Available Online at http://iassr.org/journal

2013 (c) EJRE published by

International Association of Social Science Research - IASSR

European Journal of

Research on Education ISSN: 2147-6284

European Journal of Research on Education, 2013, Special Issue: Art in Education, 12-15

Fine art education and creativity in Turkey

Melihat Tüzün a *

aAssoc. Prof., Namık Kemal Üniversity, Faculty of Fine Arts, Desing and Architect, Department of Painting, Tekirdağ, 59030, Turkey

Abstract

Creative thinking and creativity play vital roles in the development of societies. Despite being as old as the history of human

kind, creativity has always been identified with fine arts and considered as a part of it. Today it is a fact that creativity is very

important not only in arts but in science and other fields also. Creativity is a certain process and it can be developed with

educational support. In fine arts education, there is no single correct way of teaching. It should be done according to the personal

differences. Instead of filling brains with unnecessary information, choices of free will should be encouraged. During the creation

process of an artwork, visual and imaginative thinking should be taught both theoretically and practically. The key of success in

fine arts education is to interpret the creative person correctly, carefully guide according to his/her interests and thus enable the

creation of unique artworks. In this work, the situation of Fine Arts Education in Turkey, the elements that affect creativity in

fine arts education, revealing creativity in fine arts education and originative methods will be taken in consideration in advanced

level. Topics to be emphasized are the multi-directional fine arts education and the importance of raising self-confident art

instructors and artists producing creative ideas and shaping and improving their environments in a positive manner.

© 2013 European Journal of Research on Education by IASSR.

Keywords: Fine arts education, creativity, creative thinking, artist, artwork

1. Introduction

Aiming to train creative and responsive individuals by means of society, environment, arts and nature, fine arts

education truly began with the establishment of the Imperial School of Fine Arts in 1883. This institution, teaching

arts in the Western style, took the name Public School of Fine Arts in 1927, and the name Mimar Sinan University

in 1982, and from the begining till 1932, it had been the only institution that raised artists and arts instructors.

Turkey underwent various changes in the Republic period and that increased the support and attention of the

government to the fine arts, and within the reforms in this field, arts teaching section was established in Gazi School

of Secondary School Teachers in 1932-33 in order to train teachers for secondary schools. This institution, which

also provided to train and many artists and painting teachers for the first time in Turkey was renamed as Gazi

Institute of Education, Department of Painting. Today, there are fine arts education departments at about thirty

faculties in which arts instructors are trained. By this year, students are not accepted in these faculties because a new

education system is being planned.

Other than the academy, an institution providing fine arts education is the School of Applied Arts, that began

training in 1956-57. The same institution was connected to the Marmara University in 1982 and named as the Fine

Arts Faculty. In 1983, Fine Arts Faculty of Hacettepe University, and in 1985 Fine Arts Faculty of Anadolu

University were established. The increasing number of these faculties reached almost 50, and the issue of opening a

Fine Arts Faculty in almost every city and university was brought to agenda. Today, it is seen that other than Fine

Arts Faculties, Fine Arts, Architecture and Design Faculties, Art and Design Faculties are opened in various

universities to teach arts.

* E-mail address: melihattuzun@gmail.com

Fine art education and creativity in Turkey

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In Turkey, Fine Arts Education can be divided into two sections as formal and non-formal education. We can

classify the formal education as the following:

1- In general education institutions; in primary, secondary and high schools, with the aim of improving awareness of artistic sensitivity,

independent expression and creativity,

2- In Education Faculties, Fine Arts Education Departments, with the aim of training arts educators,

3- In Fine Arts Faculties, Art and Design Faculties etc. with the aim of training artists or the professionals in their fields.

Speaking of non-formal education, it is basicly the education of society. It allows arts to reach a wider range of

audiences. These are the educations given in museums, galleries, the training courses (İsmek, Komek, etc.) opened

by public training institutions or municipalities to train people in different fields of arts and crafts.

The leader of the Republic of Turkey, Atatürk, appreciated art as "one of the vital veins of society" and paid

special attention to both arts and arts education. Since 1925, painting classes have also been involved in formal

education institutions.

In his book "The Dynamics of Creation", the famous British psychiatrist Anthony Storr writes that the creative

talent is visible in childhood and if it is supported by parents it may gain momentum itself, just like the other

activities approved by the authoritiy”(Storr, 1992). However, since families and educational institutions in our

country do not pay sufficient attention to the arts and arts education since their childhood, it is not considered to be a

requirement for the people. A program, media and the teaching staff for the development of aesthetic and artistic

susceptibilities of children in Turkey have not been fully established yet.

Institutions and organizations such as Istanbul Modern, Akbank Art, Toy Museum etc. provide space for children

to develop their creativity, by their training programs specifically designed for the children in different age groups,

and by introducing them new possibilities to express themselves. Children explore and compare with various kinds

of creative and experimental art workshops, and practice arts through their sensitivities, perceptions by examining

different examples. These training activities focusing on the relation between arts and other disciplines, and its

connection with the life can reach very few children, and thus remain very inefficient thinking of the whole country.

In Turkey, arts education is limited to painting-crafts, visual design and music lessons that are compulsory at

primary education, and elective at secondary and high schools (they became elective for the first time in 1952, and

today they have been involved in different periods changing from school to school), and elective at higher education

(elective in 1983-84, was canceled in 1998-99.) The fine arts education given by the school teachers in the first four

years of primary education, are given by the branch teachers in the secondary and high school. However, since these

branch teachers are not assigned to many schools, those useful workshops cannot be created in the classrooms. Since

families and administrators do not recognize the importance of these courses, relevant fine arts education cannot be

given as well.

First in big cities and then in many other cities Anatolia Fine Arts High Schools have been opened since 1989

and the talented students were enabled to start their art training in high school. Opening of these high schools is an

important step in fine arts education in our country. However, we still can't say that even in these schools students

are trained at a desired level with sufficient knowledge.

Herberd Read says that "The purpose should not be the creation of a good artworks only, but better people and

communities”. With fine arts education, self-confident individuals can be raised producing more creative ideas and

positively shaping and correcting their environment. With this education, creativity of the students develops, they

get aesthetic senses and consciousness and it becomes easier for them to realize new forms and to express

themselves properly.

The aim of the Colleges of Education, Fine Arts Education Departments that train arts instructors is to train

creative and well equipped art instructors both in theoretical and practical terms. Candidates who develop aesthetic

tastes and skills, who are sensitive to the artistic developments in their time periods and who are able to interpret

things correctly can train their students with this responsibility.

Melihat Tüzün

14

2. Arts Education and Creativity in the Fine Arts

After determining the borders of fine arts education in Turkey in general and with its historical process, it is

necessary to emphasize the arts education and creativity in the Fine Arts Faculties that aim to train future artists.

In contemporary education and teaching, the importance of the awareness in historical development has increased

and is still increasing with the effective use of scientific approach, creative thinking and technological innovation.

Academic arts education in the contemporary sense consists of five stages as definition-direction in the Primary

Education, preparation-placement in the Secondary Education, monitoring-formatting in the Higher Education,

deepening-concentration-proficiency in the Master in Arts , and developing-training in the field of service (Güven,

2002).

Faculties of Fine Arts with the aim of training future artist with an increasing number in Turkey do not have a

common artistic program. Each faculty implements its own program and method. While some are following

academic and conservative ways such as the adapted form of master-apprentice method, there are also some

faculties which enable the use of experimental, computer technologies and media of today and adopt an

interdisciplinary understanding.

While some of the arts educators adopt their own methods to present and are open to more inquisitive, new

methods and techniques, and follow the forms of expression of the period a large number of scholars continue to

emphasize application-oriented education without adding something new to their knowledge and by repeating the

same thing every year.

Difficulties are experienced in the fine arts faculty staff as well, and it is observed that a large number of scholars

who have completed their competence at art can not apply to assistant professor exam since they can not pass the

language exam, and that in some universities even cadres of assistant professor are not received. Due to shortages of

teaching staff, some scholars are forced to give lessons in areas out of their expertise. And this obstructs the

achievement of the desired goal in the fine arts education.

And the aptitude and file exams (oral exam) administered to the students that apply to the fine arts faculty via

talent exams each year vary from faculty to faculty. In these exams, other than the talent and knowledge of the

candidate students of arts education, the existence of the distinctive characteristics such as whether they interpret the

life creatively, whether they have power of dream and courage to pursue their dreams should be sought to be

understood.

Writing in his book The Courage to Create “we express our being by creating. Creativity is a necessary sequel to

being” (May,1994), Rollo May explains that every human being has the inherent creativity and uses this feature in

almost every area.

Creativity is a process, and can be improved with education. The condition of success in fine arts education is to

analyze the creative personality right; to guide the person correctly in accordance with his/her interest; and to ensure

the production of unique artworks. Inquisitive aspects of the students must be developed in the process of art

education. “Creative thinking can be developed by education. Especially acquiring new images depending on

divergent thinking, combining and parsing them in mind, transferring it to a material, reflecting on the material,

establishing quantitative relationships between lines, shapes, and colors, finding spatial, narrative and aesthetic

arrangements, are learned and taught behaviors in artistic creativity.” (Kırışoğlu, 1994).

Matisse said that "vision is the beginning of creation", "For the artist, creation begins with a vision. Vision is an

creative event in itself". (Artut, 2004) Creating is an adventure, thrill, sensibility, imagination power. To do this,

your intuition must be strong and you need to know how to see. Arts education is the training to think with eyes.

Visual perception, which is thinking with eye, is the basis of plastic arts. Conscious perception of the student can be

granted by arts education. For creativity, sensitive and selective attitude is required.

Creativity education must be carried out by a disciplined approach that is not arbitrary in an uncertain freedom

but requires a concentration. For this, the students must be allowed to create projects that allow them to recognize

themselves, their ideas, and ideologies; and to produce thoughts on these issues.(Kocagöncü, Çetinkaya, 2012)

Confronting a particular concept or problematic, or forcing the expression opportunities of this, and creating options

will also provide a unique language and style for students.

Fine art education and creativity in Turkey

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The most important requirement of creativity is a free environment. It is not possible to train creative individuals

with an educational system that prevents people from thinking independently, and from producing new ideas. In fine

arts education, thinking and expressing it in a freeway bring numerous creative reviews together through appropriate

materials and techniques.

3. Conclusion

In today's information society, perception, production processes, developing technology and computer-aided the

media affect creativity in different way as well. Information technology in the every field of life has entered into the

field of arts, and provided the artist to see endless options at the same time while creating his/her works of art.

Developments in technology are required to be used to enhance the rapidly circulating interactions, image richness,

and our creative potentials.

My thirteen-years of experience in arts education showed that: no matter how hard the educators work on the

perception and expression forms that they want to teach or to bring in the individual, the students get as much as

they want. While some can produce their own original artworks through a particular problematic or by using his/her

genuine language for what he/she wants to explain, others can manage it in a very long time period or just fails to do

it. Even though you want the same level of success in every student, you sometimes fail in it. Fine arts education in

particular, must be in the form of individual training. Being able to unveil creativity is quite difficult through mass

education. It is important to establish face-to-face communication to understand each student, his/her perspective

(by empathy), and sensitivity; and to listen to him/her, to show their with the mutual brain how they can express the

problematic that they make a problem in an genuine way through their senses. The application and expression

(concept) must be given together in arts education.

Three main functions can be adressed to creativity and art education classes.

1 – Ensuring to unveil the creative forces in a free environment. Freeing the students from habbits and traditions and giving the courage to create

original artworks and to find their own styles by including their individual lives and experiences into creativity.

2 – Giving the sense of confidence by directing the students in accordance with their tendencies with the help of imagination and creativity.

3 - Making them understand the infinite form possibilities of plastic arts by implying the versatility of the objective and subjective problems if

necessary (Gençaydın, 2002).

While today's Turkey is being transformed into a society which is dominated by the media and popular culture,

and which consumes without producing, it is necessary to create artistic accumulation that nourish the minds and

hearts of the students, and to find new solutions and perspectives with the help of fine arts education. As written in

the book by Kırışoğlu, the aim of fine arts education is neither to train individual creators nor to make every single

person creative. The aim is to make art live and survive, and also to teach it.

References

Storr Anthony. (1992). The Dynamics of Creation, Yayınevi Publishing, İstanbul.

UMSS2002. 1. Ulusal Mezuniyet Sergisi ve Sempozyumu bildiriler kitabı, Hacettepe University, Fine Arts Faculty Publishing

May Rollo (1994). Courage to Create, Metis Publishing, İstanbul

Kırışoğlu Tekin Olcay (2005). Sanatta Eğitim, Pegem A Publishing, Ankara,

Artut Kazım. (2004). Sanat Eğitimi Kuramları ve Yöntemleri, Anı Publishing, Ankara,

Kocagöncü Selin, Çetinkaya Aslı. (2012). İnsel İnal’la Söyleşi, Expanded Art School, Berlin-İstanbul.

Read Herbert. (1981). Sanat ve Toplum, Umran Yayınları, Ankara.

http://www.istanbulmodern.org/tr/egitim/ucretsiz-egitim-programlari/okul-programlari/muze-cantam_807.html