Art

There is no doubt that you have some basic artistic talent, or you would not be reading this material. Therefore, you might ask the question, "Why do I need to enroll in an art program?"

It is an important question, and one worthy of a detailed response. The vast majority of successful artists in any medium have undergone formal training at some point in their careers. It is true that some people seem to be born with a natural talent that enables them to visualize and reproduce shapes and objects more skillfully than the average person. Those of us who have been associated with the art world for some time have come to appreciate that talent alone is not enough. The art world is far too competitive for those going on nothing but instinct to stand much of a chance of surviving.

Art is essentially a form of illusion. When you create a work of art, from a scientific point of view, all you are doing is scratching or dabbing chemicals onto a piece of paper or canvas. When you are finished, however, you do not want a viewer to notice only the scratches and the dabs. Rather, you hope to stir an image in the viewer’s mind, which may remind him or her of some real life scene or object, or else convey a mood, emotion or statement. You want the viewer to see something, or think they see something, that is not actually, physically, there.

That is what visual art is all about, and it is much like what is involved when actors in a play or a film manage to get the audience on the edges of their seats, even though, intellectually, they know that what they seem to be watching is not really happening. The sophisticated technical term for this process is the “willing suspension of disbelief.” The intellect of the viewer would cause them to discount the image which the work of art is stirring, but they choose instead to accept that image and be moved by it. This is essentially how a skillful painting of a sunset can stir the same sense of awe as being outside under the real thing.

Art involves an assortment of techniques, and this is precisely where your training comes in. You are seeking to evoke reactions of recognition or specific emotion. There are time-honored ways of effectively doing that in all artistic media. You can learn these techniques the hard way, by repeatedly feeling dissatisfied with what you have done, scraping the paint away, and starting over again. Or you can let other artists who have struggled with these same problems for many years show you the solutions and short-cuts. It is important to understand that studying proper artistic technique does not mean that you must sacrifice your individuality and self-expression. The object is not to make you “draw or paint like everyone else,” but rather to show you how other artists achieve certain effects. That knowledge becomes another tool on your palette, just as the paint, brushes and knives are tools. It is still up to you to choose the tools you wish to use in each specific work that you undertake.

In producing your own work, you make these choices with complete freedom. In training, however, it is important that you defer somewhat to your teachers, and allow yourself to experience new subjects and new media. You may not wish to devote yourself to watercolor painting, and yet by learning its techniques, you will acquire skills and ideas that you can carry over into other areas. Likewise, the painter learns things from producing pencil sketches, and vice versa.

While your talents are forming, it is important that you expose yourself to many forms of artistic expression, and that is precisely the philosophy of the Stratford Art Program. The program outline on the reverse side of this sheet shows you how we take our students on an extended tour through the disciplines of drawing and pastel painting, then into watercolor, acrylic and oil painting.

It is a serious program for serious students, but it is also fun and rewarding, regardless of the level of your professional ambitions. While you work in the comfort of your home, the professional instructors at Stratford will guide you every step of the way, evaluating your work, offering helpful suggestions and answering your questions. Individual student service is available to all our students by calling toll-free and also through fax and e-mail. Through Stratford’s art program you will see your talent evolve as we help you develop it to its fullest potential.

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