I read the below statement on Hazel Dooney‘s blog, among her possible visions for the world over the next ten years. I think it’s acute and yet wonderful, and must be shared with many others – let the future come, it sounds exciting!
“Due to the loss of rudimentary artisan skills, a tragic by-product of a thirty year emphasis on post-modern theory rather than traditional, centuries-old practice, art schools will become irrelevant and be replaced by free, widely distributed, web-based, autonomous learning resources. Artists will re-learn 15th century skills and techniques through [gasp!] experimentation, practise, online research, and by viewing work by fellow artists.”
Hazel’s main site is here, her blog is here and the original post here.
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Melbourne Jeweller 
I’m certainly with Hazel on that. We have to fight against the conceptualist elitism towards craft skills It’s time to take the ‘evil’ out of Medieval. But I would caution against a complete abandonment of ‘art theory’. Good critical writing has the potential place work in a broader context – what the work might have to say for others, perhaps those not even alive yet. Can making and thinking complement each other? See – http://www.thetwohandsproject.net
Thank you for the thoughts and link Kevin – some reading and thinking for me to do over the weekend…
Also, did you read Hazel’s other ideas? The ones about Damien Hirst may turn out to be visionary!
I guess becoming a reliquary is as close as you can get to being immortal. Our grandchildren might be visiting national gallery to see Damien Hirst’s toenail clipping. But who clipped it? That’s what I want to know.