The Purpose of An Art Education

An art education for me is to reveal connections, the invisible threads that connect art and art makers in the past, now, and the future to come.

The advantage of an art education in school is to have those who experienced, who make, who reflect deeply as guides as one ventures into the seemingly complex art world.

I like the Beauty of Everyday Things written by Soetsu Yanagi, who talked about the difference between a craftsman and an artist. A craftsman often creates under an unconscious mind; it’s through making that a craftsman finds purpose and livelihood; an artist conceptualise and contextualise. The two, if combined gives the richness of seeing and knowing.

For me this is the reason for an art education. I think there is nothing wrong to just focus on making, it’s a matter of a maker’s choice. Would he/she rather just make, or make knowing how he/she would like his/her work to be placed in the world?

The centre of making often comes from within, from somewhere one is not necessarily aware until later in life. No one creates great arts from pure altruistic reasons in my view. The wanting, the anxiety all have to come in as urgently as drawing a circle, one can not rest in peace until the circule is being formed and on the path of becoming complete.

So an art education, be it self taught or taken from the education system is to marrow the wanting into the path of art history. So that when you make, you unconsciously or consciously think of others, uses others before you, and beside you as a frame or reference.

In some sense, you become a continuation of an onward journey. It often matters little how much your part is, as making art for the majority is a self centred act. You make to examine your life, your thinking, and through that examination, you return to yourself, return to a place called home.