Boys & Art

Apparently, someone in the UK thinks that boys will only be interested in art if it involves computers — that there’s something about drawing and painting that repels boys. (How the past 2000 years of art history has been dominated by male artists, then, is a bit of a mystery.) Anyway, David Hockney offers a spirited response, arguing that “boring teachers”, not drawing and painting, are the problem.

In this article in the Guardian, Hockney argues that there’s a basic, human need to draw, and that while digital tools can be useful, there’s no substitute for drawing and paintings. And he says the school system is “swindling” the children — I love that characterization!

I’d argue, too, that using real materials is important — my boy needs small motor skills (drawing is good for that) and while he doesn’t like drawing from his imagination, he loves to reproduce all the details of a real thing, like an airplane. He also loves to do stuff on the computer, and taking digital photos. But I think his interest in things is lots more about what the project is about than what the tools are (he’d be more interested in drawing a 757 than a person, no matter what tools he was using). Any thoughts?