Lecture Notes - Spencer Roberts - (26/10/15)

GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY

James Elkins & Types of knowing -

James Elkins an art critic but used to be a painter. Can art and design be taught? - Irrational activity, absurd way of working, it's aim is it pushes against the ideals of the way a university works. He's talks about artistic research. Early voice trying to talk about this topic sometimes in a very critical way. One sense he's celebrating art, but on the other hand he's saying what's that got to do with what you do at a University. He's driving his approach. He thinks that art and painting are irrational practices. The critical situation can be looked at as a therapy session - tutor opinions can be emotionally charged - tutors have to say something about the work. He looks at how Art schools work. When people think about education they have ignored about this emotional charge people engage in. Life drawing classes - it's repressed situation, culture otherness and sexual otherness are thrown into the mix of the life drawing class, but everyone pretends that it's not there, under tones of sexual and racial differences, obliviousness of the audience is crazy - the idea that within the studio there are depts of levels of understanding - quasi-noumeral, played out in the studio frame work, studio is a place where all these things can flourish, very different compared to the traditional academic setting. He's criticising the fit of artistic ways in a studio but he also celebrates the artistic knowing. "Everything is possible" (painting). Elkins states that "Science has closed off almost every unsystematic encounter with the world. Alchemy and painting are two of the last remaining paths into the deliriously beautiful world of unnamed substances". If the practice of art can't be straight forwardly be taught, what can? He talks about how the idea can be taught but only few students come out being outstanding, major artists don't normally merge out of the institution setting but on the other hand Art can teach students a certain amount up until they start making great art work.

He says there's:
Three ways students can take in information from tutor -

1: be quiet let them say what they are thinking, can let the tutors thoughts flow and get their opinion.
2: argue back, state your point, but this makes the tutors job hard, emotionally charged situation.
3: Positive mediation, take everything on board positively, take it lightly, don't get to precious about their opinions.

Books by Elkins: Artist with PHD's  

                              Why Art cannot be taught - he talks about real life situations. Tries to show us how the style of education, is highly irrational and he thinks its a strange kind of support we get as students, he's celebrating this. 

Bauhaus - Design emphasis. Visual acuity. Experimental studio, open a gender, became industrialised and generalised experience. Universal human nature, we all inflect it and populate it in different ways. Complicated, lots of work going on, close attention to experience. Teach people to see - getting away from generalities. Playful interaction. Different strands of thinking, tension between individual and there way of working. Cross over between bauhaus and design and black mountain college in art. 

Black mountain college - Art emphasis. American experimental modernism. 

Late 1700's-1850's - Romanticism 

1991 - Higher education act was passed by government - was all pulled together to create larger institutions, all became universities. Narrow a gender of knowledge. Artistic thinking and fabrication, introduced a whole new way of thinking about knowledge. Generates a multiple plural culture, and different perspectives. Practise based/lead/artistic research, centred on the things emerging from very hand based working practice.

Impact on contemporary design schools - Reject categories, art should be living and not something dissected - we still value free/loose investigating of meaning - Individuality is encouraged. 

Sophists - how to get along in the art world. 

This idea of non-verbal knowledge has become really important of trying to understand the martial way of learning in art and design. John Dewey, Gilbert Ryle are people that reference this. 

Overall from this lecture I have learnt all about James Elkins and the way in which he thinks about Institutions/Universities, and the debates of if you can be taught Art and Design. I have found out about different books he wrote, and these are books that I could use as references if researching about this practice. It shows me about how his opinion of tutors and the way in which they critique students work can be emotionally charged. It demonstrates his opinions and ways of thinking. I found this useful as it shows me about the history of design and how things have changed, also how individuals have had an impact on the design industry. This will help me as a graphic designer to understand what is successful and about different individuals that can influence my way of thinking.