Destiny Deacon / Virginia Fraser / Rebecca Morris / Dan Perjovschi -->Diskussion

After an initial introduction of the panelists, Virginia Fraser and Destiny Deacon to her right. Dan Perjovschi and Rebecca Morris to her left, Hildegund Amanshauser posed her first question, the role of technique in their work. Where Virginia, coming from a journalist background but heeding the call to art school later in life, says „my technique is arrangement, and finding things“ and Destiny talks about how everything just sort of happened and all of a sudden she found curators banging on her door, Dan Perjovschi explains how he had to unlearn his classical painters education and fight against his craft slipping back into his hard-laboured for new technique. Rebecca Morris, on the other hand, still uses the realistic painting techniques she was taught, but for creating something altogether different, abstract. „There is so much more you need aside from techniques, like gut feeling.“ Asked about the role of techniques in teaching students and the methods for doing it, she says she teaches what paint can do and how to get it what you want it to do. She might have also wanted to teach abstract art because it was a class she always wanted to attend herself, but it wasn’t offered. „ We mostly give feedback, and create stability between all those different people attending our class“, says Dan. „We give them a starting point for their ideas, to try whatever they want to try.“ Virginia explains how they took their students to the dark room as „most photographers don’t do this any more, they pay somebody else, and we wanted them to try it.“ Destiny adds praise for their students, and ventures that they have become like family. A lady in the audience asked about what trends they see concerning skills, and where these are going. Virginia once more got back on the topic of buying skills, something she says is „ a topic that upsets people when talked about, as skills are used but not credited.“ „ As an artist, you have a responsibility, there is no excuse for ignorance“ Destiny simply says. In the eyes of Rebecca Morris, the „just come and do your thing“ is a romantic notion people still hang on to, but the demand for skills is there and rising. Dan brings up an interesting point. To him, no matter what skills you have can be brought into an aritsitic vision. In the end, it seems like skills are important, but artist have to decide on their own which ones to use and how. I for one would have wished for a more direct discussion between the artists, as they seemed to have quite different views.