The problem with art vs. design (or Art vs. design or Art vs. Design)  
conversations always come down to definitions. If we say that Kristina  
is wrong and Art as we are discussing is, indeed, a world created by  
curators, critics, and collectors, then the conversation can make some  
sense. If we take the approach that art includes a wide range of  
responses to a wide range of phenomena including things "made by. . .  
nature," and we go on to define design as a basic human activity, then  
it gets a bit difficult to parse.

We could cut through much of this and still examine Terry's claims by  
defining art as his statements implied--as whatever is the focus of  
art schools. The question then is how we define design for this  
conversation (or perhaps how Terry intended the term defined when he  
made his claims.)

Terry seems to assume more commonality in design fields than I do. I  
am more than a bit suspicious of Terry's definitions of "purpose" of  
design; I suspect that he might believe in a more reductive definition  
than I would in some cases and I think his belief in prediction is  
likely either folly or silliness in some design areas.

That said, he is right to a large extent at least when it comes to US  
schools. Fields like graphic design tend to be taught after a  
foundations program that is taught by painters and the like. Students  
spend their first year instructed by people who think that graphic  
design is just a debased version of what they do. They teach drawing  
as an end rather than as a tool. They reify archaic methods of  
production as "theory" (such as "color theory") and fail to address  
thinking that is fundamental to graphic design practice.

There are historic, political, financial, and even some practical  
reasons that US graphic design programs are usually located in art  
programs and that art faculty usually have undue control over  
curriculum. The role of art faculty often acts to the great detriment  
of graphic design.

If the goal of art schools is to prepare students for the possibility  
of entering into the world created by curators, critics, and  
collectors, I suspect that many schools would be better off with a  
foundations year more sympathetic to what I would think of as "design"  
ways of thinking. I also suspect that Terry and I wouldn't agree on  
how that should be defined.

Gunnar
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