ADDITONAL RESOURCES FOR EDUCATORS
Lesson Plans:
Art 21: Online Lesson Library, Home & Displacement
http://www.pbs.org/art21/education/home/index.html
Art 21: Online Lesson Library, Landscape & Place
http://www.pbs.org/art21/education/naturalworld/lesson2.html
Websites & Blogs:
I.D.E.A. - InterDisciplinary Experimental Arts: http://blog.coloradocollege.edu/ideaspace/
Nontoxic Paint & Print: http://www.nontoxicprint.com/printmakingresources.htm
University of Florida Summer Session (2011): Printmaking Blog "A Sense of Place"
Indepentent and collaborative efforts of UF stutents and Professor Bob Meuller
http://tinyurl.com/43y4g52
Books:
Ackerman, D. (1990). A natural history of the senses. New York: Random House.
Tharp, T. ( 2003). The creative habbit: Learn it and use for life. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks.
Nachmanovitch, S. (1990).Free play: Improvisation in life and art. New York: Penguin-Putnam.
Tharp, T. ( 2003). The creative habbit: Learn it and use for life. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks.
Nachmanovitch, S. (1990).Free play: Improvisation in life and art. New York: Penguin-Putnam.
Scholarly Articles:
1. Grierson, E. (2010). Scrutinizing studio art and its study: Historical relations and contemporary contiditons. Journal of
Aesthetic Education, 44 (2), 111-123.
2. Hafeli, M. (2008). “I know a lot of things that you don’t. You wanna hear some?”: Adolescent themes and contemporary art practice. Art Education, 61 (2), 59-69.
This article contains a creative narrative and visual interpretation of a qualitative research study of teens and their artmaking practices. The author, Mary Hafeli presents a fictional tenth grade character, Sondra, who keeps a reflective journal as an assignment for her painting class. The journal contains thoughts and sketches from the point of view of a tenth grader as a means for informing art educators with methods for relating to their teenage students. This fictional student addresses themes of social structures/dynamics, identity (self-confidence and insecurity) and makes associations to contemporary music/lyrics; each of which could be developed into relevant lessons or units of study. The hypothetical journal assignment is both self-reflective and inquiry-based, showing the student’s creative process as she relates to various contemporary art trends.
This article is somewhat unbelievable because the hypothetical tenth grade student is extremely articulate, clear on the assignment and directions, as well as knowledgeable about how to glean important and useful research from the internet. I think these are advanced skills for the tenth grade and therefore reflect the assumptions and expectations of the author.
3. Marshall, J. (2010). Five ways to integrate: Using strategies from contemporary art. Art Education. 63 (3),13-19.
Marshall’s article presents a practical approach to designing curriculum based on key ideas that transcend disciplinary boundaries. The five conceptual strategies she suggests: Depiction, Extension/Projection, Reformatting, Mimicry, and Metaphor, each focus on the importance contemporary artistic examples and inquiry through the creative process. Depiction, is essentially rendering a subject from observation. This strategy can be applied to scientific illustration, sculpting 3-D models of natural systems, or costume design. Lessons designed around Extension/Projection require students to speculate about possible outcomes given a situation. One way to apply this strategy would be to ask students to propose how a historical figure may respond or act within the contemporary social/political climate. Reformatting, requires students to present information from one source in a different context, like “charting one’s emotional world as a geographical map” (17) or taking scientific information and translating it in an artistic way. Mimicry stretches the conventional notions of art by using and applying the tools of another discipline and highlights the artist’s role as observer and commenter. The last strategy, Metaphor, leads students into comparison between typically unrelated images or subjects and expands their associations and perspective. Each of these approaches focus primarily on the concept, then the materials and methods which aligns with Olivia Grude’s principles for a postmodern art education.
4. Mayer, M. (2008). Considerations for a contemporary art curriculum. Art Education, 61 (2), 77- 79.
This article argues that the inclusion of contemporary works in art education curriculum encourages life long learning and inquiry-based education beyond the classroom setting. Author Melinda Mayer, explains that art curriculum which connects to the student’s experiences encourages each student to build on his/her own ideas, engage in current culture, and critically reflect on what they visually consume. Pluralism of unique interpretations, disquieting subject matter, confusion and work that socially and/or personally challenges viewers are challenges often associated with incorporating contemporary art. However, Mayer explains that these challenges force students to create individualized interpretations rather than “replicate 25 or so mini-versions of the artist’s work” (79). She feels that “art curriculum based on the kind of Big Ideas found in contemporary art will inherently fulfill curricular standards…If art teachers start with building their own understanding of contemporary art and ideas rather than with standards, they will produce a curriculum that is accountable to state and national standards” (79).
5. Palmer, J. (2006). Teaching public art: Toward an interdisciplinary education. Public Art Review, 17 (2), 34-35.
This article is part of a larger proposal for the development of an interdisciplinary university level course in public art. Palmer suggests that such a course should be hosted by the visual arts department but made available not only artists but also to law students (studying property law or ethics for example), public relations students, and engineers/construction management students. Interdisciplinary courses would increase collaboration among traditionally diverse fields and aim to form a climate of involvement and participation beyond discipline boundaries.
6. Walker, S. (2009). Artmaking, subjectivity, and signification. Studies in Art Education, 51 (1), 77- 91.
In this interdisciplinary article, author Sydney Walker combines Lacanian psychoanalytical theory, neuroscience research, with interviews of contemporary artists’, and innovative M.F.A curriculum to describe the complimentary nature of the subconscious and conscious mind in the process of artmaking. She states that, “As art education professors, art teachers, and students, we do not know enough about how meaning is produced through artmaking.” (78). Considering this dilemma, she looks at the role of both consciousness and mental focus, as well as unconsciousness and mental relaxation as they pertain to the creative process. Recent neuroscience studies by Jonah Leher (2008) and Mark Jung-Beeman investigate the role that both the right and left hemispheres of the brain play in generating insights and new meaning. Studies revealed that both hemispheres have a unique role; the left provides mental focus on details and the right analyzes and decodes connotations (the meaning beneath the meaning). Both roles, in balance, are essential for creating and decoding meaning. Walker found cross-over support to these findings in the realm of contemporary art. Using mixed media installations by Ann Hamilton and collaborative performance work by Oliver Herring, Walker exemplifies that the creative process for these artists also requires a balance between focus/intention and free play, followed by further analysis. Professors of Ohio State University applied this pattern of creative development to a course geared towards MFA and Art Education graduate students. Students engage in reflective class discussion and journaling to generate “big ideas” that interest them. Then they elaborate and unpack those ideas both visually and linguistically. Applying principles from contemporary artists’ examples, students engage in meaningful play exploring the possibilities of their concepts. Following free-association and collaborative “games” the students again look critically at their outcome in order to assess and reveal meaning. This article is both practical and innovative in terms of the interdisciplinary approach to making and expressing meaning.
7. Wilson, B. (2008). Contemporary art, the best of art and third-site pedagogy. Art Education, 61 (2), 6-9.
Author Brent Wilson, defines “third-site pedagogy” as an equalizing place between the traditionally defined roles of teacher and student. A third-site pedagogy might be created in an informal setting like a school store-room or at an informal hour (before school, lunch or afterschool) with the purpose of giving students creative freedom and encouragement to be inspired by their contemporary visual culture. Teachers don’t necessarily need to understand the sources of inspiration but they serve to model creative inquiry and methods for moving the student’s work forward. In this way, students take ownership of their learning, create their own visual culture and ultimately achieve a deeper connection with their work.
8. Zimmerman, E. (2010). Creativity and art education: A personal journey in four acts. Art Education, 63 (5), 83-92
Zimmermann traces the changes, regression and progress of creativity through the last 50 years of art education’s history. In the 1960’s Lowenfeld era, creativity was the major push towards self-expression through artmaking as a “form of individual personality and identity formation” (84). The 1980’s showed a ‘holistic’ approach which focused on child-centered, subject-centered, and society-centered art education. The DBAE approach of the 1990’s moved away from creativity towards standards based curriculum, supported by rubrics for standard assessment, within this setting “creativity was sent backstage and art learning that could be assessed by standard measures were placed on the proscenium” (85). In recent years creativity has been reintroduced into art curriculum as a means for developing cultural identity, technology, good citizenship and economic entrepreneurship, which aids in collaborative problem-solving and heterarchical thinking.
9. Zupancic, T. (2005). Contemporary artworks and art education. International Journal of Education Through Art, 1 (1), 29-41.
10. Unknown Editor, (2011) Art + STEM = A spark for innovation. Int Rev Afr Am Art, 23 (3), Inside front cover.
This short article highlights a project at Hampton University that connects the arts and science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), which aims to create a fully integrated, participatory and interdisciplinary program for young African American students. Based on the concept of creating integrated K-12 mindbody curriculum this article connects the improvisation of jazz with the spontaneity basketball, as a means for optimal creative thinking, working and living. Although this article is inspiring it lacked context and specific information that would make it directly applicable to curriculum planning.