Stated in simple language, the fundamental ideas of our educational program are:
Art is not a phase of life apart from the workaday world, to which one may turn in moments of leisure, or perhaps in the name of so-called "culture," or in a spirit of worship. In the Foundation's courses, art is taken out of its usually detached, esoteric world, and is linked up with life itself, because all the qualities which give painting its value are those which are found in various phases of everyday life; and art has value only because it expresses those qualities. In other words, "art is a fragment of life presented to us enriched in feeling by means of the creative spirit of the artist."
We do not teach students how to paint, for that would be like teaching a duck to swim. We teach them how to learn to see; that is, to perceive the meanings in the events of everyday life, as well as in paintings, sculpture, music, furniture, objects in wrought iron, trees and flowers.
