background research – Page 2

From customer’s perspective, why would they buy art?

I have two groups of stakeholders, one is customer group, another is artists group.

why would customer but art?

The normal reasons are: 1)love art 2) great investment 3) inspiration & motivation 4) enriches the environment 5)gifting

Art, 5., 2016. 5 Reasons ‘WHY’ People Buy Art. [online] Mojarto.com. Available at: <https://www.mojarto.com/blogs/5-reasons-why-people-buy-art> [Accessed 2 June 2021].

Then I search randomly on Quora: why would you buy art?

The key words are: personal value, to be inspired, believe in, love etc.

It made me think of what is love?

In what situation, we feel we LOVE an artwork?

I think there are two different types of LOVE.

One is we love an artwork only because the colour, the character, the image, the scene. This point is strongly related to artists’ painting style.
Another is a deeper connection. For example, the story, the emotion or the meaning behind this artwork affect the audiences.

It reminds me of the experiences when I go to the museum and gallery. I can only know the size, the year, the name and the price from the small label next to the artworks. In this situation, I can only ‘love’ the artwork by the first type of love.

How can I make the second type of love happens more?

Seven days in the Art World

Last week I read a book named 7days in the art world. When I read this book, I mainly focus on the characters in the art world and their relationship.
This book introduced five main roles of the art market: the artists, the dealers, the collectors, the curators, and the critics. The relationship between them like this:

【The connection】
Then I am thinking about the relationship between artists and collectors.A purchase will happen when the buyer has some connection with the artwork. For example, some collectors said they would buy artwork when they feel something, or the artwork helps them understand the way they live.
However, this kind of connection is very personal. Everyone’s ability to appreciate art is different. Appreciation of art is influenced by a person’s past experience, background and other factors. I think that’s the another reason why its hard to sell artworks.

【Takashi Murakami】

In addition, the most impressive chapter is chapter six, which is about visiting Takashi’s studio. This chapter mentioned anti-elitism and the cooperation between Takashi and Louis Vuitton. The artist’s works flatten the distinctions between art and luxury goods, high and popular culture, East and West.

But I can’t agree with that. I searched Takashi’s work online; even printed works are pretty expensive, not ordinary people can afford it. No matter for his artworks or a Louis Vuitton bag. The distinction between high and popular culture is still here.

【Art is far away from our daily lives】

When I searched the review of this book, one reader said: ‘ I am sure that most readers of this book also chose it because we will never be able to attend a Christie’s Post-war art auction, the Venice Biennial, or the Basel Art Fair except through Sarah Thornton.’

I reckon that it’s hard to sell artworks because some people think Art is far away from their lives. For instance, we have to go to specific places, museum or gallery, to learn about Art. And in China, art subject is not as important as Math, Science and English. Only a small percentage of people will be educated in the arts.

Most people lack art education and appreciation ability, so they feel Art is far away from their lives. Therefore, when they see artworks, it is difficult for them to connect with them, so they will not buy them.

【Who is the audience of art student’s work】

Firstly, not those five characters in the book. They are the people who pursuit masters work at a high price.

I sale my watercolour paintings twice when I was undergraduates; the price is 60 pounds for a sheet and 1200 pounds for a set. Unfortunately, I even have no idea who brought my works. I guess the customer is someone who is willing to learn Art and purchase Art, but they can’t afford masterpieces with outrageous prices.

Now, I think my question can evaluate again to:

How can I improve the level of arts education? How can I make art more universal? How to bridge the gap between art and the public?

I think the potential market for Art is enormous. As the book said: ‘Only a century ago, no one had a car. Now, people have two or three. That’s the way it’s going with art’.

Few people knew about Art before because it was a spiritual pursuit. In the age of food scarcity, most people only focused on physical needs, while the upper aristocracy pursued spiritual needs. With economic development, people’s physiological needs have been met, the pursuit of spiritual needs is a trend.

I have no idea who is the audience of art student’s work, and I didn’t find some academic articles related to this question. Maybe my work is to turn ordinary people into an audience for art students’ works. And the plan is through improving the level of arts education to 1)reduce the gap between Art and the public 2) Let more people have the ability to appreciate Art and connect with artworks.

Discuss with the dragon group

_{CROSS, P.G., CATTELL, R.B. and BUTCHER, H.J. (1967). The Personality Pattern of Creative Artists. British Journal of Educational Psychology, [online] 37(3), pp.292–299. Available at: https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2044-8279.1967.tb01944.x [Accessed 22 Apr. 2021].}

The general area and keywords of my question so far are:
Art students, Subject choice, Employment, and Future development.

In discussion with the dragon group on Wednesday, Dominic recommended a book named the way of integrity. In the introduction part, the author said that but how I, and other people, could create lives we actually enjoyed.
It also reminded me of my previous investigation: Only 4% of my earlier classmates are doing art-related jobs now, while others change their careers. Then I found that although they didn’t choose the art-related job, they did find jobs. It makes me think of a question: should we do what we like or like what we do?

In addition, art students are a more sensitive group： Sixty‐three visual artists and twenty‐eight craft students were compared with a matched control group. Significant differences in mean scores between artists and controls were found on twelve factors of the 16PF test. On eleven of these twelve factors, the scores of the craft students were intermediate between those of the artists and the controls. Especially salient features of the artists’ personality pattern were A – (reserved, schizothyme tendency), E+ (assertiveness, dominance), Q2+ (self sufficiency), G – (low emotional stability), Q3 – (low self‐integration, casualness), M+ (autistic or bohemian tendency) and G – (low superego strength). They also differed from the control group in being more suspicious (L+), more apprehensive or guilt‐prone (O+), and more tense or overwrought (Q4+). In terms of the second order factors, the artists are assessed as being slightly introverted though there is evidence of some contradiction, strongly anxious, experimenting, non‐moralistic, and slightly sensitive (CROSS, CATTELL and BUTCHER, 1967).

Two directions of my question :

One is to help to reduce a ‘psychological gap’. How can I reduce Art students’ psychological gap when they face employment problems. This direction is more about how to tell students not to fantasize too much about an unrealistic future. (not everyone can become a famous, self-supporting artist)

The other direction is to help art students start their own businesses. I prefer to study the direction of creating personal IP.

How can I help art students build personal IP in the Internet era? This direction is mainly for those students who want to be freelance artists, illustrators, designers etc.

Career attitude of art students

_{Whitesel, L.S. (1980). Career Attitudes of Art Students. Studies in Art Education, [online] 22(1), p.36. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00393541.1980.11650270?needAccess=true [Accessed 8 Apr. 2021].}

1. Woman art students rated their commitment to a career at the very highest level and also claimed that their schools had provided them with inadequate career counselling.

2. More male art students, than male psychology students, felt that they would not be able to earn a living in their field of study.

3. Woman art students expressed concern that they had been inadequately counselled to function in those careers.

4. The male art students’ negative responses about earning a living in their field might reflect a similar lack of career information.

5. 97% of the woman claimed they already thought of themselves as artists, while just 79% of the men did.

6. Only 62% of the art students felt able to earn a living in art, while 66% of the English and 88% of the psychology students felt able to earn a living in their fields.

7. 82% of the art students felt that they had had inadequate career counselling in their schools, as compared with only 59% of the English students and 68% of the psychology students.

Program and Career perceptions of undergraduate students majoring in Fine Art

Thaller, E.A. (1993). Program and Career Perceptions of Undergraduate Students Majoring in Fine Art. [Doctoral Dissertation] pp.1–343. Available at: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED368280.pdf [Accessed 5 Apr. 2021].

Many of the respondents were expecting to have a difficult time after graduation, trying to accomplish multiple goals of getting admitted to a Graduate Art program, becoming a practising artist, and finding a survival job.

Although many described negative past experiences in jobs that were unsuitable for them, 50% were expecting to support themselves after graduation through ”menial jobs,” ”odd jobs,” ”anything that won’t degrade” themselves, and any kind of work ”that pays a half-way decent wage.”

Perceptions of Art and Art Courses

1.1 Art was extremely important to them. Some said Art was the most important thing in their life.

1.2 Most of the informants said that their decision to major in Art was the result of a lifelong interest or desire to study Art.

1.3 They had chosen their particular area of concentration in Art because of enjoyment in working with that medium, skill or familiarity with the medium, preference for the type of Art product created, better rapport with the professors, or preferences for the social structure in that area.

1.4 Many were actually ”generalists” because of the ”creative freedom” to mix Art media together.

2. Future Goals and Expectations

2.1 Many of them seemed unsure about the means to achieve their goals, since achieving them depended greatly on circumstances and on other people.

2.2 Their responses often indicated multiple goals, and often their Art career goals involved some Art-related way to support themselves such as teaching or museum work.

2.3 Their answers about what they were most likely to do indicated a variety of activities or a somewhat complex career path – to work and to do artwork equally.

3. Job plans and financial expectations

77% said they would consider at working a full-time Art-related job (which is sometimes hard to find).

32% indicated that they would consider a full-time job not related to Art.

55% did say they would consider working at a part-time job not related to art and working part-time at their artwork.

32% said it was likely that they would work part-time to full-time at a job not related to Art after graduation.

4. Specific suggestions by informants

4.1 having career information available in Art department offices and offering career-oriented Art courses to tell student about what to do with a major in Art and how to prepare for that.

4.2 one informant wished for a course in economics or money management specially designed for art majors.

5. Other factors

5.1 The literature showed that Art students tended to have values systems and personality traits that might make working at certain jobs more difficult. Examples were not like a job that involved a boring routine or not liking to be a ”pushy salesperson.”

5.2 The problem with taking any jobs available without analyzing and choosing jobs carefully is that they might risk getting more disillusioned by trying to do jobs for which they are unsuited in personality and values.

5.3 It is important for everyone to learn to understand their personality traits and learn to compare those to what is needed for particular jobs before they attempt them.

Arts students are given ‘false jobs hope’ by colleges

_{editor, R.A.E. (2018). Colleges exaggerating arts students’ career prospects, says Ofsted chief. The Guardian. [online] 21 Nov. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/nov/21/colleges-exaggerating-arts-students-career-prospects-says-ofsted-chief [Accessed 3 Apr. 2021].}

‘Arts and media does stand out as the area where there is greatest mismatch between the numbers of students taking the courses and their future employment in the industry.’

‘Yet even with the poor prospects, course adverts often listed potential jobs in the arts which are, in reality, unlikely to be available to the vast majority of learners but underplay the value of other skills these courses develop.’

‘However increasing numbers of students are taking up media, performing arts, music and design courses.
Mrs Spielman made her comments in a speech to the conference of the Association of Colleges in Birmingham. This coincided with a report from Ofsted that outlined concerns about the number of courses on offer that do not lead to good local jobs. The watchdog found that many colleges collected little data about the destinations of their students.
Where data was available it was found that arts and media courses scored low in terms of employment prospects. Yet at least three colleges surveyed by Ofsted reported these courses as having the most applicants.’

What’s Really Matter When Choosing a College Major!

^{SalahJaradat, M. (2015). What’s Really Matter When Choosing a College Major! International Journal of Arts and Commerce, [online] 4(2), pp.92–110. Available at: https://ijac.org.uk/images/frontImages/gallery/Vol._4_No._2/13._92-110.pdf [Accessed 30 Mar. 2021].}

Factors Influence College Major Choice:

1. Different sources of information and influence

1.1 Some students are influenced by the direct or indirect recommendations of people they knew or met

1.2 the advice students receive from parents, friends and school and college advisors

1.3 university catalogs and department brochures as being influential resource that influence major choice

2. Characteristics of the Job

2.1 Future earnings have been measured as the most important characteristic of the job

2.2 the choice of major was promoted by students’ confidence in their ability to make appropriate decisions to choose careers that result in higher earnings.

3. student fit and interest in the subject

3.1 students’ general abilities and their major- specific abilities play an important role in explaining college major choices.

3.2 student interest in the subject is an important influence on major choice

3.3 passion drive students’ life, and tastes for majors are a dominant factor for choosing specific majors by students.

Results

The three hypotheses the researcher analyzed were:

Students will choose majors that are recommended by parents, friends, teachers, advisors andrecruiters (Different sources of information & influence category).
Students will choose majors that provide them with potential job opportunities, career advancementand pay them well (Characteristics of the job category).
Students will choose majors that well-match their interest and abilities (Student fit &interest in thesubject category).

2 Reasons of Difficult Employment & UAL’s foundation course

I think there are two main reasons for the problematic employment of students majoring in fine art. One is the nature of the major. Art major is a creative major and does not have a solid professional attribute.

‘ Of course, in uncertain economic times, any student graduating from university is no longer guaranteed a job. If this is true of students graduating with degrees in such career fields as business, law, and teaching, it is even truer in the creative field.’ Kobe said.

***Entrepreneurship for the Creative and Cultural Industries***

The other reason is that some students don’t like this major, so it’s hard for them to stick with it and become an artist, and they change careers and do something else.

So far, what I want to do is focus on the second reason.
I checked the website of UAL subject, UAL insight, and UAL foundation course. I would like to know how UAL introduce the different courses and help the student find the most suitable course.

Then I found that the UAL foundation course is quite similar to my project. This course provides a broad range of experience to help the student decide their future direction.

I think this is a great opportunity for students who can afford the course and are willing to spend a year exploring it. But what about the other students? Especially for international students, one year’s tuition and living expenses are also quite a lot. Maybe I can focus on other groups of students on this issue.

The employment situation of fine art background students

Today I investigated the employment situation of my previous classmates.

The data shows that

Only 4% of people are doing an art-related job. One is a curator, and the other is an art blogger.
37% of people choose to be a teacher. Most of them work in preschool or elementary school, and some teach Chinese classes or work in the administration department.
15% of people choose design works like graphic design and UI design. But they have to learn design-related knowledge that they didn’t know in the undergraduate course to qualify for an interview.
17% of people have jobs that are entirely unrelated to their majors.

Primary research- Interview with fine art graduates

Today I talked with a few friends about the Employment problem of art students. At first, I want to know why it’s hard for an art student to sell their artworks. I guess it’s because of some aesthetic differences between artists and audiences, or some artists don’t know how to communicate with the audience. After I talked with them, I change my mind.

1. Most people don’t choose this major because they love it.

“Why you chose a fine art major?”

A: “Because this major has the highest probability of being admitted.”

B: “I misunderstood the major, I thought it is another one.”

C: “Because I am curious about this major.”

D: “Because one of my teachers recommended this major.”

2. When they choose a major, they don’t think about their future employment.

“Before you chose this major, did you know the career direction of this major?”

A: “No.”

B: “No. Maybe could be an art teacher.”

C: “No, I have no idea about employment and the future.”

D: “I didn’t think about it myself. My parents did.”

3. Some people find it is not suitable for them after they chose it.

“Do you think this major is right for you?”

A: “It is not suitable for me. This major requires more carefulness, and I am a careless person.”

B: “Not very suitable for my current job. I am a UI designer now, and my major cannot help me.”

C: “In the process of learning, I found that I did not like this major. When I was about to graduate, I came into contact with some other design majors. I found that compared with pure art, I was more attracted to some majors that could realize my ideas in the form of products.”

D: I think it suits me, but I also want to try other majors which is more suitable for me.

4. Market problems VS Personal problems

“Why it’s hard for a fine art student to find a job? What’s your opinion?”

A: “Market problems. Few people are willing to buy a painting. If the price is too high, they won’t buy it. If the price is too low, you won’t sell it.”

B: “Supply exceeds demand. And the market is not perfect.”

C: “I think nowadays not many people have both exceptional talent, strong belief, and hard work. No matter what kind of style you paint, there is always someone who likes it. The difference is the number of people.”

D: “No fame, no sale, no appreciation. Art is a dispensable thing for a lot of people, and most people don’t spend money on a painting unless it’s given as a gift.”

“From your heart, what does drawing mean to you?”

A: Things I can do in my leisure time.

B: The meaning of painting for me is to express feelings. A good painting will have a sense of achievement, while a bad painting will make me unhappy. I like to draw, but I get tired of it if I paint every day. I only draw when I have an impulse. I haven’t painted since graduation.

C: the thing I want to do all my life.

D: Painting is a kind of expression. It is to express some ideas in the form of painting, just like speaking or writing an article

“When was the last time you drew a picture?”

A: “I haven’t done it in years.” （Pet Shop Owner）

B: “I haven’t painted since graduation.” （UI designer）

C: “Almost never after I graduation.” （Jewelry Design Learners）

D: “Last Tuesday.” （Fine art PhD）

Based on all of it, I think ‘personal problems’ is the main reason why it is hard for fine art students to support themselves with their talent. Most of them gave up and went on to do something else. Some of them think it’s market problems. However, I think that’s their excuse. It is easy for them to give up because they don’t really like their major, and they think it’s not suitable for them. It could be better if they can fully understand a major before they make a choice.
Maybe I can provide a platform to help these students fully understand the differences, the content, future development, and employment directions between different majors. For example, I can invite some experts in different majors to provide various workshops for these students.