“stARTing With”

One:

Question:

-Visual Culture – Blaire describes VCAE.  What is VCAE and what are its strengths and weaknesses? 

VCAE is the acronym for Visual Culture Arts Education and refers to an approach to teaching art that replaced the older controversial Disciplined Based Art Education (DBAE) in the 1990s.  The biggest difference between the two is the source in to which the student uses or is given to guide their creativity.  VCAE focuses on using the experience of each student and their culture.

 

VCAE advocates for teachers to study the silent marketing schemes behind large toy making companies, companies that in Eurowestern culture play huge roles in the shaping of children’s lives.  How do these companies represent different ideals different cultural views, different ideas of gender and roles of.

 

Visual Culture, it is argued, aids in developing “critical thinking skills, which make them more informed consumers”(p. 184)  The chapter also states that “one of the main goals to VCAE is to help students critically examine mediated messages”(p.184)

 

It is argued that VCAE places too much emphasis on  the social aspect of artefacts and not enough on aesthetics, which ultimately has many claiming that VCAE is more about sociology than it is art.

 

Antoher problem the VCAE approach presents is the possibility of  making students feel guilty about their culture, for instance the the text makes reference to critiquing media sources and magazines that students read and or watch.  In a way this could be seen as an attack and could present barriers to learning.  We must be careful to ensure we don’t do this to our students.  This would be accomplished by knowing each student and taking an interest in their lives; something we should already be doing as a teacher any ways.

 

 

TWO

Question:

-Blatherwick makes a case for exhibiting students work in Chapter 11 – Exhibiting Student Art for Understanding and Enrichment.  Explain the reasons why Blatherwick believes exhibition is such an important element of the art program.

 

First off, art allows students to express themselves, their feelings and experiences.  They are able to use art to represent their lives.  Unlike words, that detail out images one idea at a time, an image or visual representation of feelings or experiences display in layers creating a more aesthetically appealing work.

 

Students use different artefacts to create their images creating personal connection representative of their feelings and experiences at that point in time.  Artefacts that are used will then contain some sort of meaning unique to the student who used it.  It is our obligation to encourage students to find the underlying meaning for their use of artefact.

 

I like how the chapter mentions that many art teachers don’t use art as an inquiry method into culture, however should.  Considering visual art as a representation of ones experiences/feelings it seems rather funny to me that student art usually ends once the “project” is complete.  By displaying projects for others to see and reflect upon it creates a sense of community and belonging, something that is very important in the learning process, psychological security.  Blatherwick claims that “because student art contains personal and cultural content, it can be a powerful basis for reflection, discussion and interpretation.”(p. 102)  Bletherwick continues to state that by encouraging students to interpret and reflect on their peers art will help them create an understanding in how art portrays meaning.” (p. 102).

 

Building on the skills learned by discussing and reflecting on personal and peer artwork, these skills of inquiry can be taken into the real work such as in museums or in art images in society.  Teachers also contend that the displaying of student art is a major part of the creative process (p. 103)

 

I had never really thought of art this way.  Being such a reflection of ones views of the world, it can really be a valuable resource to figuring out our students lives.  I wonder if it can also be used to seek clues about behavioural issues.

 

THREE

Question

Making Meaning with Holiday Crafts – Castro and Castro point our many of the pitfalls of using ‘crafts’ as art projects.  Discuss the problems with using simple crafts in the art room.  

 

In our Eurowestern culture art has been equated to “craft, product and decoration” (p. 135) which ultimately plays out in the classroom as step by step quick and short projects centred around ideals set by the teacher that involve very little creativity or imagination.  Often this approach to art reinforces the “stereotyping [of] religion, culture, gender, and race.” (p. 135)  It is essential that teachers recognize and understand the implications of the diverse student cultures in today’s classrooms.  Craft in the past have been closely tied to religious holidays which still to this day present issues in the modern day classroom.

 

Art needs to go further than the simple “make-and-take” method of the past.  The simple task of self-selection, choosing materials to represent an idea, feeling, experience, or thought is a central aspect to metaphorical thinking in which Castro and Castro claim is one of many uses for art.  By doing this, we allow the diversity in the classroom to shine and for students to become more culturally aware of not only their peers lives but also of their own in how their peers interpret their art.

 

By stepping back at each instinct to label an activity based on cliche culutural events, we can offer a different angle to an activity that provides personal meaning and appreciation to what is being created but does not harness any one cultural perspective or conformity.

 

FOUR

Queston:

-So How am I Supposed to Do It? – Cooley talks about the learning that arises from demonstration in art.  Talk about instances where demonstration is important and circumstances when learning might be enhanced if demonstration were left out. 

 

Demonstrations are important in unlocking confidence in students and encouraging them to explore outside of the box.    Demonstrations are used in situations that will be of use either before during or after the creative activity.  It may be the demonstration of how to properly clean a paint brush after being used.  It may be a demonstration of how to properly and safety mix plaster for carving.  The non-use of demonstrations can however be a catalyst to creativity.  When demonstrations are left out it forces students to turn to each other to work out the best method to be used.  By allowing students to explore and create meaning in their work without being given any guidelines it gives them creative ownership and power.  It is procedures, methods and theories that should be demonstrated as tools for each student to use as a basis to interpret and create.

 

 

FIVE

Question: Exploring the Elements of Art by Pastro is a practical chapter that provides approaches to help children learn about the elements or art.  Choose one of the approaches listed by Pastro and discuss how you might use it in an elementary classroom.

 

Personally I would use the whole 7 posters idea.  This to me acts like a cognitive credit card allowing for students to look upon it as a reference in the future.  As the chapter suggests, students would make 7 different posters representing each of the elements of art: Line, shape, Form, Colour, Value, Texture, and Space.  Drawing upon images collected from home (newspapers, magazines etc with parental consent prior to cutting), items from nature found on the way to school or once at school on the playground.

 

Now, I don’t know if I would necessarily would do all of this in one lesson.  I would want to break down this poster project into a longer unit on the elements of art.  This would then allow for deeper understanding and exploration of each element.  Allowing for experimenting, trial and error with each element would be nice, however I know time doesn’t always permit the ideal, so grouping two or three different elements together may not only increase the difficulty but give more opportunity for exploration.

 

Collecting images and items from personal experiences creates a connection that is not present when materials are collected by the teacher and handed down.  This can be motivating for students as well.

 

SIX

Question:

-Take it Outside: A Place-Based Approach to Art Education – by Inwood, argues that when they are involved in place-based education, “students are able to better relate their learning to the complexity of national or global issues.” How can place-based education be used in art?

 

 

The big idea behind Place-Based art education is that the student connects with their neighbourhoods “increasing the relevance of curriculum and making it directly applicable to their lives.”(p. 214)  Instead of simply relying on students to drum up experiences, or reflect on experiences presented by the teacher, the community and its diversity is offered to students.  Many questions and ideas will result from a simple walk through the neighbourhood that may also bring rise to discussions of important social aspects of society.  I can think of a walk that I went on in elementary school, I was curious of the sign on some lawns with pictures on them.  This was my first experience with realizing that my parents could sell their house too.

 

I believe too that Place-based learning with art can be cross-curricular in that an art class is used to navigate the neighbourhood with using camera’s to capture design elements.  Asking students to find examples of lines that define shapes such as triangles, or cirlces.  This could also go as far to ask students to take pictures of 90 degree angles they find on their community walk.

 

An art class would most likely be more inspired by attending a First Nations Art gallery or demonstration in which they could witness first hand, community and culture at work, having no prior setup by the teacher.  Students could then take pictures and get ideas for art projects.

 

It’s not always about taking a piece of the community back into the school.  I like the fact that art education can deliver the often overlooked voices of our future leaders and society.  When students are seen in the community as committing to a work of art such as one that contributes to the health and well being of society, media seems to jump on these opportunities.  Place-based art may result after a unit study and be taken out into the community as voices against or for a cause sincere to the community, the school and or the students.

 

Personally, I like the idea of students educating the public about certain things such as when forests or greenspaces are considered for rezoning.  Students units on the environment can turn into art projects that display facts and statistics, or great utilization of the space under review.

 

Seven

Question: 

Sequential Art and Graphic Novels: Creating with the Space in-between Pictures- Emme and Taylor provide insights into the value of sequential art and graphic novels.  Talk about the reasons why this form of art provided valuable learning.  

 

“If words are ideas in lines, images are ideas in space.” (p.93) this line jumped out at me.  The 21st Century has changed our ideas around what literacy actually is.  Up until now we have relied on a more linear mode of communication through words or text.  Emme and Taylor claim that in order to be literate in today’s world, one must be familiar with the different layers of literacy present in visual culture.

 

Up until now, after reading this article I had never thought about using comics in the classroom.  I’ve definitely made them before in middle and highschool classes. I realize now that comics can be used to communicate ideas about time, space and relationships.  If forces one to creative narrative around different space/object relationships.  Sequential art is beneficial in that it “requires the development of a recognizable character and setting that changes over time to move the narrative.” (p.97)

 

This art form also is beneficial in that it does not exclude other literacies such as reading and writing.  In fact, including writing in sequential art adds another dimension to the work.

 

Reading today is not only to decode lines that carry ideas, it is deeper than that.  In order to be literate in today’s world one must possess multimodal reading habits that are more in sync with how information is communicated.  Sequential art and graphic novels tap into the deeper meaning of visual culture that provides for a more rich and relevant experience, rather than a simple read.  It allows students to use their own experiences in deciphering what is being presented, where as a movie presents information as determined by the director.

 

I really enjoyed this article and will defiantly keep it in mind for my practicums to come and for my future as a teacher.

 

Eight

Question:

“if art education is to be meaningful, we must not shy away from controversial themes” in Chapter 19 – Art Education and Social Justice: An Elementary Perspective.  What are some of the ways that you could include social issues in art? 

 

I think there are many ways to include social issues in an art curriculum.  I do believe however in with the statement “There are very few published curriculum projects that encourage students to explore the arts for social change.  Such work must start with a deeply felt need; one that can be experienced locally.”(p. 170)

 

I think that rather than by dictating a social issue or bringing light a social issue, that students should be encouraged to find the issues that are currently present in their communities themselves, this can be done through discussion or sharing stories.  Such things that would definitely come up would be the issues of bullying, gender equality, family structures, poverty and nutrition to name a few.

 

After reading this chapter it seems that many of the ideas around the integration of social issues is done so through the implementation and adoption of “kits” or “program”.  I would be interested in having an art class of mine develop one of these programs around and issue that is close to them.

 

Introducing social issues through art only would be rather difficult I would imagine and would need the aid of other subjects in setting the scene or for providing background information and facts, such as during literacy classes.  An example that I could draw upon would be that of immigration to Canada.  As we are a multicultural nation many of our community members were not born here in Canada and have many experiences relating to their trek to Canada, some negative and some positive.  I would integrate this with a drama class in which tableau’s and other structures are used to cover the issues around immigrating to Canada.  Students in the class could be encouraged to speak on behalf of their experience pre, during and post immigration.  Speaker could be called upon from the community at large to discuss and share.  Picture journals could be made to represent some of the struggles presented by discussions, of immigrating to Canada.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My thoughts on the stARTing with text:

Thanks Michelle for having us buy this text.  I can honestly say that I’ll be keeping this for future use and for future reading.  I honestly would pick this text up just for casual reading.  I like the fact that it is unique to BC and covers topics that really appeal to me.  Chapters were  not too long or too short, but did have the information presented in a way that I really liked and could connect with.

 

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