Dr Nadine Wills

CILASS Academic Fellow

LeTS (Learning and Teaching Services)

Arts in Development:Creativity, Artists andDevelopment

18/03/2010 © The University of Sheffield / Academic Services / LeTS

2Questions to consider

1. Assumptions made about art, creativity and development?

2. Why be creative? 3. How does creativity make us feel?

4. What is art and what defines an artist?

5. Why have art in any community? 6. How long does art last and who benefits? 7. Why arts for development work?

18/03/2010 © The University of Sheffield / Academic Services / LeTS

3Dichotomies (Binary Opp.)

Western (European) Tribal/folk traditions

Individual Communal

Intelligible Nonsense

Intelligent Primitive

Mannered Spontaneous

Controlled Exuberant

Original Traditional

Earth’s Creation

(Emily Kame Kngwarreye, 1994, Mbantua Gallery Museum, Alice Springs)

• The selling price of this painting set records for Aborig. Art in 2007

• Kngwarreye’s life exemplified problems of “success” and fame

(Photo from the NorthernTerritoryGovernment Media Release Website. Downloaded March 15, 2010 from: http://newsroom.nt.gov.au/index.cfm?fuseaction=printRelease&ID=3755)

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Why be an artist?

“although the top 25 sales of indigenous artworks total more than $8.5 million [in 2007 Australia, equiv. to ~£5.2 million], it is rare to find a successful artist who is not on Centrelink benefits.”

(O'Grady, Anthony. “Fine lines in art of ownership.” The Sydney Morning Herald: April 7, 2007. Downloaded March 15, 2010. http://www.smh.com.au/news/arts/fine-lines-in-art-of-ownership/2007/04/06/1175366478118

.html )

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Artist Tommy Watson sued an Alice Springs gallery for severely underpaying him for 5 paintings in 2005. They have an estimated worth of £161,000 (this is conservative). He won. (Photo and facts from Aboriginal Art News website. “Justice for leading black artist” article and photo posted April 12, 2008 by Aboriginal Art Directory. Downloaded March 15, 2010: http://www.aboriginalartnews.com.au/2008/04/justice-for-leading-black-artist.php)

What and who’s art is worth more?

A painting in this series (Water Lily Pond) sold for £41 million in 2008.

Nympheas (Claude Monet, 1915, Musee Marmottan, Paris)

(Photo from Wikimedia Commons. Downloaded March 15, 2010: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Claude_Monet_Nympheas_1915_Musee_Marmottan_Paris.jpg)

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Impressionism and en plein air (in the open air)

• Is creating art en plein air really so radical?

• In late 1800s

Europe it was

• Artists (French)

• painted outdoors

• (not in studios)

• people doing

everyday things

(instead of Classical) Claude Monet Painting by the Edge of a Wood (John Singer Sargent, 1885, Tate Gallery, London) (Photo

from Wikimedia Commons. Downloaded March 15, 2010: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sargent_MonetPainting.jpg)

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Impressionism and en plein air (in the open air)

Style defined by focus on:• how outdoor light

changes affects colour

• overall visuals instead

of details

• short "broken" brush (Alice Springs artist Emily Kngwarreye paints Earth's Creation.)

strokes (not smoothly blended or shaded)

Was en plein air “radical” and “new” and “European”?18/03/2010 © The University of Sheffield / Academic Services / LeTS

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Globalisation• What are the effects

of labelling something as “art” and someone as “artist”?

• Especially where these things and people were not previously separated out in these ways?

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Self-portrait in Beret (Claude Monet,1886)

(Photo from Wikimedia Commons. Downloaded March 15, 2010: http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/Autoportret_Claude_Monet.jpg/475px-Autoportret_Claude_Monet.jpg&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Autoportret_Claude_Monet.jpg&usg=__WUpCOh_RePExUqkm39T0vENfenU=&h=599&w=475&sz=66&hl=en&start=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=43XjJ0Cm456iaM:&tbnh=135&tbnw=107&prev=/images%3Fq%3DSelf-portrait%2Bin%2BBeret%2Bclaude%2Bmonet%2Bwikimedia%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26tbs%3Disch:1)

Deserving victims?

Countries and people constructed as:

• problematic

• “less than”

• incapable of sorting themselves out

• and needing help (and this is their fault)

Similar to discourses

around unemployed

etc. (and so on…)(Photo from Children’s Charity organisation for the Third World website. Downloaded March 15, 2010: http://www.khw-dritte-welt.de/index_en.html)

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Triple victimisation

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1. Colonisation

2. Charitisation

• de-personalised

• de-humanised

3. Theorisation

• feminism/Marxism (Photo from Picasa website Aboriginal Art Rosabella Ryder 01 by True Blue Aboriginal Arts. Downloaded March 15, 2010 at: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/td_BZ4f5SwaOq8MuqO7Ikg)

Agents and activity

• Post-colonialism (Fanon, Said, Spivak)

• Enabling and empowerment rather than charity

• Move towards processes and work that help people and communities “develop” and “keep” rather than sell or depend

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