Learning Art

Perhaps it's not really as much the learning of art as the FORGETTING of art that I personally find quite alarming. My case in point would have to be my sister – she showed excellent promise as an artist even at the tender age of three years old. Ever since she stepped into school, she was practically part of the art club and would frequently join (and win) art contests held in and out of our primary and secondary schools. We were, of course, sure that she was going to be a famous artist someday, but apparently, something else got in the way – the fact that on top of being highly artistic, my sister also happens to be highly intelligent in the more logical subjects such as grammar, maths and sciences.

While we are so very proud of my sister for being so blessed in all these ways, we later found out that there is a curse that accompanies this – the fact that she will be made to choose between her art and something that is “a little more practical”. Many of our teachers urged her to focus more on her languages, her maths, and her sciences; they were, effectively steering her away from her affinity with art. This culminated in her choosing to attend a university – and while she did in fact take a course that was focused on the arts, she still found herself distracted by classes that were not in any way related to art (only because she was required to take those classes). She could have opted to enroll in an art school, but the strong suggestions that one could not make money out of art has eventually ruined art for her. This makes me sad, as I'm quite sure that attending an art school would have helped her focus more on her art than on other things.

Today, years after she had given it up, my sister is slowly picking up those pencils again. We are hoping to enroll her into a nice art-centered course in an art school.