Today has been very interesting – YanYan drove me to the New Campus of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute which was welcome change from the hustle and bustle of the city. The new campus is on the outskirts of the city, and has a more spacious layout, and an environmentally disgusting amount of tall trees that have been imported from further afield. It is considered that small trees would look unappealing and not visually impressive or powerful, the trees are also not local to the area, so they are changing the pattern of nature.
The graduating fine art students were presenting their degree show. The amount of students in the institution was evident by the large amount of works on show, with many only exhibiting one work, and many spaces appearing crowded. The work was a real mixture – some laboured oil painting in heavy gild frames, to very interesting three dimensional sculptures and installation. I was also interested to see that quite a few of the graduating artists concerns discussed the never ending architectural uprising, and issues of the environment.
Lara, YanYan’s assistant, showed me around the workshop building which presented large and spacious resources for each discipline from Fashion to weaving to photography. Lara also took me to a Chinese version of KFC – Dico’s.
I had some very interesting conversations with YanYan and Zheng Li with regards to teaching in a Visual Arts Higher Education institution in our respective countries. We discussed the process of entry requirements in China to study at art college – you must achieve a high score in a general exam, and it is not on a portfolio as in the UK. We discussed the atmosphere whilst at university – I explained that many of my students can be very anxious and upset about their grades and progress. YanYan explained that mainly in China that students relax once they are in university. Zheng Li talked about an academic in central China that started an independent university, that accepted students outwith the general exam system. YanYan explained that the government and the president of the university’s peers have encouraged him to close this perhaps more democratic version of education. YanYan explained that it is very difficult to change the way things are done in Chinese Higher Education.
We also discussed the skill based programme, which teaches all students to work in a particular way for the main part of the programme before they are allowed to apply these skills to a more conceptual body of work. YanYan is very critical of this approach, but as he says it is the way it is always done. I asked if there are any foreign universities in China, say American or British, as there are in the UK, and he explained that there are a few ‘American’ universities in big cities – but over time they have been made to adapt to the Chinese admissions and education style.
It was also interesting to discuss the situation of an artist supporting their practice with teaching, and the balance of this. I explained that teaching in FE/HE Art Education is a lot of work, with actual teaching hours being almost doubled in work with preparation, administration and marking. Since I graduated from my MFA in 2007, I have supported myself through FE/HE teaching, as well as undertaking a PGCE in HE Art Education, which most institutions now ask you to undertake. YanYan said that there is such a demand for Visual Art Education, the job is not so pressurised, and that someone can do very little and stay in the job for a long time!
Tomorrow I will go back to the new campus to join in on a woodcut printmaking class with second year students. It will be good to get to know the facilities.
