One more about art schools

I am going to post the Commencement Address from a local art college. This is taken word for word, without editing or any changes by me. Straight off the college news letter. Enjoy:

"I thought that I would come to the _____________ and learn what art is.

I thought that, by now, I would know what made art good, and I expected my teachers would tell me how to make it.

I thought that I would be sure of what I wanted to make.

I thought that I would have all the skills I needed.

I thought that I would learn how to make art that everyone would like and want to buy.

I thought that I would confidently call myself An Artist.

I did not get what I came here fro. Instead of confidence and certainty I have questions and doubts. Of course, I blame my teachers for this. They never told me exactly what art is. They always asked questions. They asked questions about who artist are, where art should be, and who it is for, anyway. Sometimes they revealed that they are uncertain about their own work. They never showed me how to do something exactly, but always suggested that there are many ways to do things…. And that it would be better to figure it out for myself. And they never revealed the absolute litmus test for proving what is and what isn’t art. They showed the artist not as a finished product but as a work-in-progress.

Whatever is received is due it gratitude, even when it is not what was asked for. Parents, friends, family…administrators and staff- I want to thank you all for helping us on this project. Gratitude affirms that we need each other. Giving and receiving links us in a mutual interdependence. Like breathing, what we take in we must give back in order to take in again. There is also a wider family in the community to thank for giving their unsolicited blessings and gifts of arbitrary generosity. I recall the clerk at Kinko’s who just let the bill slide when the copy counter didn’t work, the BBC Overnight World Service for stimulating conversations at 3 a.m., the baker who gave away free slice of foccacia, the sheet metal man who couldn’t bear seeing me dig for change. Thanks to the sales clerk at Norton’s who gave me a cheese Danish along with a verse of his favorite song (and I thought that I didn’t have the time).

But I mostly want to say thank you to the teachers for giving what I didn’t know how to ask for:

For hesitation instead of assurance…thanks

For more questions than answers….thanks

For turning things upside down and shaking them out….

For showing the many ways an artist can be…thank you ……All of you …..All. "

I was going to write something about the above, but I think I will just let it speak for itself.