When I returned to creating artwork after my retirement I
seriously thought about studying for a degree in fine art. Geographical
constraints limited my options to considering only a few art schools; however, I was
discouraged from pursuing the idea when I discovered that very little about drawing
was mentioned within the prospectuses I examined. Last week I spent some time on the
island of Anglesea (Ynys Mon) in North Wales and I found surprising confirmation in
support of my impression that there must be a dearth of drawing tuition throughout
art education in the UK.
Anglesea is fortunate in having an excellent art gallery in Llangefni - Oriel* Ynys Mon - which has been enhanced in recent times by the addition of Oriel Kyffin Williams (a tribute to the late Sir Kyffin Williams, one of my artist ‘heroes’). My visit coincided with the Kyffin Williams Drawing Prize Exhibition (a UK national competition) and the small number of works by students among the finalists bemused me. One of the gallery staff indicated that many of the student entries simply did not come up to the standard for inclusion in the exhibition and that the reason may be that traditional art skills are played down in many art schools. Later I looked up the comments of the judges on the gallery website and they contained the following statements:
“The fact that only a handful
of Student entries were considered worthy of inclusion in the Exhibition
reflects what is happening in art schools and testifies to our concern. They
were interesting works, but they lacked authority, lacked imagination. The
judges unanimously agreed not to award the Student Prize”.
In contrast the large number of entries for the Open Prize
demonstrated...
“… a distinctive range of
artists who construct powerful visual languages of their own. There were some
examples of ‘obsessive’ observation of the highest order, a few examples of
accomplished artists seizing momentary impressions in modestly sized images
associated with the drawing book, and some major pieces which were complex and
large in scale”.
I can’t help thinking that while there is a place for conceptual, installation, video, digital and other art forms, many art schools today may have ‘thrown out the baby with the bath water’ in treating traditional work as a craft and thus devaluing the importance of acquiring good draftsmanship skills.
Footnote:
* Oriel is the Welsh word for gallery.