Thinking about Expanding Arts Education

Okay, I have a terrible confession to make.  

I was a fat kid.  For much of my life, I have been “down on myself” and my overall physique.  At one point, I got so vexed about it that for several years I worked out with a trainer and did a serious weightlifting regimen.  I have to say, I was in incredible shape.  Even so, there was always this lingering sense of there being something wrong with me.

Then, about 10 years ago, I flew off to Rome for a week.  It was mostly to explore historical sites and the locations of “Roman Holiday,” but then something very interesting and unexpected occurred.

If you spend any time in the city of Rome, you get exposed to art.  I mean, a lot of art.  And I mean a lot of really good art.  And an awful lot of this art is sculptures and paintings of naked people.  In the Sistine Chapel alone, and we’re talking about the Pope’s own personal church, there are paintings of something like, I don’t know, 200-300 naked people?  Almost all of it by Michaelangelo.

I am tempted to say that these people are “anatomically correct,” but that of course would read as saying that you can see their genitals.  Of course, you CAN see their genitals, but what I really mean is that these are not exaggerated representations of the human form.  They are extremely realistic.  They are honest.  

I gradually came to realize that, as an American, my concept of the ideal human male form has been based on Superman and Arnold Schwarzenegger.  It has also been highly influenced by photoshopped pictures of professional bodybuilders on the covers of fitness magazines.  

Most of the pictures you see of the human form in America are not anatomically correct.  This is no accident.  The whole purpose of the exercise is to create a sense of dissatisfaction with one’s intrinsic self, so that one will go out and purchase some product or service that will make up for one’s implied shortcomings.

Of course, this is just as bad if not worse on the distaff side.  The fashionable American feminine ideal is a female form that is, statistically speaking, almost nonexistent in terms of its hyper slimness, not to mention the ubiquitousness of added silicone.

(These cartoonish alterations are not limited to the human form.  Did you know that in any children’s book, you cannot show any genitals, buttocks, or even a cow’s udder?)

The reason I mention all this stuff is, the art I experienced in Rome had a major effect on my perception of myself.  It is superior art because it displays truth.  And as a result of seeing that truth and honesty, my overall life experience is now just so much better.  In a normal level of musculature and body fat, I now see the beauty Michaelangelo saw in the human form, where once I only saw the shameful and hideous inadequacy I had been taught to see.   That is just one little story of how experiencing great art has changed my life.  

There is much hue and cry these days about the cutting of budgets for arts education.  I say, the arts education community should try, not to just maintain the status quo, but instead, to think about massively expanding the scope and value of the services offered.  

I do believe that the real purpose of “arts education” should be, not just about the traditional “craft” element, but about the development of both internal and external perception– that is to say, more accurate overall perception of your own humanity, and your perception of other people.

Instead of arguing about the benefits of playing music in terms of its improving math scores, I think the arts education community would be better served to start thinking about the importance of arts literacy in a broader social and economic perspective.  The development and sharpening of perceptual acumen, of both one’s self and of other people, has an almost endless list of benefits, starting with both individual and collective physical and psychological health, and then extending to superior communication and sales skills.  Everyone understands the economic benefits of literacy.  The people in the arts world need to stand up and make the argument for the overall economic benefits of artistic literacy.  

It’s no accident that all my training as a musician has made me a better writer and communicator.  All that development of perception has led me to greater understanding of my audiences and customers.  

How often do you complain that a government official, large company, salesperson, or doctor “is not listening to you”?  If their ability to perceive you the customer has not been developed to a satisfactory degree, this is not the fault of the biology or math teacher, it was the job for an art teacher . . .  but I am talking about a new kind of art teacher.  

© Justin Locke