Before going to Memphis State University to study art education, I have never made art or even thought about art. My aunt, Virginia Ross was a painter and a designer for Holiday Inns back in the day. She had attended Memphis college of art, but I had not thought much about this. My mother and father were creative, yet, never intentionally so. Both could write, design and enjoyed artful things and places, but, neither made anything that lasted. I was creative, too. I even had a little craft business in 1986 installed in the spare bedroom, called Pips. Sadly, this effort was totally unsuccessful, mainly because it was silly.
Seven years later, as life moved along I worked in the PTA at Richland Elementary School as the Chairman of Art Education. (In those days in Tennessee it was not required for elementary schools to have art teachers.) I came by the position completely by accident, otherwise known as, appointment by other PTA board members. While serving the PTA, I met the Instructional Advisor for the Arts of the Memphis City Schools, Julia Russell. Julia had just survived a heart-breaking divorce, which inspired her to encourage me to stop waiting tables at Dumplins’ and get a real job by going back to school for formal art education. She informed me of a new governmental project to install art teachers in every classroom. The universities had begun a grant/loan program by which they paid you to go back to college if you taught in an impoverished area of the city.
So, that is exactly what I did. Now, it was actually a WE that made the decision, mainly due to the financial aspects. Mike, moved back into the house and committed to paying for school as much as he could. Then his parents kicked in to help before I was able to push through the scholarship/grant.
My first experiences in the university studios was tragic. I had never drawn or thought about what it takes to draw! Professor White said I drew like a monkey. One day he told me I had the skill of a fainting goat of Collierville. I cried in the bathroom every day for the first two months. The next semester was a little better because I began painting. Color was easier.
Even so, in my entire education in art the philosophy of art, aesthetics, were spoken of from a myopic worldly perspective that originated in modernism. After my six years of training I began teaching high school art at Briarcrest Christian School. Thank God for then principal, Steve Collums. He introduced me to the book, How Shall We Then Live, by Francis Schaeffer. Within the book there is an essay called, Art & the Bible. Though I now disagree with the philosophy of the article, I highly recommend it for Christian or Western thought about art, particularly visual art.
How did I come to disagree with the idea of “redemption of the arts?” This path of thinking came through 13 years of teaching and consideration with my students. The idea of the subjectivity, “everyone chooses what is art for them,” of art irritated the snot out of me. Teaching art seemed so wishy washy! I remembered back to Greely Myatt, a professor and local sculptor asking me, “How are you going to teach Art? Can you really do that?” My answer then was all about creative processes, choice-making, skill building, etc. Now, my answer would be “NO! Greely, it is complete arrogance to say you can teach art!” Now, I believe that I teach a visual language and how to use it.
These images above are some of my works. I discovered I can teach making work; paintings, drawings, photos, videos, designs… and on and on. But, Art is declared. Art is chosen. Art is determined by those who choose things to be art for a given culture or community.
The conversation went like this:
Trey: “Mrs. Fergus, I am the one who decides what is art and that is not it.”
Me: “No, Trey. You are not an authority. You are not educated enough or worldly wise enough to choose whether this work is Art.”
Trey: “Then who decides, if not each individual viewer? The artist?”
Me: “No, the artist does not decide what is art either! If the artist decides, then every piece of crap I make would be art. I assure you! But, you have given me food for thought, much thinking…”
What I began to realize was that art emphasizes our individuality. It underscores our pride. “I DECIDE WHAT IS ART FOR ME!!!!” On one side you have people who have no love for truth, beauty and goodness who demand that everything that is made is ART. On the other side, you have those folks who demand that art MUST have representation of the real or of God or of truth, beauty and goodness to be ART. Both of these stances are adamant that their perspective is absolute. After prolonged consideration this is the definition my classes of students and I came up with:
Art is any object, thing or arrangement of things that is made with intent, design, skill and or expression that is then defined and declared to be art by those who set the standard of art for a given culture or community.
This clear definition moved my students to a place of respect for the art I showed them that was mysterious, or confusing. Defining art in this way allowed for a deeper more personal conversation about the works of contemporary makers. Here are some questions that came up as a result of no longer needing to define art:
Does this art connect with the viewer? Does this art connect with me?
Is there an idea of transformation here? Does the work make me consider God? His ways? Redemption? My need for a savior? Is the work beautiful? What is beautiful to me? Is there a story in this piece of art? Do I care about the art? What kind of judgment can I make about the art? Do I hate it? Why do I hate it so much?
Pride demands that art is about us/me. Visual Art is so much bigger than that. Art is the most substantial way human beings converse, communicate and tell of the Gospel. Whether they mean to or not, artists whose works are embraced to be just that, Art, illustrate about the Gospel.
Mind over things that matter 