Forgive the break in Milieu work for the last 2 months, holidays and finals took a toll on time. As I was working away on finals, I began to think about why I am doing all of this again?
I have to admit that I really didn’t know why I was doing this when I first came to college— that includes my time in high school for the most part. All I really had as something to work with as a given was that I wanted to do “art."
How Parsons fits into this aspiration I think even now is still being worked out. That is a tad concerning now that I’m 3 years into the program I have to admit. But to be fair this is just as much as my fault as is it Parsons.
After a few classes you realize that “art” is not for the faint of heart, not for the obvious reasons of expense of supplies, or time consuming effort, but because you come to realize that this thing called “art” is very murky, unclassified and confusing. And while a classroom and teacher may try to present what goes on in a classroom as otherwise, by presenting a syllabus, assuagement objective sheets, deadline timetables and the all mighty grade none of these elements help to take away for the very messy business of taste, opinion and politics that make “art” what it is.
Now if the implied agreement with Parsons and its’ students is to prepare students for the work environment once they graduate, then Parsons is doing a ok job at it. On faux-objective intentions, the designer (the student) has to align his goal of creating “art” with the tastes and opinion of the client ( the teacher). Now for most people this is fine (Design annuals are never empty of entries), but anyone who’s been in this environment knows that this process can be very very far from easy and fun— all it takes is the teacher (client) to disagree with the intentions of the designer (student) and the whole thing goes under. A lot of head bashing, stress and anxiety.
If your noticing I’m always saying art with quotations for a reason. I’m not sure how many have heard of this saying that morality and aesthetics have something in common, but I think I’ve realized there connection recently that relates with this topic.
Just as if something is good or bad in a moralistic sense because it is compared to an external element that is beyond day to day existence (God, deity, etc.) the same is true for art. It may or may not be God or a deity, but I’ve sense this im myself and in other designer and artist the conviction that excellence is a uncommon and rare thing beyond them, but is still something all one’s work should be compared to and aspire to.
This really manners because just as one cannot rationally argue by something is good or bad by using God, one cannot rationally argue why a work of design or art is good or bad by using “excellence in art.” In the vacuum that occurs as a result in dealings with art and design, taste and opinion come into play and this most often has very painful effects, both in the classroom and in the office.
Forgive the ranting, but it seems that with some shifting in education away from taste politics and “art” and more towards things that can be objectively compared and measured could lead to happier designers, teachers and eventually clients.
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