What I Don't Understand About... Marking "The Arts!"

Welcome to 'episode' 3 of this little series of mine. Today, I shall talk (rant) about the arts and how they are graded for exams.

Any art form, whether that be a painting, music, dance, drama, or sculpture etc., is opinionated.  The Arts are emotion and feeling lead and make a statement. You only have to look at modern art to see that they are there to provoke a feeling within the onlooker.

This is where grading art forms is hard. To some people, a black spot on a canvas can symbolise a vast array of feelings and emotions. To others, it is just a black spot on a canvas.  I can understand that a black spot on a canvas doesn't show much technical ability, but it could easily score highly on what it symbolises.

From middle school to high school I used to really enjoy art. Everyone in my class used to say that my drawings were amazing and they even asked me to draw for their 'Big Work'.  Thing is, my art teacher didn't think so and so, I got low grades. This really confused me and hurt me in a way. I used to love drawing, and now I don't.  I don't draw anymore, even though I have books on how to draw amazing things like speedboats, F1 cars and Dinosaurs, even though I have proper drawing pencils and an artist's notepad.  I lost the heart.

Music is now my creative passion, but even that is subjective. Two of my friends who are amazing musicians hated a composition I wrote, especially some of the harmony. I was really proud of the re-harmonizing that I had made, but having them say that they didn't like it hurt a little. I nearly got rid of it until I showed a music lecturer from a university who specialises in composition. He loved it! The same can be said for another of my compositions. One friend hates it whilst all my teachers are saying that it's on for a top grade... how bizarre a turn that has taken from the art work.

The message here is just create what you like and can be proud of. End of the day, if you are having to work on, let's say, a sculpture for your Art coursework and you have to spend weeks and months on it, then it should be something you would like to create and enjoy making because you'll have to put a lot of time into making it perfect and spend many hours looking at it, so you might as well like it! Same goes for any other art form. Just go out and enjoy yourself! If you enjoy it then what you create will improve!

Stay Strong
Michael