I guess there was a little bit of misunderstanding on my part of the
titling of the subject, i had sent another email with the same
content but different subject/title, titled masters in motion trying
to rectify the mistake but i did not see it posted, I might have
missed it. either way thanks for the responses and opinions. My
Bother with the presentation is, when it comes down to it, it is not
the fact that students will emulate or copy the work or the style or
the technique, but the fact that the teacher is presenting the class
with the names of these artists that have nothing to do with the
course, and their names are being used as advertisement for the
class. sort of sensationalism ?as some of you mentioned, If one were
presenting/teaching this class one would have just named the
techniques and styles by their actual names, Example: as riveting or
chasing or fusion or fabrication with mixed media, etc, with further
definition if needed, but they chose to use the names of well known
artist to advertise the class. which for me is the same as stealing
the intellectual property of the individual artists, dead or alive.
if I were to teach a painting class on cubism or pointillism or
impressionism etc. I would present it as that with out the use of the
artists names who used or made these techniques famous, unless I was
teaching the history of, Picasso or Renoir, or Dali, etc. I
understand the need to fill classes, and in these hard trying times
it has become a challenge, but there has got to be some self imposed
boundaries ? presenting it or advertising it in that fashion was /is
inappropriate. even if the class got canceled it does not make my
question/point moot, as Michele had mentioned. My Personal bother is
also that there are people out there posing as teachers and filling
their classes, semester after semester, with out really having the
experience or the knowledge to be taking on such classes. I am aware
of the difficulty for institutions on keeping higher standards in
adult education programs or museum programs, But our field is hurting
because of a lot of misor lack of being
taught by people without any real education credentials or equivalent
there of and posing as such.
and in the mean time I have watched good if not great teachers loose
their positions because of class cancellations. I have nothing
against emulating a teacher or an artist/masters style or type of
thought, living or dead, after all we all went through that in
college, or poly tech education, in actuality these are necessary
tools for students to practice and learn on. taking on a master
piece, studying it and trying to practice the techniques set forth
in the piece as examples. but i believe it would take a fairly
dedicated artist and teacher to keep these lines crystal clear, to
the effect of I had one teacher who refused to show his work to his
students, and when I questioned him about that his response was,
“Did not want to infect or influence the pure creative thought of a
student”. he was okay showing it after graduation though. I
personally have been doing this when i teach. it is harder since
most students want to see their teachers work, so I take example
from that one teacher and expose my personal work after the course
has ended. as to dead or alive, in this case I would have found it
responsible to get in touch with every artist/master that i would
mention in my class AD to see if it was okay to mention them or
their technique or style to my classes. which seems that they had
not done so.
Remember, in Fashion, and Jewelry is a part of fashion, there will
always be those who create in another'sstyle. It's often the way
of beginners to imitate, until they find their own passion and
way. In any event, why does it worry you so much what someone
else is doing?
well Michele you are entitled to your opinions, I would hope that my
writtings are well thought out and important enough that I am not
wasting any ones time let alone mine.
Thanks to all for listening and reading
Hratch Babikian
