Contemporary Art and Artists.
(Beauty in Art in the Context of problems relating to the teaching of Art)
Breda Catherine Ennis
Pope John Paul II describes artists as "ingenious creators of beauty". He mentions the word "Beauty" constantly in his Letter to Artists of 1999. He Defines the difference between a 'creator' and a 'craftsman' in the human sense. He refers also the 'moral and artistic' aspects and also to how they are linked to ether other in the creative process. Citing a noted Polish Poet Cyprian Norwid, he challenges the artist with the poet's words "beauty is to enthuse us for work, and work is to raise us up" The Holy Father speaks about society's need for artists and how they can give service in favor of the common good. The reference to 'an ethic' and even a 'spirituality' in the art process is underlined in his Letter. Beauty as a definition of Truth is what the Artist and lecturer in the visual arts has to deal with in his or her daily work. The Artists have to question whether they are producing work only for oneself or for the common good. What does the artist consider as beautiful in, or in creating, a work of art. Should that judgment be left to others. Students in the contemporary world come to an art learning process with all kinds of preconceptions about what is art and what is 'beautiful' in art. They have a very subjective attitude to what they do. They consider all they put down on paper or on a canvas as having its own beauty because "they did it". They feel that all artistic expression is authentic because "it is an expression of me" Others are tormented and confused by an inability to express tangibly what they feel inside. After a number of years teaching at Masters level I began to feel the 'terrifying responsibility of teaching young artists. Removing the 'ego' from the art (and leading to humility) is the most difficult part. A work of art is physical and is tangible. At this point the question of what is 'beautiful' in the work comes into question. I have developed here at the university a method called 'Inspirational Track Methodology" to help young artists create a work of art. Coming from different religious backgrounds the students have different ideas about what they consider 'religious art'. Sometimes a superficial involvement with 'making art' cancels the search for the beauty and the authentic in art. I note a growing desire for the spiritual on the part of students and an increasing sense of frustration in their research for the spiritual. They are bombarded with the negative and the horrible in contemporary society and they sometimes feel that beauty is an expression of this 'horror'. What is the answer to this question. Have adults 'stolen' the search for beauty on the part of young people and replaced it with a negative hyper reality which is explained to them 'contemporary development and the new progress".
