Michael J. Pearce, the founder of the Representational Art Conference, talks to me about art, politics, and the quixotic revival of traditional art and cultural instruction.
MP - Do you think the rise of the ateliers will change university policies? Students are interested in getting a job when they graduate—ateliers offer a skill set that gives them opportunities for employment in the burgeoning movie and video game industries— both huge consumers of skilled artists.
JP - I don’t think the ateliers will change the universities, but I hope the atelier model might be brought to more aspects of education to replace the universities. Not only is there a practical outcome, as you say, but such a system bypasses our educational establishment and their grip on society. We are already seeing some new opening in this regard, for example with the nonprofit Paideia Institute, for the study of classical language and history.