So my nephew is taking advanced art (12th grade; public school) His assignment was to draw a still portrait or a full body portrait (I’m not sure what the correct name
for this is) so he does; he drew a picture of a lady laying in a bed of roses, she was wearing a spaghetti strap dress with just a little bit of cleavage showing. The kicker
was though he depicted his picture with the lady having what appears to be hard nipples. He says there not, he just wanted to show that the dress she was wearing was
a very light satin like material. (which I believe by the way).
Anyway my nephew turns the assignment in only to find out the teacher gave him a big fat “F”. She said it was too distasteful and that he should know better than to
draw stuff like that in school. According to my nephew she made several references to the nips which seemed to upset her the most.
Now, I’m thinking this teacher is a little uptight for my taste. I’m also thinking at the very least she could of done was asked him to cover over the nips; but no she just
gave him an “F”.
So how about it fellow dopers? Anybody else have a take on this?
I think that’s disgraceful! Art is all about self-expression, and as such should not be censored. Also, there’s nothing distasteful about the human body, hard-nippled or not! You might want to ask your nephew’s art teacher if she finds Michaelangelo’s “David” distasteful…
I’d go have a talk with the teacher. She sounds like a fundie idiot.
Plus, unless I’m missing something, I thought Art was graded on the skill with which it was rendered, not the choice of subject matter. Like someone once said “Art is meant to disturb”.
[slight hijack]
Sounds kinda similar to a kid (aged about 14, IIRC) who got suspended from his school for using the word ‘boner’ in a piece of creative writing.
I’m totally unable to provide links to any of this, hopefuly a more helpful kiwi will step in soon.
[/hijack]
How old are twelfth graders? about 16/17 right? So they’re at the more mature end of hig school? If it was in advanced art then it shouldn’t really have been a problem. From the description given the painting doesnt seem terribly explicit, and if the only thing that bothered the teacher was the nipples, it looks awfully unfair to give a failing grade.
Given issues with Evolution vs. Creationism, school violence, and all of the things that can get people upset, I suppose it should not be surprising that a teacher might take issue with your nephew’s drawing. That doesn’t make it correct, only understandable.
We don’t know if the teacher ever provided guidelines to students about what they can draw, nor do we get a sense as to whether the teacher spoke to your nephew in a way that invited him to change the drawing or not. Whether you think that type of drawing is acceptable or not, it doesn’t seem surprising that the teacher took issue with it. However, the reaction seems over the top, so I wonder if there is more going on. I would’ve expected the teacher to ask him to change it and explain how much trouble she (the teacher) might get in if it gets out that she is condoning that type of drawing (again, I find that unfortunate, but I could see the teacher offereing that type of argument - they are scrutinized a ton…). Only if your nephew refused to change the drawing after a thoughtful discussion with the teacher would I expect such a bad grade (unless of course, nipples or no, the drawing is awful!)…
When I was in year 12 we did a ‘human form’ unit and two of the girls painted each other in the buff.
They got high grades, but then our teachers were ok with that.
One girl also did a huge display of those cards that get put up in phone boxes - she wandered round London collecting hundreds of them. Another girl created a mannequin dressed in bondage gear.
You can’t just give someone an F just because you don’t approve of the subject matter. Stupid teacher.
I don’t usually suggest going over someone’s head (hate people who whine at me then demand a supervisor when they don’t like my answer) but in this case I’d suggest that the parents go over the idiot teacher’s head. Did your nephew fulfil the assignment as the teacher gave it? Then he doesn’t deserve an F just because she doesn’t like the end result. He’s offered a plausible explanation for the “nipples” and if the teacher doesn’t change the grade talk to the department head or the principal.
Panic may, in fact, be justified, but not until after hearing the teacher’s side of the story. If your nephew’s version is, in fact, a correct and complete account of what happened, then yeah, I’d agree with your take on it.
Does the teacher know what art is? How many nudes hang in the Met? This is silly, just silly. Should have asked him to cover the nipples if they were so offensive not give him a failing grade. Pointless being offended, what the heck is her problem?
In any case, if the nipples truly were inappropriate, (which I find highly unlikely) the teacher could have asked him to tone them down or soften them on the picture and explained why.
I have been drawing nudes since I was a very innocent, sheltered age 18. (College Life Drawing class.) The experience did not corrupt me in the least. In fact, drawing nudes is a very challenging task–getting the proportions correct is hard work. It doesn’t take long for any sincere student to stop thinking about “there’s a NUDE person there!” and start to worry about “why can’t I get the damned arm right?”
I still can’t understand how people–especially art teachers or artists–can get so freaked out by a little artistic nudity. Didn’t these people take Life Drawing classes in College? How come they are teaching art if they’ve never taken Life Drawing? What kind of piss-poor art teacher has never taken such a class?
I should probably make clear that I know that this kid drew someone that was fully clothed, but with a little contour of nipples showing. Which to me, is such a non-issue, the mind boggles. But, I am curious to see what the drawing actually looks like.