Turns out Kurt kept personal notes--not exactly a diary--but a spotty record of how he felt about what he did and why. This particular snippet is circa 1968; he was still teaching, but was no longer employed by UCLA. "Now I give all my students "A"s automatically," he writes, "They like it."
A Thematic Book List - 1995
Here is an example of the rigor Kurt brought to his teaching: a thematic book list from 1995 for Art 110-American Art, at Sacramento State University. The compilation of books referenced in this document were all contained in Kurt's personal library, and he had absorbed every one of them. He urged his students to read books, although as his years of teaching accumulated, each successive year's students read fewer books, not more. Nonetheless, he persevered. "What, then, is a truly 'original' thought or "creative" idea?" he asked.,"is 'originality' an essential quality of either scholarly or artistic activity?"
The New Education in the Arts
By 1967 Kurt had become the most popular professor on the UCLA campus, but his unconventional approach drew the ire of the administration and fellow faculty.
In this article written for the publication artscanda in July of 1968, Kurt provides an account of his teaching experience at UCLA, which had effectively come to an end with the non-renewal of his teaching contract. "...the leading conceptual or theoretical problems to be formulated in such a history of twentieth century art lie just in those areas where the traditional fine arts overlap the various realms of popular art, folk art, commercial and industrial art, non-art or even anti-art.," he states, and later, "The basic aim of this course was to provide students with some of the capacity and inspiration necessary for approaching the world around them as one great, fascinating, complex, mind-blowing work of art."
Art 113-C Midterm Examination -1986
Professor von Meier's style of examination was as unconventional as his way of teaching, as can be seen in this report he prepared on his mid-term examination for Art 113-C, Occidental Art and Mythology. Why he prepared this report is not entirely clear, except some students had complained about his way of teaching and how he assigned student grades; it may have been his way to document "the method behind his madness" in case matters escalated. As it is, this report provides a wonderful glimpse into Kurt's approach to teaching. The included course bibliography is an indication of the range of Kurt's scholarly background and personal library. Images and links have been added to his original material.
Art 102 - Aesthetics and Criticism - 1993
One way to understand the mind of Kurt von Meier is to examine what and how he taught. He poured himself into his teaching and his students got the real deal; a teacher of vast knowledge and insight unafraid to tell the truth. And he did it in an entertaining way. The course materials below are a good example of where the mind of von Meier could, and did, go. Everyone was welcome to hop aboard for the ride.
Sabbatical Leave Report - 1975
Sabbatical leave every seven years is one of the benefits of being a tenured professor, which Kurt was at Sacramento State University. One wonders, however, what his Art Department Chair made of this report from Kurt about how he spent his sabbatical leave. Never one short for words, Kurt used the opportunity to expound on his favorite topics of the time - The Laws of Form and Vajrayana Buddhism.
K von Meier McLuhanesque - The Hot University
In 1967, Kurt took on the University Establishment in a searing essay about education as social policy. Using the ideas of media-critic and university professor Marshall McLuhan, Kurt labels incoming Governor Ronald Reagan as the first wave of an anti-intellectual conservatism threatening the very foundations of university life and higher education. Looking back, we can now see how prescient Kurt was.
