In design your goals are partly determined by others, the stakeholders, because the things you create must fulfill some practical purpose in the wider world. In art, this is not the case. An artist determines his or her own goals. Artists have this freedom because with their creation they do not aim for any practical application but strive to influence the feeling or thinking of an audience. Art education in the western world is focused on the personal development of the student, so that the budding artist will be able to generate and pursue interesting goals. This goal-generating ability, and his or her personal development are the key issues that determine the vitality and quality of an artist. However, once an artist decides on a goal to pursue, his or her creative process looks very much like a design process. Artists have effectively turned their self-made challenge into a partly determined design problem. and they temporarily turn themselves into designers.
Kees Dorst But is it Art (2003)
This reminds me of why I teach art. It also reminds me of a statement a student recently reported to me:
“My art history professor Matt Reynolds made the best comment yesterday in class, “the SECOND best major (after art history) is art because you learn how to adapt to problems that you create yourself… what better life skill could you ask for?”
(via notational)
