Growing up on a farm in rural Wisconsin involved numerous means to be ingenious, from agriculture, machinery, animals, or mischievous problems calling for critical thinking and problem solving. I have always been a maker, creative, innovator, includer which was naturally borne out of these conditions. I value visual art and its experiences from viewing, contemplating, and sharing technique. I feel it is important to connect the historical and innovative nature of the work, finding a context in which to place it, even if it belongs outside the box. I want to share my passion in a way that it encourages others to see and think about the visual arts from their unique perspective. When I started my college career at UW-Milwaukee in the fall of 1995, I considered a focus in Art Education. As I began my freshman studies, I decided that I would concentrate on a discipline before teaching. I chose fiber arts and minored in art history. My discipline, fiber arts in the area of surface design, allowed me to focus on many aspects of the creative process. With a sensitivity to, and knowledge of art history, I was able to find a reference point in much of my work. In 2001, I returned to school as a candidate for post baccalaureate certification for Art Education. In 2004, studying in Milwaukee, expecting my first child, I ended my schooling for certification. At the same time Milwaukee Public Schools were aggressively cutting art programs from their schools and the future of art educators looked bleak. I continued on my art education journey with an unconventional route. I was invited into the public schools for artist’s residencies, art education internships for underserved youth, and teaching fiber arts through the recreation department. I also was a member and served on the board of the Riverwest Artists Association, where I became president and a huge advocate for educational programming in our gallery’s common space. In 2016, I moved to Menomonie. I transitioned my family of six and my husband took a principal position at a parochial school. I was involved at the school and volunteered to teach art lessons, hosted a basket making workshop for the 7th and 8th graders, and presented a color theory presentation to the Women of St Paul’s. In 2018 I was asked to create an art curriculum for K-8th grade of the school. In 2019 I was hired to teach K-8th grade art. I have a diverse background from urban to rural teaching experiences, I studied abroad in England in my undergraduate studies, I have taught visual art making for almost two decades to all age groups, young and wise. I teach to inform students of the historical foundation in which they may reference for the work they are to consider creating. I encourage them by taking the next step and carefully observing progress and investigation with a keen sense of correcting moments. My goal as an art educator is to foster a creative, critical thinking, learning environment where the skills students learn can encourage ingenuity in all areas of their lives.
When I say that I am an Art teacher, it means that I teach visual culture in the arts. Placing responsibility into the hands of students to discover an idea “worth investigating” requires the art teacher, me, to have the knowledge and ability to lead discussions and engage students in a meaningful investigation. “They (the teachers) must also have enough knowledge of art history and contemporary art to present meaningful examples of artists who have dealt with similar issues in a variety of ways.” (Herrmann, 2005.) I also need to empower students with a more meaningful approach to the contemporary art world. Teachers should not divorce oneself completely from fine art studies (technical acquisition, art history, formalism), recognizing again that “works” of fine art play their principal role. “They belong in the art education curriculum, not to give us aesthetic experiences, though they do that well, but to remind us of our human potential.” (Efland, 2005.) Acknowledgment of the changes that occur in our world and the art world is extremely important, it would seem evermore important for a contemporary and future art educator to be well versed in art history. Duncum does not warn but informs readers that, “it is crucial for art education to acknowledge that while visual communication survives, it has changed its form. Imagery is now infinitely more plentiful, pervasive, immediate, and ephemeral, than ever before. And proponents of the information highway promise a high level of interactivity.” (Duncum, 1997.) Visual culture's primary goal in art education is to encourage critical thinking, while creating a structure in which creative learning can occur. In my instruction I embrace flexibility, willingness, and openness and search to find balance in theories that all seem to have some validity. We need to acknowledge the interrupting nature of visual/ mass media/ information highway noise and find a place for it in the education of art, but in balance with the foundation of art history, manipulation of materials, and critical thinking skills. Visual culture, in a lesson, would include a discussion and/or critique, referencing the history or contemporary culture, asking enduring and understanding questions, while using visual art vocabulary to clarify what the students are experiencing. An art project might involve construction of a robot, using paper (2D) or recycling (3D). A discussion in visual culture of this project would reference “pop” culture, design, advertising, or cartoons such as Big Hero 6 or the Jetsons and asking enduring questions that promote thinking of design, what the robot might do, while manipulating the materials. When I say that I am an Art teacher, it means that I teach Service Learning and Social Justice. Life is more enriching when one is not centered on self. As an art educator I need to find that center, the context in which I come from, yet I need to propel my purpose out of self, not disconnected from who I am but refining what I can evolve into, however there is no destination; I will constantly be changing and hopefully refining myself into a better human. I recognize a fluid process to planning Service Learning or Social Justice in art education. The needs of the student or the educator may shift, it is necessary for a touchstone, foundation or criteria to keep us on course with social justice and service learning. Teachers need to be empowered as “leaders capable of contributing to a social change and justice both inside and outside of schools provides a basis for belief in the possibility of social justice.” (Garber, 2004.) Students will have experiences that they can take beyond the classroom. “The importance of teachers seeing themselves as intellectuals- that is, as professionals able to conceptualize, design, and implement ideas and experiences in educating students- rather than as technicians implementing prepackaged content and instructional procedures… Teachers are able to determine content that validates their student’s bases of understanding and experiences.” (Garber, 2004.) This is only possible if the educator is in tune with their personal enrichment and flexible in their own life experiences and response to the world that surrounds them and the students they educate. Taylor reinforces the ever-changing shifts and response that is necessary in social justice and service minded theory by stating that the keystone to service-learning pedagogy is reflection. “Service-learning students, teachers, and community participants are actively involved in the constant production and reproduction of the service project through reflective discourse, writing, exhibition, and critique”. Through this vital reevaluation, “service-learning theory and language are also constantly reflected upon, reconsidered and altered.” (Taylor, 2002.) To reaffirm this, Taylor defines that a service-learning project must be a continually evolving process to be considered a postmodern work of art, and that even when the course or semester is over, the service -learning project is never completed, re affirming that like our own theories we must continue to evolve and refine our response to the world around us and the way we educate. In the case of social justice and service-learning, I have often been surrounded by strong points of view, taught in urban, inner city, or underprivileged-at-risk students, while our family qualified for “underprivileged” assistance programs. I have people in my life that are a contrast to my thinking. There is a necessity in acceptance, willingness to learn from the differences, but looking for the similarities. If we focus on what is different or wrong, we will never meet on the common ground. As an art educator I must own the standards I choose to teach, I must define my role and the direction of my classroom. As much as that gives me freedom it comes with responsibility. I will need to continually inform myself when social justice becomes part of the curriculum. Service-learning is vital to a wholesome human experience, it can only enhance the lives we touch and educate. Social justice and service learning are inherent to the human experience. It would not be a specific lesson compartmentalized, but a thread throughout the learning, thus something students will carry beyond the classroom. Community based service learning can enhance the community while allowing some expression from learners. One particular service-learning project I remember being involved in was painting trash barrels for a city park. There was a common theme, Wisconsin Habitats. Students collaborated, planned, and worked together painting the barrels. It contributed to the community and we the students shared the common experience. When I say that I am an Art teacher, it means that I teach Multiculturalism. Multiculturalism inclusion in education is extremely important. In the 21st century with almost all knowledge at the tips of our fingers, educating our students in factual, discretionary, curriculum has a greater importance now more than ever. Through social media the naive may perceive something gone viral as fact, this could cross into reaffirming stereotypes, and fostering ignorance. It is necessary to teach tradition and foundations in arts education and include multicultural diversity in other cultures. This inclusive view of diversity adds to the depth of education in the arts, therefore making the arts wholesome experience. “I want to show them that it is possible to like one thing more than another while loving both.” (Best, 2002.) Though formalist in the foundation of Best’s educational approach, his multicultural desire to inform has the components of the Multicultural and Social Reconstructionist approach to arts education. “The reconstructionist’s approach educates students to become critical thinkers capable of examining their life experiences and the social divisions that keep them and their group from fully enjoying the social and economic rewards of the United States” (Stuhr, Grant & Sleeter, 1993.) Best also defines four principles in reconstructive teaching that brings students to fuller aesthetic, spiritual, and intellectual learning. Defining one’s centeredness (much like service-learning), knowing widely and evaluating accordingly, the difference between intrinsic worth and relative value, and differences in kind make room for the allowance of differences in a quality among kinds (aesthetics, and the means by which we categorize our experiences). A response to art may differ, however I need to allow for differences within context, media, culture, etc., and aesthetics is a tool in which I can “measure” our response and understanding of our experience. Multiculturalism in a lesson should remain true to the culture in which it is referenced and based upon fact. The sensitivity to the culture that is represented will speak volumes to the students and that knowledge will transcend the classroom. A multicultural lesson may look to street culture, such as break dancing. Students may observe examples of the art, think about the music, and make connections like color and movement. The focus of the lesson may be understanding body and movement and emphasizing vibrant color, making the concept universal, through individual interpretation. I feel that multiculturalism and the issue of race are related but do deserve a closer look together and as well as separate. The foundation of my art education journey began in Milwaukee. I did a practicum in inner city schools and was a resident teaching artist in the urban environment. I’ve become complacent, in northern Wisconsin. The potential to turn ourselves into the all caring patriarchal role which separates us from the students. White teachers often fight battle fronts they don't understand in a black world, in the study Constructing an Image of a White Teacher, particularly, student teachers. “They failed to realize that no amount of caring-if it is not linked to some possibility of change, is going to dismantle the foundations of racism that hold our schools intact. The participants' paternalism, along with some of the teaching they observed, mutes the critical discussion of racism and teaching.” (McIntyre, 1997.) Often we find ourselves in situations that “no matter how much or how little they had already acknowledged the role race played in their lives and the lives of others, there had still been too little acknowledgement of it and too much silence about it.”( McIntyre, 1997.) Only in a classroom and actively teaching/observing in that environment, can one learn the most about the subtle variations or glaringly obvious differences in our whiteness and culture vs. the inner city or urban environment. This is an area of teaching that has “too much silence” about it. Race is not necessarily lesson worthy, but rather a sensitive topic that any educator should be mindful of and practice acceptance of differences, finding the similarities and capitalizing on them will create a positive learning environment. When I say that I am an Art teacher, it means that I teach Arts Advocacy. Arts advocacy should come from promotion of arts in education rather than justification of its existence. Justification always takes on a defensive tone, which can be perceived as negative. Promotion of the arts in education can be related to academic achievements. Success in academics may or may not have been attributed to the art programs however, when arts were included in the curriculum test scores were higher. In my current teaching position, at a private parochial school, art was only added to the curriculum offered recently. Since that inclusion, with sights set on increasing enrollment, art has been used in marketing to a wider audience to increase enrollment. Right now, advocacy for my art program is showing the work; taking the time to display, post online, write articles about art projects and units, sharing with parents, congregation of the church, ministry board, the board of education, and students. Students are the receivers of what I teach and take what they learn beyond the classroom and apply that learning and knowledge in their life. A lesson I taught this school year, Picasso cardboard collage guitars, was remembered by a first-grade student while on break from the COVID-19 break. In his home, he recreated the project, and entertained his parents with a cardboard guitar concert. Often the result of a theory in Art Education is not the basis of a lesson, but a result of the teaching of the lesson and the outcome and evidence of the lesson. “We do the arts no service when we try to make their case by touting their contributions to other fields. When such contributions become priorities, the arts become handmaidens to ends that are not distinctly artistic and, in the process, undermine the value of art’s unique contributions to the education of the young”. (Eisner 1998) Art as a subject in its uniqueness, and can only attribute to the characteristics of strong character; motivation and engagement, persistence, focused attention, and intellectual risk taking; habits of mind including problem solving, critical and creative thinking, dealing with ambiguity and complexity, integration of multiple skill sets, and working with others; including collaboration and teamwork skills, social tolerance, and self-confidence. Repeated over and over, these values and moral fiber, can be connected to art integration in schools. The spiritual/moral, brain building, and self-image aspects of a person’s life can be encouraged by flexing those attributes. Only through doing and evidence can art educators advocate the validity of the program they teach. When I say that I am an Art teacher, it means that I teach Aesthetics. When teaching awareness or the inclusion of aesthetics in art education, a philosophical approach is introduced into the art experience. Philosophy in art education should cause both educator and student to “think and express oneself clearly, carefully analyzing problems and issues considering alternatives, drawing connections and crafting strong arguments and sound decisions through the application of reason” (Anderson/Mcrorie, 1997.) There are two perspectives on which to view art’s existence, universalism/formalism and pluralism/contextualism. Universalism/formalism is the ideal that form is a universal language and the principles of art and design are the foundation. In pluralism/contextualism art has a purpose beyond decoration or form, but rather functions as a means of communication. Both of these perspectives are important considerations in which to categorize a larger view of educator’s approach in their class specific curriculum. High art formalist deals colliding with the immediacy of street art, conceptual art ideas, and art of the people, created a dynamic climate in art movements as a whole, and in art education. Art educators in my own experiences taught technical formalism, in my elementary school, where we focused on materials and how they were used. Contextualism was introduced in high school, where it was expected to create original work that would communicate an idea or inform my audience. In college the focus was on discipline, technical ability, and craftsmanship, however once a foundation of skill had been attained the contextualism had a huge role. Enduring questions were asked, why do you do what you do? Why do you create? Why are you an artist? What makes YOU an artist? In reflection of my path to where I have been and arrived, I can see connections to the formal and contextual approach to arts in education for the 21st century. The combination of formalism and contextualism allows for an infinite range of imagination, collaboration, the integration of skills and techniques and enables students to effectively communicate their ideas in visual form. Adjustments must be made to the audience. Balancing technique, materials, form, with critical thinking, and using art history examples to encourage students to communicate in their own voice is the basis of integrating aesthetics. The response can be entirely different from urban to rural environments. Understanding that the outcome may not be as one defined outcome, being flexible, adhering to theories and standards as a guideline, educators will know the student’s unique experience is vital. The “success” of learning through a curriculum mindful of aesthetics, equips the student with critical thinking and creates “a cohesive and comprehensive account of meaning and purpose of art and its methodologies for making, understanding, and appreciating art” (Lankford, 1992.) Art is universal in its ability to communicate through its aesthetics, what it communicates is also unique to the climate in which it is presented. As I consider my role as an art teacher, I realize that first and foremost, I teach children. The various ways of approaching the subject of art will affect how my students absorb what I want to communicate to them. I want the lessons to go beyond the classroom and I understand that every child may not experience art in the same way. I mentioned earlier that I am an includer. In third grade my best friend hated art, going to class gave her so much anxiety that it made her stomach hurt. I just didn’t understand how someone could not enjoy art class. I would try my best to encourage her. As an adult instructor as well as elementary educator, I find myself encouraging and including just as I did with my best friend. I often scan my room, looking for the child that may be despondent, excluded, or in need. Content, curriculum, and achieved skill sets are important, also is the human experience in a safe learning space. It is vital that the choices I make are intrinsic, filled with knowledge, teach a valuable skill, and add to the moral character to those I serve as an art educator. Anderson, Tom, McRorie, Sally. (1997). A role for aesthetics in centering the k-12 art curriculum, Art Education, Vol. 50, No.3, pp.6-14 Danto, A. (1992) Beyond the Brillo Box: The visual arts in post-historical perspective. New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux. Lankford, Louis E. (1992) Aesthetics, issues, and inquiry. Reston, VA:NAEA, pp.1-29. http://www.naea-reston.org/publications-list.html Garber, Elizabeth. (2004) Social justice and art education. Visual arts research, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 4-22. Herrmann, Rebekka. (2005). The disconnect between theory in a visual art culture approach to art education. Art Education, Vol. 58 No.6, pp. 41-46 Duncum, Paul. (1997). Art education for new times. Studies in Art Education, Vol. 38, No.2, pp. 69-79. Efland, Arthur D. (2005). Problems confronting visual culture. Art Education, Vol. 58, No.6, pp. 35-40. Mcintyre, Alice. (1997). Constructing an image of a white teacher. Teachers College Record, Vol.98, NO.4, pp.655-681 Best, Harold M. (2002). Lemonade or merlot? Authentic multiculturalism and high culture. Arts Education Policy Review, Vol.104, No. 1, pp. 3-10. Stuhr, Patricia L. (1994). Multicultural art education and social reconstruction. Studies in Art Education, Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 171-178. Eisner, Elliot W. (1998) Does experience in the arts boost academic achievement? Art Education, p. 1-14. President’s Committee on the Arts. (2011). Online. www.pcah.gov. Winner, Ellen, Hetland, Lois. (2007). Art for our sake school art classes matter more than ever but not for the reasons you think. The Boston Globe, Vol. 109, No.5, p. 29-31. Gee, Constance Bumgarner. (2006). Valuing the arts on their own terms? (Ceci n’est pas une pipe.). Vanderbilt University. NASAD Annual Meeting. Taylor, Pamela G. (2002). Service learning as postmodern art and pedagogy. Studies in Art Education, Vol. 43, No.2, p. 124- 140.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI have a passion for the visual arts and love sharing it with others. I have enjoyed teaching all ages and love to incorporate art history and traditional disciplines as well as innovative ideas. Art is vital to who I am as a creator and educator. Archives
August 2023
Categories
All
|