This title of a painting by Paul Gauguin (1897) can help us to explore the structures by which a formal art educational system in the form of a higher education Art School attempts to underpin and prepare for the activities of a professional artist.
The art school is a nexus of tradition, cutting edge arts practice, pedagogic ideas and practice, theory, and last but not least, governmental policy all bound up with the economic and political context of the school. Individual desire and creativity on the part of students and staff can be seen to intersect and often collide with institutional and governmental agency in interesting and critical ways.
This lecture will explore aspects of the relationship between art and art education historically to frame, and make sense of, the educational and cultural experience of taking part in the contemporary art school project.
Katrine Hjelde is an artist, lecturer, curator and researcher. Since 2023 she has been the Head of Department at The Art Academy, Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design, University of Bergen. Previously Course Leader for Graduate Diploma Fine Art and Senior Lecturer BA Fine Art Theory at Chelsea College of Art.