Painting : teaching and art

In his article the author attempts to answer the following questions: can art be learned? If so, how can it be learned? If art cannot be learned – why can’t it? The article describes the project “Painting: Teaching and Art”, prepared by the Department of Painting of Vilnius Academy of Arts. The project was aimed at showing teachers and students of different art schools of Lithuania how one can learn to paint. The exhibition of the project reveals the development of works of several painters from their studentship times till the professional activities, thus making attempts to show how learning can change the students’ knowledge, how their painting related orientation can be changed. The success of teaching is determined by multiple factors: the duration of studies, the appropriate selection, the individual character of the teachers and students, psychological factors, the content of the programmes, etc.. The article compares the teaching methods of J. Vienožinskis and P. Kalpokas. Information about A. Gudaitis and V. Vizgirda, students of J. Vienožinskis, who later became teachers themselves, is provided. Most of A. Gudaitis and V. Vizgirda’s students (for instance, L. Surgailis, A. Šaltenis and K. Dereškevičius) took over the aesthetical code and the painting concept of their teachers, mastered the “psychoemotional empathy” and taught it to their students. The author of the article describes the tradition of teaching at Vilnius Academy of Arts, which stresses the importance of the contact between the teacher and the student and mastering the technique of expressionism. The conclusion is made that art can be learned, however, not everybody is able to create art