Author Profile

Michael J. Pearce

Michael J. Pearce is founder and chair of The Representational Art Conference (TRAC). He is the author of “Art in the Age of Emergence.”

Articles by Michael J. Pearce

Birds of Paradise: The Moral Poverty of Faculty Freedom Fighters

Jun 17, 2022 · · Comments Off on Birds of Paradise: The Moral Poverty of Faculty Freedom Fighters

Carl Dobsky’s brilliant, fiery painting “Birds of Paradise” has been the focus of attention at his recent exhibitions, because it accurately and effectively captures the zeitgeist of contemporary American life. The painting is set in the backyard of a bourgeois Los Angeles home, where a laughing group of partying Angelinos drink red wine from large … Continue reading “Birds of Paradise: The Moral Poverty of Faculty Freedom Fighters”

Blowing the Boiler of American Education

Jul 21, 2021 · · Comments Off on Blowing the Boiler of American Education

The need for change in the visual arts may offer a way to fix two of the many fundamental problems afflicting American liberal arts education in general. These are the related problems of grade inflation and providing students with degrees that may lead to a good career. Over the last decade, the number of Americans … Continue reading “Blowing the Boiler of American Education”

To De-Politicize Art Schools, Students Need to Fight Back  

Dec 16, 2020 · · Comments Off on To De-Politicize Art Schools, Students Need to Fight Back  

It has never been harder to teach artistic individualism in America. A religious devotion to the causes of social justice dominates the ideas of professors in the academy, and David Randall’s report “Social Justice Education in America” has made clear that their evangelical zeal for teaching students the merits of intersectional political activism is topped … Continue reading “To De-Politicize Art Schools, Students Need to Fight Back  “

Thomas Cole, "A View of the Mountain Pass Called the Notch of the White Mountains (Crawford Notch)," 1839.

Why Art Matters

Mar 18, 2020 · · Comments Off on Why Art Matters

What do conservatives want to conserve? Clearly, conservatives everywhere desire the preservation and maintenance of the good things belonging to their various cultures that have been passed down from previous generations to their present time. That desire also implies conservatives wish to continue their cultural inheritance by passing these benefits on to their children and … Continue reading “Why Art Matters”

Politicized Art Schools Are Losing Students to the Atelier Movement

May 22, 2019 · · Comments Off on Politicized Art Schools Are Losing Students to the Atelier Movement

A series of disasters face art colleges and the art departments of American universities. Their campuses are closing, their freshmen numbers are dwindling, and their graduates are struggling. Getting more students into an art program is a hard sell. To restore their appeal, art schools would do well to de-politicize their programs and focus on … Continue reading “Politicized Art Schools Are Losing Students to the Atelier Movement”