Re: The value of the handmade

Joe,

I was never able to get enough information to make any real judgements.

The main thing I saw was that most schools were integrating their
commercial digital into the Fine Arts program. There is a movement afoot at
our school to move the Fine Arts Photography program into the commercial
area. The Dean of Business and Technology came to the Faculty Senate to
confront me on this issue since I have taken a lead role in it. (Why a Dean
is allowed to debate faculty in a faculty senate meeting is another issue
entirely!!) Anyway, he said we should not be focusing on training people to
go to UNM (U New Mex) and get MFA's but focusing on a European craft model
and two year digital photography certifications so people can become
wedding photographers and actually earn a living.

I went to a two year college and got an AA before getting my BA. They were
called Junior Colleges then. Things have not changed much. I am not
impressed with the general trend of things. Grade glut? You betcha! It's
the attitude of the Dean that is becoming more and more prevalent. I don't
have a problem with a trade-tech college, that is a great idea but when the
areas are mixed like they are at our school, then there are conflicts like
the attitude of the dean.

Off topic probably. I suspect we should totally divorce technology from the
aesthetic issues, it's so much easier to understand that way.

--Dick

At 10:23 AM 3/16/2005, you wrote:
> >>> richsul@earthlink.net 03/16/05 10:27 AM >>>
>
> >>We teach digital photography in the Fine Art Photography Department
>and
>they teach it down the hall in New Media Arts. Both units have their own
>
>galleries For what it is worth the differences in output is stunning.
>Everyone over there is Jerry Uelsmann. Media Art's work is largely
>combinational images or images that have had lots of detail removed,
>lots
>of smoothing over, or applied filters-- in a word its Photoshopped to
>death. They teach Photoshop, we teach digital photography. I am an old
>fuddy duddy and believe that much of art comes from imposed restraints.
>The
>painter has to deal with the fact that the canvas has edges and that it
>is
>not infinite. My other complaint is that much of the work is related to
>building an image that has internal conflicts or things out of context.
>I
>once mentioned this to a friend of mine visiting, not knowing she had
>moved
>to digital work. The first print she showed me was "Fish in Outer
>Space."
>This mind you is a two year college so the we are really still down at
>the
>basics. For me I expect students to work first in a traditional way,
>learn
>to deal with the constraints of a straight image and not have the luxury
>of
>digging through a box of crummy negatives and becoming the next Jerry
>Uelsmann.<<
>
>Richard,
>
>A while back you surveyed the list on the topic of school photography
>programs and their orientation towards traditional photography and
>digital programs. I found your above description of the different
>orientations between programs at a single school interesting and
>pertinent to some political stuff I'm peripherally involved in at my
>workplace.
>
>Can you (or have you, do you plan to) share the results of your survey?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Joe
Received on Wed Mar 16 11:39:13 2005