THE 'BUILDING' WALES NEEDS MOST ?

A PROPOSED MONUMENT TO THE COUNTER CULTURAL OLYMPIAD

The artist, Amish Kippur, consults with the engineers from Oyveh Arup

The renowned artist, Amish Kippur, has been questioned by the adjudicators as to whether his initial proposals can be considered a 'building'. His suggestion that flights of steps be incorporated and the public charged to climb them have not alleviated the judges concerns. 

Some have argued that the massive structure, planned to stand beside what many consider the 'paying entrance' to Wales has some merit. " We have long wanted an iconic statement in that location," said Calvin Kleinpants, design guru and second cousin of the artist. " Wales needs something more than a flashing matrix sign which says ' give us a fiver or fuck off' at the Severn Bridge".

Many, however, consider it a derivative theme and a rather tired repetition of the artists own work at other paying attractions. Others have been even more harsh. The widely respected, if notoriously partisan, elder statesman of Welsh architecture, Sir Cough Mixture- Ellis response to Kleinpants was that he agreed in principle with a symbolic structure, one that spoke of a modern Wales but that this was just another cliched piece of over-sized tat, another opportunist object passed off as public art. Kippur's best known patron, Sir Charles Scratchy, responded angrily to that through his lawyers. In a belligerent statement strongly reminiscent of their High Court action in defence of Sir Charles other protege, Tracy Vermin, they threatened to sue anyone making defamatory remarks likely to devalue their clients speculative investment in Great British Artists.

However, little solidarity was displayed by the best known of the GBA's when his opinion was sought on Kippur's proposed monument. " Of course Kippur's work is symbolic and representative of a modern Wales" said the transexual stunt artist, Dame Ian Worst,  from his/her Cayman Islands studio,  "It's a tangled pile of bugger all with nothing new to say."

The Arts Council have, as yet, declined to enter the fray , their press officer merely repeating their official position that "it's art if we say it is and its public art if we are paying for it". A spokesman for the Imaginary Lottery Fund raised an eyebrow at that but also refused to make any formal comment. 

Contemporary artists in Wales have, predictably, disagreed with all of the above and if Kippur's proposal makes the shortlist for final adjudication at The Welsh School of Architecture on 20 June it should be a stormy evening in Cardiff.

A WELSH NATIONAL SCHOOL OF ART?

There is growing concern regarding the teaching of fine art in Wales. The recent depredations in higher education and implicit threat to art education in schools and FE colleges suggests a pressing need to establish an independent art school that works to counteract the abandoning of a sophisticated visual language in art. Visual intelligence should be the principle focus of such an institution. One that helps aspiring artists become visually alert and able to recognise 

A national institution for the teaching of art in Wales must stand in antithesis to the prevailing culture of existing in art departments throughout the United Kingdom. One which misguidedly focuses attention away from the art work as a valid subject for perusal and critique and that would substitute an art that elevates ideas and personalities without a material intermediary. 

The idea that knowledge leads one to understand does not really work for artists, unless that knowledge is gathered and processed through the experience of making. Conceptual thinking is to be understood through understanding the potential of materials and through apprehending the object as art. 

Skills must be taught, but more through discovery, aptitude and the desire to realise visual ambitions rather than through technical prescriptions. Formal values and conventions will be taught as a means of artists establishing clarity and distinctiveness. A national school should celebrate the traditions of art. We attest that the most daring art comes from such traditions. 

Drawing will be taught as the principal way of exploring ideas. It will be taught as something specific. Drawing will be valued as the bedrock of all visual fine art disciplines. 

Critical thinking must encouraged through looking at work, at things in the studio, at potential art. Debate, discussion must be fostered, and analysis must not just involve those works present but also examples of art from both historical and contemporary sources. This framing or contextualisation is seen as essential in establishing agreed parameters for quality and particularity. Art history will be an essential component of a national school. 

An environment that will best enable the making of art in this way is, in our opinion the traditional artist’s studio. We intend to set a group of studios within a single building coupled with a variety of other spaces that cater for various teaching and domestic situations. In a good art school the private and public spaces are well balanced. Public learning represented by group critiques, life drawing classes and public celebration of work will need its own ample space whilst individual studios will allow for private introspection and accommodate semi private discussion one to one. Collaboration and apprenticeship teaching can take place in staff studios and studio workshop.

There are a variety of possible patterns for a national art school in Wales. All have a different number of possibilities as well as potential problems associated with them. Not least the proposal would necessarily be examined in what appears to be a particularly hostile climate given the aforementioned trend towards the decimation of art education in Wales.

To advance such a proposal we must consider specific information and establish a sound strategy and sustainable business plan. Experienced and independent advice to proceed regarding company constitution, whether to seek accreditation and deliver graduate or post graduate qualification.

Ambition, it has been said, is critical. Anything that aspires to be national institution must necessarily operate and perform internationally