Art is essentially Individual..Indivdually interesting, Individually challenging and Individually engaging! In fact Individuallity Makes the Artist!

I don't think that it is out of date.

“Artist Led should really mean” Artist led and encouraged.

“I’ll show you how” by the Artist and “Please show/teach how and support me” from the student; I think that the teacher/artist should be able to stand back and let the students explore and experiment with the medium and skills that they have learnt.

I've never really been to "Art School" no "A" Level in Art or Foundation courses, etc, etc under mi belt.. So this is all based on my own experience's...

I've worked along side Master Woodcarvers/Artist’s, where I have seen people who were paying money to be in the Master Carvers company to experience and learn. Some of these were already very good and highly skilled at carving/sculpture of wood, while the others were totally new to Carving/Sculpture of wood... I observed three thing's happen.

1) Idea's and enthusiasm of the carver were suppressed by the "Master" beyond the level of "Ok lets learn to walk first"! I even found in later meetings with different groups where the idea's of those before where hi-jacked by the Master/Artist and passed off as their own!

2) I've seen situations where the "Master carver" as actually taken over a piece of work and basically leaving the carver sitting an' watching with the end result been nothing of what was first envisaged?

3) Then tere were those Master woodcarvers that would spend time listening to ideas, exploring and encouraging the exploration of the students thoughts and idea’s! Then going down the "How I would do it", path and joint problem solving, actually taking part in the piece’s evolving and letting the student steer while the Master carver/Artist was/is acting only as a kind of co-pilot to the excises.

I think the later is Artist led.

The response to all these points is surely dependent on the artist involved and their skills and strengths. If the said artist has the right credentials I believe they have the power to deliver genuinely transformative processes and outcomes. The level of engagement from the others involved often, but not always, relies on the artist having the skills to 'bring the others along with them on the journey'and thus truly lead.