Both authors Bowen & Kisida, and Leake bring to our attention the usefulness of community arts resources and the importance of engaging in social learning. Reflect on a time in your life when you were able to visit a public art space with your classmates or perhaps your school had a visiting artist share their work. How do these experiences change how we experience contemporary art? As a future educator, what resources would you consider using that could help connect contemporary art to social learning? What ideas did you take from these readings for your future classroom that excite you most?
Issues and Theories Blog: a place for preservice art teachers to reflect together
Thinking back to elementary, middle, and high school, I can’t remember a single time that we had a visiting artist or went on a field trip to an art museum/exhibition. We never really talked about artists in the classroom either. By not having these opportunities, I wasn’t allowed to see other people’s art, get ideas or inspiration from them, be educated in different topics, or evoke deeper thinking about those topics and question them. Just being in the space of different artworks (that could be bigger than the students, depending on their age) would be mesmerizing and a memorable experience for them. I think that it is important for students to at LEAST have the opportunity to learn about artists in the classroom, unlike my experience. I also think that students should have the opportunity to go on field trips, even if it’s just one a year/semester, and see exhibitions/museums or bring artists into the classroom to talk about their artistic process, inspiration, and answer questions that the students have. Finding funding, if needed, to take students on these trips is something that I would do to allow my students to have this experience. The thing that stuck out most to me was in the article “Social Engagements with Contemporary Art- Connecting Theory with Practice”. One thing said was “Art is a reflection of life”. I am excited to show students that art can be used as a form of storytelling and can connect strangers through these different life experiences. This quote also shows that we can make our art personal and have a deeper meaning, whether it is expressed clearly in the work or is layered beneath other pieces.
ReplyDelete-Jorgan
I found myself, much like Jorgan, not being able to think of a time throughout elementary or high school where we had artists visit or went on field trips for the purpose of art. It was hard to find new inspiration due to being stuck in the same consistent space with the same muses as every other person around me. Seeing visiting artists in college changed my art dramatically. I have found myself being more rebellious with my art since I have gotten here. It allows me to see that I can do anything and it will not effect whether my art is "art". I think seeing other artists throughout your learning is so important for the growth of creativity. If you are like me, you may have grown up in a conservative area where certain subjects were taboo. Little did I know that those subjects were what inspired me most. I have found myself feeling comfortable making art that stems from feminism now that I have witnessed other artists who do the same and it is their life. Without a doubt, representation is NEEDED in the classroom whether it be visiting artists or going to art shows/museums. This is what art needs to grow. As well as artists to grow off of each other.
ReplyDelete-Annisten
Fortunately, both my elementary and middle school art experiences were incredible and I had teachers who really prioritized including visiting artists, field trips, and hands-on community art experiences. I fully believe that it is because of these experiences that I am on the path I am today. Being able to experience art and art education beyond the four walls of our traditional classroom opened my eyes to a whole new world of art. In addition, like the article mentioned, I was able to have much more deep and rich connections with my art, my peers, and my community.
ReplyDeleteOn the flip side, my high school experience was the complete opposite. We never once had a visiting artist, field trip, or even discussed artists in our classroom. The teachers I had focused very heavily on "anonymous Pinterest inspiration". Which can be a great resource and starting point for an artistic vision, however we we're never able to dive deeper into the art and artist beyond "copying" it. I think it is because I was able to experience both extreme ends of the spectrum that I have such a passion for community art and community involvement in my classroom.
As a future educator, it is one of my biggest priorities to include community art within my curriculum. To provide opportunities for students to become involved in projects beyond my classroom. And to allow students to form new connections and perspectives, though unique experiences and artistic exposure.
Lastly, although I simply can't wait to have my own classroom and be a K-12 art educator, I can also see myself working outside traditional classrooms. I hope that in my future, I am able to get more involved in unique projects that use art as a tool to build connections and a deeper sense community.
- Tatiana :)
In high school, a group of us art kids got chose to go to a college to make paper and to see/ do a demonstration of glass blowing. We didn't do these things very often, but I believed that it helped me get outside of my comfort zone when it came to art. I was thinking about the different materials that art come in rather than just drawing in my sketchbook. I think that as a future art educator, providing students with feild trips, and visiting artists are vital to get students to start think about art in new ways like what is going on with contemporary art. I think also introducing contemporary artists as much I can into projects would be the best way. I know that in my time in high school, we only got to look at contemporary art, and maybe discuss it. But it was unlikely that we would actually create something from those conceptual ideas. I think what I took away from the reading is to look beyond the classroom. There is so much art in the world, and so many opportunities for students to think outside of the box that we can't just stick to being inside of the classroom all of the time. - Taylor
ReplyDeleteLike many other posts in this thread, I cannot recall a singular time where there was an artist we had visit. We did discuss the main major artists and did work inspired by contemporary works but didn’t go to any events/galleries during field trips. I believe that it is so important for us to be able to give students this opportunity by introducing them to important historical artists, as well as contemporary ones. This can be used to further develop their knowledge on history or social issues around them. It can also be used to develop SEL learning within our lessons by which types of artists we focus on. In the reading, I am excited by the idea of focusing upon reflection to look for bigger ideas and pictures to use for inspiration in my future classroom in order to motivate my students through possibly seeing out specific artists. I love the idea of asking students at the beginning of the year if theres a topic/technique/art form they would love to learn about in the school year. If I could get in contact with an artist that specializes in the work they’re interested in, I would love to set up a zoom meeting or do a lesson plan surrounding their techniques. -Grace
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in middle school, we had a few visiting artists, that got me excited to make art and "figure out" who I am as an artist. One time we had an older high school student come into a few of our art classroom, which was really cool as we got to listen and even explore who he was an artist. Having the older student come down to share his art journey, and that he is a "real-time-artist" selling work in high school was inspiring to say the least. I also liked the idea that art could be a flow of something you love greatly, and that it could have the chance to "make it out in the real world." For example, we made skateboard designs and album covers (which serve as a core memory, now) as part of our exploration to connecting to mainstream and visiting artist who was exploring this theme as well.
ReplyDeleteAnother time we had a visiting artist was actually an Iowan artist that was related to one of my classmates. I believe he was a grafitti muralist. We got to talk about the controversial "art of graffiti/doing graffiti for you or "the man".
To say the least, it was exciting, even though having an upperclass man at that time seemed more of a blast. Maybe it's the relatability or that in the art culture at our school district he was "the man, the myth, the legend." In the end, I think it had to do with the fact that someone that is young has their own stamp in the world as an artist.
The quote I liked from the article was, "Contemporary art is about now! It’s about figuring out who we are, who we are" becoming, and how to live, know, and act," (Leake). I think this quote summarized my experience in art in being blessed enough to meet neighboring artist, but having these different "generations" of artist come in and talk about their work, but exploring their type of work as well. When I become an art teacher, keeping in contact with local artist in upperclass levels, in the community, or around Iowa will be exciting and a great tradition to start at my community/ school.
- Sarai
P.S. Sorry for being late.