As this semester I find myself more deeply emersed in my eduction studies, I find myself combining all sorts of observations about art and what it means to people and the classroom from different classes to books to everyday conversations. Something I have also been sorting out is my own art education and some differences and similarities between the painting class I am in now and love more than maybe any other class I've taken and a very difficult (in a non-academic way) last semester.
The question that keeps emerging is this: What is it that makes the art classroom so marginalized these days and how do we as teachers go about the difficult task of making art appropriately rigorous? Often, I have struggled with the question of how do deal with the issue of talent versus skill in the art classroom-- how do you deal with the concenption that the art class is really only for students who already love art naturally?
They tell us over and over that our focuse as content teachers must go beyond content, that the walls have to come frown between contents as we teacher students to be learners. In light of this advice and my own studies, I find a lot of answers to the questions above in the difference between approaching art as product and process.
As artists in our culture, it is difficult to get away from the notion of art as commodity. We are taught that our art making must always serve as a means of selling ourselves-- students are taught to hone their skill in order to create a product that will sell just like a clothing designer or car manufacturer.
In Chri Tovani's book, "Do I really have to Teach Reading," she includes this quote from Marcia D'Arcangelo in "The Challenge of Content-area Reading: A conversation with Donna Ogle":
"Many middle and high school teachers think of themselves as content experts. When I started teaching, I thought of myself as a historian. I wanted to teach history, and I really didn't think much about how students learn. I always focused on content. A lot of secondary teachers enter the field because of their passion for what they are teaching. It's an unusual teacher who comes into secondary education wanting to teach students how to learn. Yet, if we're going to be good teachers, that's really essential."
This quote interested me because it is a strong call to teachers to consider their motives. Am I an art teacher because I want all students to love art like I do, or do I want to open possibilities to students to disvoer things that they lovesas much as I love art? It is so easy to get into a rut of thinking that my content is best without thinking about the greater level of learning in students. What is best for them?
Art become much more meaningful when we allow it to move beyond the product. When we restrict our work in the art classroom to teaching students how to make a product that pleases others, we rob art and the student of all kinds of more important learning that goes on beneath and beyond the artwork. Art is so important because of all the exploration and discovery that takes place in the process. Art making involves all sorts of risk-taking and problem solving in a deeply holistic way that is not present in other subjects.
There are some art classes that I have observed or heard about that make me understand why people view the arts as enrichment or recess-- not necessary for people who are not naturally artistically inclined. When we treat art as only a means of producing a pleasing product, we are naturally going to eliminate many students in our classrooms or else make our own lives a great deal harder. Many adults do not know how to connect to art because they were only taught to view it as a measurement of acceptance in the class.
I used to think I loved art because I am creative and I love to paint, but the more I study art making and the more I learn about education, I realize that perhaps I love art more because of all the depth and possibilities it holds for my life as a whole. It challenges me to think deeply about my thoughts and experiences and moves me into a space where I am able to communicate my own senses of life for others to see in a deeply beautiful way. I love art because it is hard and it is intellectual and I hope that as a teacher I am able to instill a bit of the passion I hold into my own students towards their own loves and dreams. When we are able to use our art classrooms as places for students to hone their skills in creativity and deeper abstract thought, then it is appropriate to call it enrichement-- I believe the exercises the mind goes through during this process (regardless of the judgment attributed to the product) is an enrichment out world cannot do without.
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