"Art"

I don't like my art class. At all. It is a required class for Digital Media Arts and Design and I can tell you right now that I am not learning anything relevant to my major.


Our professor studied architecture quite while back and never learned to use AutoCAD (the program now used for architecture) and has refused to. So basically, he isn't a computer person at all. Except the few people taking the class for fun, the entire class is made up of only Digital Media Arts and Design students; in other words: graphic designers, who use the computer.
Our class is two hours long twice a week and he reads us the whole book that we got for the class. He talks a lot, but nearly everything is coming straight from the book. Because of this it's really difficult to even pay attention. 
There is no room for creativity in that class at all. At the beginning of the semester, he told us he wants us all to buy a sketch book for the class and use it to write down assignments, take notes, draw sketches etc. I am a terrible perfectionist and when it comes to writing, the paper must be lined. Why can't I use lined paper to write down my assignments and put it in the binder I use for my classes and then draw my sketches in the sketch book?! Also, he asked us this before anyone got their grants. So he is expecting us to spend 10 bucks + on a sketchbook we will waste for a single class. We are college students. I don't believe we should be told EXACTLY how to do everything, what pencils to use, what brand of paint. My goodness.
When he has us write down our assignments, he goes completely overboard. One assignment takes up a full page in my notebook. It's explained in so much detail, to narrow the whole thing down so that I'd do it right, I might take up just the first few lines in my notebook. Basically:


"You can use pencil, crayon, pen, colored pencil (but don't use this and that brand because I find that the lead breaks off when you sharpen the pencils. They also aren't a very high quality and don't quite do what they are supposed to. As far as crayons go, I would prefer you to use Crayola over Rose Art because Crayola has less wax then Rose Art and they tend to melt............)"
Congratulations. You have turned what should have been a short sentence into an essay. Make sure to pick up your gold star before you leave. >.< 


The projects also really limit our creativity, at least the ones so far. He assigned us recently to make a sculpture along the lines of Louise Nevelson, who my professor loves, which makes sense, since her art is basically architecture. I personally am not the biggest fan of her work, so I wasn't looking forward to the project much anyway. But we weren't allowed to create anything on the computer. We had to take a bunch of junk we found laying around, attach it together and spray paint it black, gray or white. The art class is also mainly 2D design based and he was assigning a 3D design project. o.O 


Our next assignment is to take a bunch of white paper and a pencil, put the white paper on a textured surface and rub with the pencil in order to create a design on the paper. Then we are supposed to look for things in the pencil rubbings, cut them out and create a collage. >.< How is this helping me AT ALL towards my graphic design degree? I might have enjoyed this in Kindergarten, but certainly not in college. It's so frustrating and I am tempted to skip out on this project completely. He will tell us to have fun and be creative, but just don't do this, that, the other thing and whatever else you'd like to do to make the project more to your liking. But have fun!! 


I don't understand why one must be so single-minded, ESPECIALLY when it comes to art. I had an art teacher last semester who said on the first day:
"I want you to take what I teach you in this class and apply it to YOUR need for it. I don't care if you paint, draw or use the computer as long as I see elements of what I've taught you and I can see you understand it." 
Awesome! So I did nearly all my projects in Photoshop, learned a TON about the program and learned the principles of what was being taught as well! And she even asked questions about the program, because she was eager to learn, even though she was a painter. I thought it was awesome. I really learned a lot. But the art class I am taking now doesn't allow me to do anything I am at the college for. Anything foreign to my professor is discouraged. Wouldn't it be more interesting to see so many different aspects of one type of design? It would make the class so much more fun, even for our professor to see people come up with things that he might not have even encountered or considered before.