10-25-09

In whatever school district I end up becoming a part of, I think one of the best ways to be an advocate for the arts is to make the events of the art classroom and students' artwork (preferably with their permission) as visible as possible to the school and community in order to get people acquainted with the importance of an art curriculum and the meaningful learning that takes place in an art education. For these things to be valued by the community, the art teacher that uses public accountability as a form of validation must be conscientious in creating, implementing, and maintaining an art education experience that is relevant to the students and other areas of their academic education.

I think that there are risks involved with being an advocate of art in education, simply because in many school systems at this time the pro-art position is contrary to that of the school system as a business, and that of parents and community members who don't understand its value. This could cause employment issues if pursued openly.

The way to balance these things is not certain, but by making the art curriculum effective for other school subjects and beneficial to all students, we can maximize art education itself and increase the community's desire for their children to have it at the same time.

10-18-09

I think the fundamental benefit of collaborative artmaking is the transmission of ideas between artists, in order for each artist to grow by being drawn out of their boundaries, and to gauge the effectiveness of their visual communication methods.  Multiple artists giving input to one piece can also teach the individuals more about themselves, and maybe they would like to expand on some ideas that where pointed out to them in their own work.  Service-learning projects could fit into the curriculum as the beginnings of different projects, using research to guide my methods.

I've never really made art with others in a hands-on sense, but a major part of collaborative artmaking that I have participated in is group critiques.  I think that the technique used in the book to prevent "groupthink" during critique is something that can potentially make that part of artistic dialogue exponentially stronger.  Honest feedback during and after the creation of a piece of art is a vital part of the flow of ideas between artists, and can be key in fostering a collaborative atmosphere.

Groupthink, in my opinion, has been very present in the critiques I've experienced, as even when I have no idea how I would comment on someone's piece, I am able to predict what others would say because of the climate of that class, and give that as my input for the sake of participation.  This can be detrimental to the discussion, the piece in question, and the thought process of the artist who created/is creating it.

10-11-09

I had a field experience in my Secondary 1 class that took place at a middle school in the area, and that was possibly my first time having an actual encounter with a student who had a disability in the context of being a teacher.

She was definitely a character, and my interactions with her gave me a little time to conquer my fear of awkwardness (which will be a frivolous thing to worry about when a child's education is dependent upon me and others in my position). I'm not even sure what her "label" was, to be honest...I just know that she spoke in very incomplete sentences, used "her" instead of "she" when talking about other people as subjects, went back and forth from being very clingy to telling me to "go away", and she got really frustrated during projects.

I think I met her when she tried to make me cut images out of a magazine for her collage, and while deciding whether to do it I asked the teacher, who told me that she was capable of cutting the magazines herself. After that and spending more time with her myself, I was able to encourage her to stay on task and not be overtaken by frustration during projects--in addition to having a better understanding of the way she spoke.

She helped me see that she, as a student with some sort of "disability", just needed someone to take interest in what she was doing, and not give in to her or give up on her.

Here is a piece by one of my heroes, Chuck Close, who at one point was forced to paint with his teeth because of a loss in the use of his hands.