Karina Peisajovich cuenta su experiencia docente
After three intense months at ProyectArte teaching the Introduction to Artwork Development (I) course, artist and ProyectArte faculty member Karina Peisajovich discusses her views on art, her students, and ProyectArte in general in a conversation with current student Nehuen Wolf.
NW: What is you relationship with art?
KP: My connection with art began when I was young. In 1984 I attended the National Arts University, although it was a couple of years after I finished school that I began to make objects with more concentration and independence. This impacted my artwork and my attitude towards it became more personal and professional at the same time; probably that is what differentiates artmaking from another activity.
NW: What is your opinion on the opportunity that the scholarship offers us (students) and yourself?
KP: The scholarships for artists are always valuable. They generate an exchange and open the mind. In some cases this happens during the course of the scholarship and in others some time after having finished it. Every student has a different timeframe to process new ideas and learning. As a teacher I try to detect how everyone is doing and to help him or her organize ideas that they propose to turn them into images.
NW: What is your opinion on the possibility to make a living off of art present day?
KP: Sometimes it happens that the work that one made (with its visual and ideological message) coincides with the demand of the market, but sometimes this does not happen so easily. The artist can direct his or her piece towards the trends of the market, but it is useless to force it until it looses meaning. Faced with this difficulty, it is always better to resolve the economic issue outside the artwork. I recommend defending ideas, insisting and expanding and exploring them more deeply.
NW: How is your relationship within the institution with the staff and us, the students?
KP: A good and intense group has formed. I suppose that this has to do with, on one hand, the energy from every one of you and on the other, with the exchange between the faculty and the institution. We all work together to adjust and improve the program on the go.
NW: OK, finally, do you have a general conclusion or any advice?
KP: It’s important to squeeze the juice out the scholarship and work a lot. Go to exhibitions, read and think. Explore in a constant state of observation. Ideas often appear during moments that are not working hours in the studio.
Of course when finishing the interview, Nehuen also tells us his idea of Karina as a student-artist: “Karina is a very good teacher. She pays attention to each one of our individual ideas and she tries to push them to the maximum by helping us build on the ideas to create new things. She also has a lot of knowledge about art in general, at both a technical and cultural level. The relationship between the group and Karina is very good and the best part is that we never feel any limits when developing a work.”