What do artists know?

Artists know more than material practices and techniques, but do artists carry a specialized knowledge — a quantifiable skill set of processes, methodologies, and approaches that they carry with them into the world? Frances Whitehead, professor at University of Chicago, calls it “tacit knowledge.” She wrote the treatise below called “What do Artists Know?” in 2006 addressing this question.

The idea is that an artist’s cognitive tool box is unique — and uniquely valuable — not just to “the art world” but to the world at large. She thinks of this document as “a knowledge claim” list of specific skills, processes and methodologies that many contemporary artists often possess. This list was derived from observations made by Whitehead’s colleagues in design, planning, engineering, and other non-fine art fields over the years.