tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4865764596112100655.post6655305551633048502..comments2023-08-29T08:48:55.919-04:00Comments on Carol Diehl's Art Vent: TalentCarol Diehlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09023589628710711343noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4865764596112100655.post-49689232098574264492008-08-12T23:47:00.000-04:002008-08-12T23:47:00.000-04:00Coincidentally, there was discussion of talent/ski...Coincidentally, there was discussion of talent/skill on Eva Lake’s blogspot recently. Taking up the topic offline with a couple of friends, (psychologists) they assured me this was just the old nature/nurture conundrum. <BR/><BR/><I>You have to have some to get some, you only have some if you get some, and some is never enough</I>. <BR/><BR/>The argument mostly centers around child prodigies, who seem to have outstanding abilities, but also tend to have parents or teachers from an early age with similar enthusiasms/abilities. Do they have the knack of learning early and quickly, or do they just have early and ardent teaching? <BR/><BR/>It seems you can’t really have one without the other. You would never know if you did. <BR/><BR/>It’s the same with enjoyment and ability. Most people enjoy things they’re good at, but are they good at it because they enjoy it, or vice versa? It’s a feedback loop that sees you start off on just the right foot, or purely accidentally, cultivate the things that please, avoid those you have trouble with. <BR/> <BR/>But then again people do master things they weren’t at first drawn to, change their tastes, overcome inhibitions. For example there are plenty of painters who weren’t especially talented at drawing, but nevertheless excelled in painting. In fact their lack of talent at drawing probably inspired them to compensate and invent other ways of painting – notably in the use of color – like Renoir or Delacroix – or brushwork, like Van Gogh or Soutine.<BR/><BR/>So I’m inclined to agree talent is not necessarily a drawback. It’s more a matter of matching talent to a suitable channel, or discovering/inventing a suitable channel. <BR/><BR/>It’s tricky knowing exactly what to measure talent against – even academic standards in things like life-drawing change slowly. Academics are always complaining about how standards have slipped - in almost every field! It’s amazing civilization hasn’t come to a grinding halt really.<BR/><BR/> In order to have talent, or be recognized as talented, it seems you have to conform to a popular standard, but if you can’t or don’t, it shouldn’t discourage you from pursuing less recognized avenues.CAPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09861096695503969576noreply@blogger.com