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The Mentor: An Academic Advising Journal The Fine Arts Tug-of-War Steven Bailey, Rhode Island School of Design “Why would you want to spend the rest of your life drawing and sketching?” “What kind of money do you think that you will make for a living?” Many art and design students around the world hear questions like these from parents and close friends who doubt their artistic goals and the wisdom of pursuing them. If you ask fine arts students why they actually want to draw and sketch, however, they tend to say it is all about the freedom of using their brains in ways that are more creative than others can even imagine. The left-brain/right-brain dilemma is physically real and can be both beneficial and downgrading at the same time. Most right-brained people just do not understand left-brained people. Look around you today and you can see a world that is brimming with graphic designs, drawings, and advertisements that are full of color and demanding to be noticed. These forms of art, as well as video games with phenomenal imagery, are sweeping the nation. Most of us look at colorful graphics and paintings in museums or other fine-art establishments, and we cannot fathom how they were developed or what the creative thinking was behind them. For the arts or design student, though, these kinds of pieces may be the result of brainstorming, numerous ponderings, and then a sketch before finally a full-fledged illustration comes to life. The artists behind all of this imaginative thinking have many doubters who ask if creating art is what they want to do for the rest of their lives. Those who question do not realize or appreciate that the catchy video-game graphics that are alarmingly realistic do not just happen overnight. There is considerable thinking, planning, and creating that go on within the gaming industry, and developers are always looking for many more bright, talented, and daring individuals than art and design schools can produce. What happens if some of these elaborate art schools don't offer effective, positive advising to their students and, instead, subscribe to the words of overly cautious parents or do not know what to communicate at all? Should these schools simply say, “We got our tuition out of them; let them make fools of themselves”? Clearly we as professional advisers who have our students' best interests at heart should not use these terms, or else who will produce the next Hellboy video games for the next generation? We need to constantly encourage these students to embrace their artistic goals with optimism and passion, draw creatively, and help to ensure that there is a future in art and design. For example, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) had an outstanding student who was scheduled to graduate in 1995. While producing his final degree project and struggling with the work it required, he did not keep track of his credits. With only a few weeks to go before graduation, he came to the registrar's office to discuss the dilemma of not meeting degree requirements. I took the time to work with the student and his department head and explain the options that were available. After reviewing his record, applying appropriate school policies, and correctly adjusting some of his credits to meet graduation requirements, we were able to assist this student. Today, he has a brilliant television show based on his final RISD degree project. With just a little time spent to assist a student with a problem, we were able to produce a winner. The fine arts tug-of-war may always be present, and advisers must do what they can to encourage art or design students to face this war, manage their academic careers, be the best they can be, and hopefully realize their artistic dreams. Academic advisers must listen to students' concerns and understand the push-pull conflicts that go on in their everyday lives and support their wish to become artists. Most art and design students do not have enough time to concentrate on their projects and papers, but with a little encouragement from advisers and parents, they can manage these demands, monitor their own academic progress, and successfully deal with the all-too-real fine arts tug-of-war. About the Author Steven Bailey is the academic recorder at Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. He can be contacted at sbailey@risd.edu. Published in The Mentor on November 12, 2008, by Penn State's Division of Undergraduate Studies Available online at www.psu.edu/dus/mentor/ Privacy and Legal Statements | Copyright | © The Pennsylvania State University | All rights reserved
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