or teaching in general, thinking that it is at least a job with some kind of human interaction and one that will fulfill their desire to be up in front of people, on a stage. Considering that these artists probably took a lot of art  related classes and were educated by other 'It was impossible for me to make a living as an artist so I became a teacher' teachers, the example that has been set for them is that of a teacher for whom teaching is not the first priority. The cycle perpetuates itself.

4) The tough competition in the world of professional art requires artists to have very flexible schedules which they can't have with teaching so they just might ditch work sometimes for a gig or opportunity.

Because the professional world of the arts is EXTREMELY competitive, artist have to be ready to audition, submit their work, or meet with someone (agent, director, gallery owner) at a moments notice. Because this is really their number one passion, they are willing to let their day job take a back seat for an opportunity.

5) Artists have been able to get away with a lot of b.s. because they are artists (people excuse it because "they are just so artistic" or "one of those creative types" or have clout). This again perpetuates the cycle.....

This is as far as I have gotten.

I realize that this is probably offensive to many hard working responsible artists. By no means am I implying that there are not thousands of hard working dedicated teacher/artists that do not fit this bill. I realize I am making incredibly generalizations, that might very well be limited to my personal experience.... but I also think the stereotype exists for a reasons and is rooted in some kind of truth. And really, though I sound very judgmental, I am actually not in the big scheme of things. I just want to look at the situation and try to figure out why it is the way it is.

Oh! Devils Advocate. I obviously think the arts are important because they are important to ME. One can also make the argument that perhaps the arts (in an educational setting at least) aren't really necessary in the grander scheme of things. If we look at it in a Darwinian way, perhaps they just aren't strong enough to make a case for themselves. Maybe society will go on and be just fine as long as it has a few artists on the fringes that will (schooling or not) create their work because they can't not create it. And maybe that is all society needs. What's necessary will surface and all the rest falls and fades away. Interesting things to think about. How do you quantify the importance of the arts? Can you quantify it? Is this precisely the reason why no one wants to make a case for it besides a few passionate artists?

From The Madman, His Parables and Poems by Khalil Gibran

Defeat, my Defeat, my solitude and my aloofness;
You are dearer to me than a thousand triumphs,
And sweeter to my heart than all worldglory.
Defeat, my Defeat, my self-knowledge and my defiance,
Through you I know that I am yet young and swift of foot
And not to be trapped by withering laurels.
And in you I have found aloneness
And the joy of being shunned and scorned.
Defeat, my Defeat, my shining sword and shield,
In your eyes I have read
That to be enthroned is to be enslaved,
And to be understood is to be levelled down,
And to be grasped is but to reach one's fullness
And like a ripe fruit to fall and be consumed.
Defeat, my Defeat, my bold companion,
You shall hear my songs and my cries and my silences,
And none but you shall speak to me of the beating of wings,
And urging of seas,
And of mountains that burn in the night,
And you alone shall climb my steep and rocky soul.
Defeat, my Defeat, my deathless courage,
You and I shall laugh together with the storm,
And together we shall dig graves for all that die in us,
And we shall stand in the sun with a will,
And we shall be dangerous.

Picture 1

I'm known as a student of computer games. But I cannot bring myself to play those games. And I begin to think of it as an advantage. Some scholars study the same phenomenon as me--gamers paying real money to get in-game virtual wealth. But their questions are generally on the track of: Is this form of cheating detrimental to the game?