Perceptions about Art Education from the Curators End - Assignment Example

Conclusion Perceptions about Art Education from the Curator’s End Historically the curator has been an organiser of various art exhibitions. The overarching involvement of the curator in art work and art exhibitions allowed the evolution of the modern curator who is an off time art critic too. In addition, the curator has the responsibility of connecting with wider social circles of donors, antiquarians, patrons, collectors, corporations and the like in order to collect art. Essentially the curator can be seen as the evaluator of art employed by a collection, gallery, museum and the like in order to acquire art at optimised economic rates. For the curator to deal with his on the job and the off the job functions, it is necessary that the curator be educated and up to date with various forms and kinds of art. In order to further the education and research of curators, it is the duty of the curator and the employing institution to allow for research and personal growth. Additionally, the curator should be allowed to interact with art experts and curators through the course of regularly scheduled meetings, conferences and through specialist interactions. Another important tool in the curator’s educational arsenal is various forms of catalogues. These publications and others like them are required to educate both the aspiring curator and the expert curator alike. As new developments take place in the world of art, it is important that the curator be updated effectively through a properly standardised channel of communication such as catalogues and information plaques. Another interesting aspect to note is that the curator from a few decades ago was required to be well informed about works of art alone. However, the modern curator is required to have knowledge of people and their interests so that exhibitions may be successful. It has been suggested that the modern curator should perform small exhibitions in order to gauge the interest of the public, so that larger exhibitions are more successful. Certain scholars have argued that the roles of the modern curator have assumed new dimensions due to the growth of new tools of engagement with wider audiences. Role and Use of Art Education in Curatorial Practice The modern curator has been interpreted as being a marketer, an interpreter, a program producer, a conservator and other such allied roles. The modern curator has to be more involved with people and presentation compared to the traditional curator given the massive changes in how communication is managed. It is relevant to note that the uptight and self ostracised curator of the past has given way to a more interactive and friendly curator in the present era. Currently the role and use of art education in curatorial practice is available but its participation needs to be increased given the kinds of new roles and responsibilities that the modern curator in the museum will have to face. The current frameworks for educating curators through museums are limited in their scope and the means that are being utilised. It is common to notice conventional means such as catalogues, information plaques, physical conferences and the like organised by museums. The need of the hour is to expand the current conventional museum curator education frameworks to incorporate digital means and channels of education. The education of the modern curator is not about becoming aware of art or of developing awareness about other myriad people interaction roles. Instead, the modern curator has to be taught to assume an independent learning framework that allows the modern curator to remain afloat in the vast sea of knowledge throughout his entire career. Presently, the curator is provided with a fixed educational frame within the museum environment that consists in large part on conventional means of education as mentioned above. The greater burden of the curator’s education has to be left to the curator himself since the museum can only act as a channel for education. The modern curator has to be taught on how to teach himself in a rapidly evolving art and communication environment. The basic contention is to enable the modern curator to develop a lifelong learning stream that they can sponsor on their own. The rapidly evolving face of art and exhibitions means that no manner of traditional educational means can keep up with modern curator research and education. Recommendations – Best Practices Given the current research, it has become clear that modern art curators need not be tight lipped and reserved to themselves. The static role of traditional curators has given way to more dynamic perspectives where the curator takes onto myriad roles throughout his career. In order to allow the modern curator to function at full capacity, it is of the utmost importance that the curator’s education and grooming through the museum be of the best possible standards. The age of utilising published means and classrooms to teach curators is of a bygone era. In the modern age, the curator has to teach himself on how to evaluate art, to deal with people and to project art to the wider audience. Given the shape of the current challenges facing art education for curators, it is necessary that curators learn to teach themselves. In order to be self taught and proficient in the modern environment, curators ought to band together to form greater professional associations where a transfer of ideas is possible. The possibilities in the current digital age are endless. The modern curator has the option of archiving entire databases without having to go through the same hassles that traditional curators had to face. The flexibility and ease offered by digital means indicates that modern curators can educate themselves at any pace they choose. The availability of modern channels of communication and education such as the internet and online forums allows the modern curator to choose how frequently they interact with the wider curator community. In addition, the global exposure allowed by such means would allow the modern curator to form solid opinions about affairs that were previously speculated. Overall, the museum based curatorial learning environment has to expand to accommodate digital means of education as the primary tool. Both the curators and the museums have to inflate their horizons to augment digital learning based on self initiative in the modern learning environment. Future Research The current research has made it clear that the modern curator has to take onto cutting edge techniques and a self learning framework to progress. However, the dimensions of such a framework for education are still provisional in nature. It remains clear that the chief medium of communication would be the internet where educational resources and materials would be made available. However, again it remains unclear as to who would manage a forum of curators, where the initial membership would arrive from, if the community would require the acquisition of new information technology skills etc. A number of such issues would confront the creation of such a mechanism for curator education in the modern digital scenario. Future research into curator education for modern curators should focus upon the kinds of frameworks that could be utilised in order to make curator education more dynamic and self sufficient. Additionally, future research should focus on how the curator community from around the globe could be connected to a uniform learning platform so that curators assume greater standardised functions globally. Read More