Old Masters Academy

Artwork by Rebecca Cullen

Hi! My name is Rebecca and I love drawing. When I was little I was always creating things with objects from around my house. Now I am older I don’t do that as much but I love drawing and my favourite kind of artwork at the moment is collage. I have suffered with mental disabilities and was told by a few people that I wouldn’t do much in life even though they didn’t say it like that they said it underhandedly. I used to find studying and academic work incredibly hard but now I totally love learning new things.

Artwork by Irene Wolfferts

As long as I can remember art has been the essence of my life. It nourished me when I was lonely and without art I would have died for sure, as life was very painful. It was as if all my nerve ends were exposed at the surface of my body, so whatever was said or done which wasn’t tender and sweet, came as destroying swords into me. And there was so much hate and sorrow around me….

So I drew. And made little figures out of what material I found. Going to the Art Academy was the most logical step. I couldn’t relate to the atmosphere of Art Galleries and I preferred to work free in commissions.
So whatever I did, portraits, jewellery, books, applied arts, seize didn’t matter but the people I worked for had to be sweet. …

Artwork by John Fowler

Hi, my name is John Fowler – that’s a good place to start if it’s all about me. Is it all about me? This was certainly the feeling I got when I went to Art School in the 1980’s. A friend asked me recently what I had learned during those five years and I struggled to think of anything apart from how to drink, how to survive with zero money and how to tolerate the personalities of art students. Certainly the tutors seemed to have mastered the art of drinking many years before and were pretty good at avoiding students too.
On beginning my painting degree I found myself disillusioned and disappointed with the course and the environment. It was my own fault really – I had worked really hard on the foundation course and had fired myself up with the thought of being accepted onto the degree. But I had this fantasy that I was actually going to be taught how to paint there! How silly of me to think this. The vision I had projected onto the college was sadly disappointed. Why was this? What was Art School supposed to teach you? I can only imagine now that we were all thought of as geniuses and we were left alone for three years in a 6’ x 10’ white box so we could express our creative genius without the burden of the tuition in skills and techniques.

How could this happen? What was it about the history of art that had led to this situation? Why was there so little emphasis on the learning of craft and practical skills? Perhaps it is the ‘myth of the genius’ that has pervaded art history. The selective mythology of the ‘great artist’ whose creativity springs from a well of imagination that cannot be taught. Of course there is some truth in this but art historians often ignore the study and tuition that these ‘great artists’ received and continued to seek out in their lifetimes. I cannot imagine the same approach for other art disciplines. Would a music college put a student in a white room with a violin for three years and tell him/her to ‘just be creative’? …