Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

To think you are either good at art or your not?

82 replies

Vagaceratops · 20/12/2012 11:09

You cant really teach yourself to be good at art?

DS has been put on report in Art class because he is achieving a level well below his expected level (He got a 3B and he is targetted a 5B which is never going to happen).

I have had email contact with his form tutor who is also head of art. She has assured me its nothing to do with his behaviour, but just the level he is assessed at.

I am sure he gets his art skills from me. I cant draw for toffee and neither can he sadly.

AIBU?

OP posts:

nokidshere · 20/12/2012 11:12

My oldest hates art. He cant draw. He doesn't have a sense of perspective and he doesn't enjoy trying - or being laughed at for the results he produces.

I think it can be taught if the person wants to learn, but if they are just not interested then they are not. I help him with his art homework when I can because he is now in yr9 and will drop all creative subjects as soon as he possibly can in readiness for yr10. If he ever picks up art instruments again after that I would be very surprised!

EverythingsDozy · 20/12/2012 11:13

I think art is subjective. And a bit of a non subject to be honest (as someone who did art gcse), unless he wants to be an artist or graphic designer. I wouldn't worry about it.
But no, yanbu, you probably can't teach yourself to be good at art.

rotavirusrita · 20/12/2012 11:15

I kind of agree... Seems a bit mean to put him on report for lack of talent rather than effort.
However are you sure youre not making it a self fulfilling prophesy? Why not do painting classes or buy a book about how to draw. Show you are trying and enthusiatic and it might rub off
i did this with son and piano lwssons..... And i now enjoy playing and we argue about who has time on the piano

Hobbitation · 20/12/2012 11:15

The art teachers I had could have done a lot more actual teaching. I had one which actually did teach us perspective and it was a revelation. You can learn to draw and a lot of techniques but like anything, some people will be better at it than others.

youngermother1 · 20/12/2012 11:17

I disagree - anyone can learn to accurately draw if taught properly. Whether this counts as art nowadays is a different question

drjohnsonscat · 20/12/2012 11:18

God that scares me. There are targets in art these days? I also have absolutely no ability and it's not something I could really do anything about.

chrismissymoomoomee · 20/12/2012 11:19

I am very good at drawing, I've sold pictures, I have given (classy black and white) portraits as presents.

I cannot paint at all, I can take the most beautiful picture and turn it into something that looks like its been done by a 3yo. I have been to many classes and its never going to happen. I really really want to be able to paint and have tried many times over the last 20 odd years.

I think either you are skilled at something or you aren't and as far as art goes it can't really be taught. Although art is all down to taste really so it seems unfair to grade him on paintings and drawings based soley on the teachers preferences.

redexpat · 20/12/2012 11:20

A lot of it is technique which can be taught. Maybe ask her exactly what she has taught him - perspective, disappearing points, proprtions of the body, how to shade with the side of the pencil, how to do a wash with paint, colour wheel. If she cant answer that then I'd question how he can be low attaining.

Theicingontop · 20/12/2012 11:22

Being good at drawing and being good at art, as in the lesson 'art', are two different things. You don't just walk into an art lesson and get judged for drawings, you have assignments and research tasks to complete etc. I even had to write essays and complete projects on classical artists at school, and got graded for it like any other lesson. Perhaps asking his teacher what his lessons entail would be a good way to judge whether he's being treated unfairly it could be that he's not coping with the written aspect very well, or not understanding the concepts they're teaching him.

badguider · 20/12/2012 11:25

you can definitely learn to draw and learn to be better at 'art' the school subject. that's why thousands of people choose to pay their own money for drawing classes.
i did art up to higher and got a B, most of it i would say was learned, the talented students got As but people like me to paid attention, and made an effort to learn techniques and try what I was advised to try by the teachers could get a solid B.
there will surely be quite a lot to 'art' at school - printing, drawing, sculpture, ceramics.. some are less 'arty' and more 'crafty'.. you don't need to be 'artistic' to throw a pot on a wheel for example..

ChristmasIsAcumenin · 20/12/2012 11:27

Yep, it is possible to learn to draw. It's a mechanical skill like sewing, driving, etc.

Get the book "Drawing On the Right Side of the Brain". Ignore the woo and do the exercises with him. You might both get something out of it.

Atthewelles · 20/12/2012 11:28

YANBU. It you already have a flair for art or writing or music or crafts you can be taught to harness and develop it. However, if you have no innate ability then I really don't think you can be taught - You either have it or you don't.

Original poster

Vagaceratops · 20/12/2012 11:29

The assessment he did was a drawing of an apple and a cup.

OP posts:

CaptainVonTrapp · 20/12/2012 11:30

I think its a learned skill just like lots of things. Although some people will always be better than others.

Has the teacher suggested anything to do?

badguider · 20/12/2012 11:30

btw. i have no idea what your 3Bs and 5Bs are... some English thing i think but i'm guessing he's secondary school? maybe lower secondary since you don't refer to any particular exam level? imo you don't need to be 'arty' to do art at that level, did your ds not do anything creative at all at home though his childhood? build things out of lego, mecano? sandcastles? collages? i think it's a real shame if you (and he) have both discounted everything creative through believing you don't have the required talent.

drjohnsonscat · 20/12/2012 11:32

I'm interested that people are saying it's a learned skill. I did art at school for the usual number of years and don't remember ever being taught anything. It was "here's a vase of flowers - draw that" or "paint a picture of a horse" with no instruction as to how.

Is he actually being taught any techniques?

Atthewelles · 20/12/2012 11:33

But you can be creative in different ways badguider. I was always top of the class when it came to creative writing, but absolutely useless at painting or sewing or anything like that. People can be 'artistic' without necessarily being good at drawing or painting.

Hobbitation · 20/12/2012 11:36

Exactly drjohnsonscat.

I think the bit you can't teach is having the creative ideas to apply the skill to. People being able to draw what is in their fevered imagination etc. I am quite good at copying but I rarely think of original ideas. I can draw something from another image very accurately, DH accuses me of having traced it.

I should have been a forger

Original poster

Vagaceratops · 20/12/2012 11:36

He is 11 and in year 7.

He is creative, he likes writing stories and inventing computer games.

But he is really struggling with art. They have learnt about shading and patterns I know because he has done homework on those things.

OP posts:

Hobbitation · 20/12/2012 11:38

Practice helps. I am doing a book illustration course and we spent ages just drawing lines to start with. It's like playing the piano, you need to get your drawing muscles working!

pinkdelight · 20/12/2012 11:40

I think the same about music. Course it's a skill that can be learned, but a non-musical person going through the mechanical motions is kind of pointless, whereas a musical person can have that spark and sometimes not even need formal teaching. I get why these things are on the curriculum and a modicum of knowledge is useful for a general education, but honestly, my years of art and music were pretty much a waste of time and I knew it and pissed about accordingly. Thankfully there was none of this levels madness at the time.

If I were you, I wouldn't worry about such levels. Just make sure he behaves well enough to keep below the radar, do the minimum and give it up asap.

Original poster

Vagaceratops · 20/12/2012 11:41

I suppose he only has a year and a half left of doing it.

OP posts:

pinkdelight · 20/12/2012 11:42

Spooky x-post re. music. But I so disagree with you. Hobbiton. I mean, I agree that it is like playing the piano. But I also think playing the piano is monotonous hell if you don't have the music in you already. My DH went through all that and got to a competent level playing the sax at school. He's never picked one up since nor missed it for a moment. Waste of time and money.

Alisvolatpropiis · 20/12/2012 11:44

Yanbu. Either you can or you can't.

MrsMushroom · 20/12/2012 11:45

Yabu. I had an amazing art teacher in school. This man managed to inspire ALL of the students. He made everyone feel they could "do" art and as a result, the work produced was stunning. No...not all of it as technically "correct" but it all showed energy and passion. Which made good art.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Swipe left for the next trending thread