Should public art galleries demand academic credentials before they show your work?
Jock Hildebrand
International Sculptor, President Cowichan Public Art Gallery and senior editor and founder at SculpturesPacific Magazine
Academic inflation.
Should public art galleries demand academic credentials before they show your work?
This is an important question for the art world. I put this question out recently and I received some very strong reactions from many artists
There have been rumours that many public art galleries do indeed ask for this accreditation before they allow exhibition by artists. I have contacted a few public galleries in major cities and asked if this is the case with their particular gallery. Most said no, but when asked how may “unaccredited ’artists they had shown in the recent past, gallery directors could remember very few if any at all who did not have accreditation .
According to a few of my readers this has become a real problem for artists in Europe as well as North America. One reader said that he found it endemic and therefore a real problem for those not accredited
All major public art galleries use professional staff curators who have academic credentials. This is a good thing. Is it possible though those public art gallery curators equate their own academic degree with excellence and therefore equate artists without degrees or diplomas as not of equal value to those artists who have degrees?
Wikipedia states “Art criticism is the discussion or evaluation of visual art. Art critics usually criticise art in the context of aesthetics or the theory of beauty. A goal of art criticism is the pursuit of a rational basis for art appreciation but it is questionable whether such criticism can transcend prevailing socio-political circumstances.” I must agree. Academia definitely follows set trends, and those who do not conform to the many “isims” are often labelled outsiders. This may or may not be healthy. I’m inclined to think that some opening up needs to happen in order for the academic world to become more inclusive.
Jock Hildebrand has been a working sculptor for more than 40 years and has contributed to public art around the world with his work. Jock is the senior editor and founder of SculpturesPacific Magazine. He has organized and worked in many international sculpture symposium and was the founder of the 2002 Okanagan Thompson International Sculpture Symposium (with a budget of 2.2 million dollars) .
Sculpture by Jock Hildebrand
SculpturesPacific Magazine
About Sculpture Blog.
Owner, China Alpha Stone Caving
9 年our rural artist made some clay statues,that designs sold very good in China and some foreigners also liked it,present famous in our North China,also some galleries collected his art,maybe that people favor is the most import thing.
ALBUM ALERT! "On the Fringe" - Available NOW!
10 年"At age 16, Picasso set off for the first time on his own, but he disliked formal instruction and stopped attending classes soon after enrollment." Frida Kahlo had no formal art training whatsoever, and began painting to pass the time while convalescing a near-fatal bus accident. One of her paintings recently sold at auction for 3+ million dollars. That said, I don't think that raising the bar for museum inclusion is necessarily bad for the "art industry" considering the number of pseudo-artiste types that are popping up now in the realm of digital and "instant art" media, photography included. "Art" will survive the "art industry" as it always has. And as usual, "fine art" is generally most appreciated in the headlights of hindsight.
A Global Design Director
10 年No.... Good Art Is Good Art, :)
Executive Director of Special Projects; Professor of English and online faculty member
10 年There is both formal and informal training that must be taken into account in all of the arts. What does the artist have to communicate, and how adept are they in communicating this to others? What credentials did Shakespeare have to present?