Art is innately acquired. Since man put his handprint onto a cave ceiling and grunted with satisfaction, art has flourished. Long may it live!

Dan

Art is just an amusement for some people.

my daughter's primary school no longer has specific arts and music classes.

Pretty sad really. Creativity is so important.

Fortunately my daughter is creative at home and with lessons through music, drawing and even creating her own computer games.

I feel sorry for the children who will suffer from declining state school services, and who have parents who cannot afford or could be bothered with encouraging their child's creativity.

A natural ability does not require tens of thousands of Tax dollars so, why do so many insist we should waste so much on the talent-less ?
Art is not a 'Right', it's a gift ! A gift can't be taught by wasting money on those who aren't gifted !
Those who believe Art should be supported can do so by buying it !

Whatever art is taught in state schools, you can bet your bottom dollar that it will be skewed to politics - Aboriginal, multicultural, gender etc - just like all subjects manipulated by the commo unions.

lighten up guys, primary school kids?

and my daughter will have to listen to religious bs at private school, so not much difference. BS is BS.

Chris Lewis,

I've got this strange feeling that I might be the reincarnation of Leonardo da Vinci.

Doubt it Mr O.

Leo was a genius.

primary school kids?
Chris lewis,
They've been the target of the Left for 0ver 50 years now !
In the past two decades, they've even been pushing their way into Pre-School or haven't you noticed that ?
Why do you push education so much ? Because you full well know that apprentices who rely on pragmatism would reject your perpetually failing idealism.
Can you actually name any non-Uni indoctrinated Leftists ? How many journalists are employed without some tiny degree ?
Education & by that I mean real education not the present indoctrination is vital for this Nation to forge on. Indoctrination has been holding it back for decades now ! Time to let natural aptitude & intelligence reign & in no time the Plague of pseudo intellectuals will diminish !

Great essay!

When I was at high school back in the early sixties I was an "A" stream student which apart from studying English as an academic subject had NO artistic components, not even singing.

Which is to point out that actually doing art, even in a rudimentary sense was considered to be of NO importance or usefulness.

By contrast the other streams, or those who were categorized as having no latent academic potential had art classes at least 3 times a week.

This essay provides unique Understanding of art, especially Sacred Art.
The author encouraged everyone associated with him, people to practice some kind of Sacred Art, especially young people.

http://www.aboutadidam.org/readings/art_is_love/index.html

This reference provides a context for understanding the Artists work and his emphasis on the importance of Art.
http://www.aboutadidam.org/testimonials/art_architecture/index.html

It is also interesting to note that he encouraged everyone that was associated with him to practice a Sacred Art, especially young people.

It seems to be forgotten that babies, toddlers, young children etc etc are exposed to art every day.

In the form of music, stories and story-telling, the books they read, illustrations in books, magazines, advertising, and of course the flickering images of TV.

What are they being taught, or more correctly brain-washed to be.

Furthermore the developing foetus is influenced by the music that its mother listens too, the background sounds both in the house and out in the very scary angular world, the tone and sound of her voice and her emotional state too from the moment of conception.

What are they being taught, or more correctly brain-washed to be.
Daffy Duck,
To become non-thinking consumers !

It is correct for schools to have programs introducing students to art and music because some students may have particular aptitudes in such subjects. But what this author seems to be implying is the old Socialist idea, that the state should pay artists of every stripe to manufacture rubbish that nobody is going to purchase.

Since the dawn of civilisation, artists were in the control of the clergy, the rulers, and the wealthy elite. The wealthy used artists for decoration. The clergy, to further the glory of their particular God and awe the masses. And the rulers, to glorify their triumphs and defame their enemies. During these times, art subjects and artistic styles was often rigorously determined by the people in power. But by the 19th century, with rising prosperity and the desire for individual freedom, artists began to create new styles of depicted art which differed greatly from either photographic style scenes, or rigidly set out artistic scenes demanded by the church and state.

That some of this art (cubism, impressionism, and dadaism) was absolutely woeful did not detract from it's popularity with some of the more wealthy patrons, who were probably more intersted in investment, through the artists potential for fame after he or she had "discovered" some new way of throwing paint at a canvas.

But so much of contemporary art is so bad that nobody in their right minds will buy it. Of course, the art critics do their best to interest wealthy patrons into purchasing this garbage by claiming it is valuable and investable, in the same way as diamond merchants De Beers convinces consumers that little pieces of rock crystal is actually worth a lot of money.

But the bottom line is that a lot of contemporary art is so woeful it is unsellable. Enter the socialists who become the friends of worthless artists by telling them that the taxpayers will pay them to create their unsellable crap. Thus artists become converts to socialism. Which is pretty funny, really, since socialist states usually insist upon artists toeing the party line on subject and style

LEGO,
I recall quite a number of years ago when a new Qld State Govt facility bought some $20,000 or thereabouts of paintings to hang in the corridors. I was told it is standard for Govt buildings to support Art in that way.
No-one in management however, could tell me how that money is helping the Arts here in Australia when it was purchased from an American who did not reside here.
I tried to find out more but all doors & ears of bureaucrats closed on me.
Also, all plants came from a Nursery in the South & all plants were native to our area.

My 3 kids, of about equal ability, all went to the same schools. High school was a large 1700 pupil regional school.

Two of then slogged through 3 math, A B & C, plus physics. Both had to work hard, although the math & physics were of a much lower standard then the in the 50s in NSW when I was doing it. It was a struggle as only one teacher in the entire school could actually handle math 3, & he as a union rep, was away much of the time.

One has not used it, as they changed their life plan, the other has used it seriously, & both are glad they learnt as much as they did, & find their physics useful in real life.

The third, having observed their older siblings working hard, floated through school, taking all the easy subjects available, arts, media studies, English literature etc. She often finds her knowledge of simple things a bit short, & will phone one of us for information.

She finds her prospects reduced by her lack of math & physics, needs to study to gain what she missed & now needs. She finds it hard with a 3 year old at foot. For this reason we have the 3 year old about one weekend in 2. She is a great kid, but it sure shatters the peace & quiet of country living.

I believe the study of arty crafty feather weight stuff is best confined to private activity. School needs to be grabbed by the throat, & wrung dry of everything it offers, by each kid, as most wont get another chance to gain as much knowledge again.

To individual.

The NSW Museaum of contemporary Art was once housed in a western Sydney suburb where nobody ever bothered to enter the building to see the displayed contemporary "art." This changed when a prime building became available at Circular Quay, and the arty farty types clamored for the NSW government to purchase this building.

Naturally, the NSW government of the day bought the 'art vote" by doing what the arts lobby wanted, and it purchased the building. It now gets a lot of visitors because the location is so prime that you could sell ice to eskimoes there. Although it is not known if any of the passing patrons think enough of the 'art" to ever buy the stuff.

According to a "Daily Telegraph" newspaper reporter who did an article on contemporary art, the NSW government has bought so much woeful contemporary 'art" to get the "arts vote", that there is literally warehouses full of the wretched stuff.

Your taxes at work. Isn't socialism grand?

Onya ttbn.

Long may it (Arts) live!
diver dan,
And, may it start to wean itself off the Taxpayer teat & start to support itself through merit from now on !
Sort of like most other people !

Well, some "modern art museums" are really money sinks that don't have much interest nor do they attract a lotof visitors, but teaching arts and music at school does help. It gives kids (who, in time, will be adults) the opportunity to get interested in something creative, and when the time will come to start working, they'll be able to have this creative passion they discovered as kids as a hobby, which makes them happier, thus both more productive and less likely to be depressed.

Plus, they'll have a bit of fun at school, will suffer less from being there, and will be less likely to associate learning with boredom and stress. It means they would be more likely to get an university degree and get a more qualified, better paid job.