heidiiiii Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 Well I have some bad news but there is also some good news... Chelsea came home with me on Sunday from the art program. It wasnt what we expected. The only reason she wanted to come home was because she felt like a fish out of water. They didnt teach the students. It wasnt tutorial and they didnt teach any fundamentals. Basically out of the 25 kids in her visual arts class, there were 3 (chels included) who had no idea what to do. They gave them assignments and then just left them to figure it out. Like she has NEVER used charcoal. But she was expected to draw a large grid by grid charcoal rendering of her own picture and had to finish in a week. Everyone was basically done and she hadnt gotten 3 grids done. She was overwhelmed. She felt she wasnt an artist. I took her home. BUT she made friends! She found that there were people out there that could care about her and she cared back. She went to dances ( :lol: I was shocked), she went to improv coffeehouses, she walked long distances!! :lol: :lol: :lol: We are very proud of her. She can make it in the world! The other thing that really peeved me.. the vegetarian diet they provided. Not one piece of protein subs. AT ALL. All the vegans and veg. were listless and gorging on junk food to supplement!! But there is good news... She was accepted and is starting a 4 week fundmental art course at Lyme art academy next week. Van picks up and drops off. Very prestigious school in our area. She will take drawing in morning and painting in the afternoon. That is what I thought this other program was going to provide! She is also going to find out about learning to be a docent at local museum! She didnt want to be a failure. But I didnt want her to feel so inadequate in her talent and totally give up on her craft forever cause she was put into something that required great fundamental skills! She should have never been recommended or accepted. But she knows from that first week that she can deal with not so nice roomates, make great friends and live away from home! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nameless1 Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 Y'know, I'm very impressed with Chelsea for figuring out that the summer program wasn't what she needed, making the best of what she could get out of it, and looking ahead to something more appropriate. That's a grown-up attitude. You have to figure she must interview well, too, if she got into a program that she wasn't ready for. That's not a trivial skill -- lots of people can't get where their skills merit because they don't interview well enough to sell themselves. When she has the skills, she'll be able to get the opportunities to match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 I'm overwhelmed by the insolence of the teachers who recommended her for the first art program, first that they hadn't taught her basic fundamentals and then to throw her into a situation where her lack of education, NOT her lack of talent, put her in such an awkward position! She's so talented naturally that learning fundamentals won't do anything but give her the tools to refine that talent. She showed a lot of poise to tough out as much as she did, and you have good reason to be proud of Chelsea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heidiiiii Posted July 4, 2006 Author Share Posted July 4, 2006 Funny thing about the local art college. They had an ad in paper Sunday. I emailed on Monday morning to ask if they still had scholarships. The girl called me 5 minutes later! Told me to fax the paperwork over. Now the application says it takes 2 weeks to find out if you can get the money. She emailed back in 10 mins after fax to say she got in, will send supply list on Wed. and have a great holiday! Aint that a kick in the pants!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilovecats Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 Wow, bummer on the first art school, but great news on the second! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heidiiiii Posted July 4, 2006 Author Share Posted July 4, 2006 Well all my vacation is over... My mil called and told me Nat is extremely homesick. She has been having lots of fun over these past 2 weeks. She got her hair relaxed, tips put on her nails, all the girls went thru their clothes and did a fashion show and piled her on, swimming at the beach, fishing with Pop, lots of kisses. But they have caught her crying in private on more than one occasion. They finally realized that she is only 12 and never been away from home and it is time to take her back to Mom. We have something this weekend called Sailfest (fireworks, vendors, lots of of fun) that is an annual event in my city. My bil is coming down anyway for the festivities so she will be home on Saturday! She doesnt know Chelsea is home! She is going to be very very happy. I had a week of solace. I enjoyed it. I learned something. I do miss my girls but I can survive on my own. I know it was only a week but I had a lot of soul searching. I kept myself busy. I wasnt over-tired. I havent chewed my fingernails!!!! Going to have tips put on next week (short ones, dont want to interfere in mini making). When I am finally childless at home for real, I know I can go out and do something to keep myself occupied. And I actually saved money while they were gone!!! So when they are gone...I will actually be able to save! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hydroped Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Funny thing about the local art college. They had an ad in paper Sunday. I emailed on Monday morning to ask if they still had scholarships. The girl called me 5 minutes later! Told me to fax the paperwork over. Now the application says it takes 2 weeks to find out if you can get the money. She emailed back in 10 mins after fax to say she got in, will send supply list on Wed. and have a great holiday! Aint that a kick in the pants!! :lol: Hey Hiedi - I knew something good would come out of this even if she didn't feel comfortable in that art school. And let her know she is definitely NOT a looser. I always felt that I had No artistic ability and then I took art at the community college and I found out 2 things - 1. Anyone can learn how to draw/paint etc by learning techniques, and beyond that you can teach a person composition, complimentary colors etc... and 2. there are folks who are born with a gift - and even if they never take class one - you can't take that artistic gift away. For them learning the "fundamentals" as they're called can only help but they should be (I think) reminded of one thing - they ARE artists - lack of classes doesn't make them any less of an artist - they're born with a need to express themselves visually and the ability to convey their emotions through their art - classes are great and would only help by teaching techniques etc but Chel's style - her voice- is in Her and she shouldn't let anyone else tell her that her voice isn't valid. Learn other styles and techniques but dont' be afraid to experiment or show your work and one other thing - the "rules" of art are more like guidelines There's more to art than meets most teacher's eyes. <hug> -David :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heidiiiii Posted July 6, 2006 Author Share Posted July 6, 2006 Amen David! clap clap clap There was a very tense moment yesterday. The school she left nicely threatened that if she didnt come back asap, WE would have to pay back the scholarship. I talked to our BoE and they said they dont know what to say cause they never had this happen. So I used MY artistic ability and wrote a very heartfelt letter to the art school, which I emailed, copied and mailed to the art school. Then i wrote another letter to BoE including the letter that i wrote. Well I got an email from the art school. They agreed with me!!!!!! I told them I didnt want to ruin her concept of her art and question her abilities when she was in a class that was way above her. Lots of other stuff but I think we dodged a bullet! Phew! Got the list from the other school. LONG LIST OF SUPPLIES! Luckily AC Moore has Strathmore pads 40% off this week. She is going to be delving into oils.. she is so psyched! I believe that your art is your art. If your work looks like a photograph or not. Eclectic or not.. Warhol or not.. It is art! She just wants to learn how you shade, how to do a perspective, how to mix mediums, etc etc. I can see my wallet getting thinner and thinner! But I dont care! If this is what she is passionate about then I will do whatever I can do short of streetwalking to get the finances to make sure she is happy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nameless1 Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Phew! What a bullet you dodged with the scholarship thing! I'm totally with Chelsea on wanting to learn the fundamentals. They're like English grammar and punctuation. A writer can always decide that art requires breaking some of the rules -- or, like James Joyce, most of the rules -- but you're at a real disadvantage if you never ever KNOW the rules. Some people's talent and vision is so great -- and so accurately hits the pulse of the times -- that never knowing fundamentals doesn't matter for them. But that's so rare, and if she's hoping to make a living at art, knowing the fundamentals should serve her well. It can't possibly hurt her, anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anya Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 Your daughter shouldn't worry too much about art school and grid drawing is basically painting by numbers. I thought that being an art school they would start your daughter on a much more beneficial starting point than that, she definitely has alot of potential more than this grid drawing stuff. I hate the way they give deadlines for the work expected. If you want to make great peice art you cannot be given a deadline to do it in unless quality doesn't count. I think that they should let students take their time with drawings and let them present it at the end of the year. Art it is not like maths or English and pressure and art don't mix. Just because she has not done her charcoal drawing does not mean she is less of an artist in fact I think it is because she might be a little disappointed with the school. I thought they would have at least started with explaining the uses of charcoal and how it can be used. Personally I hate charcoal and find that it's only good for mini fire effects so you can tell her that from me hehe. Does she really feel like doing this drawing? If someone asks me to make a cat for them and I am in one of my dog modes I just cannot make a cat because I really want to make a dog if you know what I mean. I am not a fan of art schools because of this reason and they are not run by true artists. Artists channel their energy from somewhere and when they do it without pressure they usually come out with some pretty good stuff. Art schools should let the students decide on what they want to paint/sculpt if they want to get the best out of their students. What exactly does your daughter want to do in the artistc field anyway because believe it or not you can wake up one morning and realise it's been 2 years since you started at an art school and you haven't learnt anything you wanted to and that happened to me alot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 My favorite art classes taught the fundamentals, so a lot of our work was exercises, what art historians refer to as "studies". It's actually good practice to learn different media you haven't worked in before, to play with the techniques and see what you can do with them. Grid drawing is a useful tool, just like sharpening a pencil by hand to get different shapes to the lead, or mixing pigments. Deadlines? Only insofar as the allotted class time... I never got to attend an art school per se, so what little formal training I was able to get was through the great good fortune of whatever school I was attending having decent professors who were also artists. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heidiiiii Posted July 9, 2006 Author Share Posted July 9, 2006 That is how Chels feels Anya!! You hit the nail right on the head! She doesnt want to do something if she is not in the mood for that particular thing. But she knows that she needs to learn how to do certain things. She has been drawing hands lately. The school she is going to now will have life studies (i had to sign a waiver..LOL) She wants to paint but has never worked with oils..ever. So she can get out of the classes what she needs. Plus she is going to be taking AP art portfolio this fall for senior year and you have to have taken a outside art course during the summer. She has to work on her portfolio. I think she ultimately wants to do art for arts sake. But she is also leaning toward graphic design as a major. My brother and father were self taught and they loved what they did. I told her I want to give her every opportunity to get the learning processes in. She can do any art she wants. It is as individual as a fingerprint. But if one day she wants to work with watercolors, she will know how to do watercolors and not get frustrated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 she is also leaning toward graphic design as a major. She will definitely need ALL the basics, and probably a lot of CAD, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heidiiiii Posted July 11, 2006 Author Share Posted July 11, 2006 Well first day was good. She didnt witch so that is a good thing. She learned how to hold the pencil when you are using an easel. She said her hand and arm hurt. But see, she already learned something new. They told them to draw focusing on the whole page and not one section. She was able to do that. I think I am going to sign Nat up for this next summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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