Home » Supplement » Education
Art and design classes help create the next generation of innovators
Print Edition
ART and design in schools gives students the opportunity to investigate the world and the ideas of others, to make connections and develop their imagination to create. It encourages them to take risks, have the courage to be vulnerable and the intellectual confidence to express their thoughts to the world, without fear of failure or judgement. According to Bloom’s taxonomy, creativity is the highest order of thinking.
A general misconception is that there are no careers stemming from a qualification in art and design; that if you study the visual arts in school you won’t be able to get a job. However, nothing could be further from the truth. In the UK alone official statistics published in January 2014 revealed that the UK’s creative industries are worth 71.4 billion pounds (US$114.5 billion) per year to the UK economy.
No one is born good at art. Nor could they walk, swim, play an instrument or site the periodic table at birth. We may have an aptitude, but really, all else are learned skills through practice and perseverance. With art and design we learn to look; to notice the small details. By measuring and comparing the relationships of parts within the sum of the whole, with practice and in time, we develop those muscles and competencies.
Author and international advisor on education, Ken Robinson, devoted a TED lecture to the idea of creativity and said, “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” The world’s innovators learned fast that to succeed meant to fail, to learn from the experience and try again. It is that mindset that is nurtured within a good art and design curriculum in school.
We learn the basic skills of art and design, experiment in a range of art media and start to have the confidence to communicate our ideas visually. I once had tea with the mother of contemporary creative visionary Damien Hirst. Her favorite and most treasured artwork of his was a traditional portrait painting.
In a three-second world where people make purchases based on “blink” impressions and brand associations, aesthetics are essential. Technology interfaces, what we decide to wear and drive, the buildings, landscapes, transport infrastructures and parks we take our children to, and all are designed by visual communicators. These people help us navigate our way through life and inform the choices we make.
If, as adults we do begin to connect the dots, we start to appreciate that from Leonardo Da Vinci, to Steve Jobs’ love of calligraphy and effective design, every detail of our lives was envisioned by a creative who could communicate those ideas and make them accessible to others.
Maybe your child will grow up to create beautiful artworks that bring joy to people’s lives, or maybe design the next aesthetic for the Formula 1 racing car or even the next space shuttle to launch into the hemisphere.
Why is an art and design education important? Because nearly every element of our physical world was imagined and then drawn so it could become a reality. Art and design in schools is the breeding ground for future innovators.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
