Olivia Gude

"Postmodern Principles" and "Color Coding"

Olivia Gude's objections to the elements and principles of design as well as traditional methods of teaching color theory are fresh and relevant to the contemporary art classroom. It makes little sense, in a postmodern society that believes truth is based on context, individuality is central, and embraces diversity of thought, to continue to teach a set of absolute principles and elements. At one point in history, they made sense. But because they have been mistakenly applied to art forms made long before that point, and works of art made long after that point (today), they continue to subsist as universal truth.
One other reason teachers might continue to teach the elements and principles of design (and here I can include traditional approaches to learning color, as Gude dissects in "Color Coding") is because it creates an avenue of immediate accessibility--it tames the artwork into something concrete and understandable, simple, and absolute. But this is really a false accessibility, a surface level of accessibility. Studying these elements rarely gets to the heart of the artwork. Every once and a while an artist will utilize an"element" or "principle" of design, such as repetition or line, to provide a key to context, but rarely for aesthetic purposes. These elements are not included for design, but for their associations with life, society, history, and humanity. I'm afraid that if we keep teaching elements and principles of design, people will keep seeing art as purely aesthetic and further disillusion them from art being made now--art that is far from pure aesthetics.
I don't really recall learning the elements and principles of design in an art class. I learned them in interior design in high school. In that realm of aesthetics and function, they made sense. I applied them. This makes sense with regards to the origin of these principles at the Bauhaus. But, as I mentioned before, art is not always about aesthetics, and is rarely, if ever, functional, especially today. Without relating to the purpose of art as we see it today--as a means of insight, a platform for ideas, an exploration of complexity--I feel, like Gude, that the traditional elements and principles of design should be thrown out.
Students do need to come to an understanding of what is involved with creating artwork, and what art can be and mean. I think the best way to approach understanding contemporary art is first to understand conceptual ideas. Themes that repeat themselves across media and culture and artists (identity, memory, politics, complexity, systems, etc.), and the parts of an artwork (idea, studio work, finished piece, title, critique, display) should be discussed and understood, but they should be presented in a way that does not lead students to believe that there is a prescribed formula in art. That idea would lead to either frustration or boredom. In the classroom, I think that we should embrace the complexity of art, accept it as a fluctuating thing.

Chapter 5 Content Response

1.     How do we know what our students know about the topics we plan to address?

      

      I think we as teachers need to be in touch with their other teachers to know what they are discussing in other classes. Art is relevant to everything, and I think this idea would be understood best by actually connecting it to other realms of understanding. Another (maybe too obvious) way is to just ask them. Provide them with an activity up front that draws upon knowledge they already have.

2.     How would you go about teaching for “deep understanding”?

      To me, “deep understanding” is synonymous with “truly meaningful.” I know I find the most meaning and understanding of what I’m learning when I can apply it to my personal life or connect it to other bodies of knowledge. Art alone is not going to be important to every student, but when we show its potential to understand our own worlds, it becomes meaningful and relevant to each person. I want to teach lessons that have outside application, and provide opportunities to create projects that students will keep and care about. I don’t ever want to see someone just throw something away—that’s my goal.

3.     How would you teach for student relevance?

      Again, I would interact with the other teachers of my students, and also get to know my students on a more personal level by talking to them in class. I want to be open and transparent about my teaching decisions with my students. This might sound too simple, but I might just ask them if they feel like our projects are relevant, and how we might change them. Students have good ideas.

4.     How might teaching for student relevance be a ridiculously bad thing?

      Teaching for student relevance is never a bad thing. Being driven only by student relevance, in their present circumstances can be limiting later on. I think we often place our own limits on the capacity of students to understand complex bodies of knowledge. We will have discussions that they would never have with their friends or even their family. And I think that is a great thing.

5.     For the unit you are envisioning, what will be your “entrance strategy”?

      

      I am considering starting with a lesson that I haven’t written yet, but involves making sculptures of an object we know but with our eyes closed. I saw a wonderful piece at the Marrakesh Biennale that displayed small sculptures made by various people that were all blind. Those sculptures were then cast in bronze and I believe the titles were both in English and Braille. Many of the objects did not look quite like what they were titled to be, but they were beautiful. My big idea is “knowing” and one of the ways we know the world and our circumstances is through our senses. What would happen if one of those was removed? What would we see? What would we hear? What would we feel? What would we understand that we don’t at the present time? I would also like to talk about artists and influential people who operated without one of their five senses, and how they found understanding and constructed meaning in other ways. I could also use the introductory art history materials lesson as the entrance strategy.

6.     In an inquiry based, constructivist approach, a key question is “What does that mean?”  What are some other ways that you can ask that question?

      What does this make you think of? How does this make you feel? Why might the artist have chosen to do____________? Who do you think the audience would have been for this piece? Why did the artist use these specific materials? Do materials carry meaning? What do you think the size might tell us about approaching the piece?

7.     As art teachers, we often pose artistic problems for our students, defining the constraints that we hope will cultivate divergent, creative solutions.  How do you plan to have students become researchers and pose their own creative problems?

      I think it will take a while for students to become truly self-driven researchers. I think what we can focus on is practicing posing our own creative problems. We can teach them how they might approach an artwork, and this approach can be applied to all fields of knowledge. Rekindling wonder is important, practicing how to work through problems is important, and once they have experience with both of those things, over time I think that their curiosity will drive itself.

8.     At this early stage in your unit, how do you envision the sequential organization of learning experiences or activities? Make a list of what you plan to do in sequence.

Exploration of Materials, Artist’s toolbox

Invisible sculptures, Knowing through senses – Megumi Matsubara

Drawing as Knowing—Louise Despont, Cave Paintings, Leonardo Da Vinci, (+more)

Framed perspectives, Photography as knowing – Timothy O’Sullivan

Painting & Power throughout history—Hans Holbein, Kehinde Wiley,

Visual Culture & Visual Literacy—images and stereotypes, gender and race in our world

Individual, self-driven projects/Unknown outcomes

9.     How will you determine if what you are doing is working? What counts as evidence of learning for you?

      I need to somehow determine if students care, because that is evidence of learning for me. I also think that talkative students will show their learning through participating in class discussions and more quiet students will be able to demonstrate their knowledge through their work and written assignments. I think incorporating self-driven assignments the second half of the semester/year will certainly give me an idea about what students know, based on their ideas, projects, and thoughtfulness.

10. What are the learning goals for your unit?  What kinds of understandings are you reaching for in these goals?

Students will come to understand that knowledge is a continuously changing entity.

Students will examine how perceptions and personal experiences influence what they feel to be true.

Students will experience that not knowing is uncomfortable, but essential to growth.

Students will reflect on how art-making is just one way to come to know something.

Week 4 - Exploration of Materials: an Artist's Toolbox

Unit theme: Knowing

Art can be a way of understanding and communicating with the world and our circumstances

Artists: Vary by lesson – Jackson Pollock, Rogier Van der Weyden, Kathe Kollwitz, Janine Antoni, Giotto, Marcel Duchamp, Eva Hesse, Jessica Stockholder, Rembrandt, Andy Warhol, Jeanne-Claude and Christo, Anne Hamilton, Robert Smithson, Tara Donovan.

Key Concepts

-        Our knowledge is continuously changing

-        Our perceptions and personal experiences influence what we feel to be true

-        Now knowing is uncomfortable, but can be essential to our growth

-        Art-making is just one way to come to know something

Essential Questions

1.      What does it mean to know?

2.      How do we come to know something? Methods? Senses?

3.      Once we know something, can that knowledge change? How?

4.      How might art become a way of knowing or understanding?

Lesson 2: Exploration of Materials, the Artist’s toolbox

Objectives

-        Students will be able to see how art materials have changed throughout history

-        Students will analyze artists’ intentions when choosing materials

-        Students will communicate how using different materials changes the meaning and purpose of the artwork

-        Students will analyze how artists change how we see certain objects and what we know about them

-        Students will be able to broaden the range of materials in their own artist toolbox

Lesson/Discussion

-        Why do artists decide to use certain materials?

-        When you hear “artist’s materials,” what do you think of?

-        Activity

o   A pile of objects exists in the center of the room (oil paint, paper, electrical cord, plastic bucket, cheesecloth, house paint, woodblock, random object labeled “ready-made,” copper plate, pencil, chocolate, collage, screen, fabric, plaster, dirt, Styrofoam cups.)

o   Select one material from the pile in the center of the room. Discuss its properties with your group and then we will discuss these as a class.

§  What is the typical purpose of this material?

§  Why might an artist use this material? Is it considered a traditional art material?

§  Who can you think of that has used this material in their artwork?

§  Are there non-artists who have used this material? How does that change the significance of the material?

-        Discuss questions as a class. Perhaps artists choose certain materials because they are more familiar with them, support the concept of their work, logistical reasons/cost, popularity, curiosity.

-        The artists who used these materials did so for very specific reasons. Perhaps let students pick 3-5 objects and we will discuss the artist that goes with them. Why did they use that to make their art? What meaning does it convey? How do they rebel against what art traditionally is? How do they change how we see certain objects, or what we know about them? How do they rebel against the traditional purpose of art? What is the purpose of art?

o   oil paint – Rogier van der Weyden

o   paper

o   electrical cord – Janine Antoni

o   plastic bucket – Jessica Stockholder

o   cheesecloth – Eva Hesse

o   house paint – Jackson Pollock

o   woodblock & ink – Katthe Kollwitz

o   the “ready-made” – Marcel Duchamp

o   copper plate – Rembrandt

o   pencil

o   chocolate – Janine Antoni

o   collage

o   screen – Andy Warhol

o   fabric – Ann Hamilton

o   plaster - Giotto

o   dirt – Robert Smithson

o   Styrofoam cups – Tara Donovan

Project (writing)

Choose one of these objects (or another object of your choice), and consider what art piece you might make using it. Would you “rebel” against the objects original purpose, or stick with tradition? Why? What question or idea would you like to convey? Include a drawing of your imagined art piece that shows how the object would be transformed.

Assessment

Participation in class discussion and group discussion. Turn in project on time with short, written explanation and sketch that is thoughtful in regard to the topics discussed in class.

 
 

 

 

 

Janine Antoni

Chapter 4 Response

The main idea that I gleaned from Chapter 4 was the importance of unification in art curriculum--a unification, or at least an overlap, of disciplines within units and also creating main ideas that unify lessons throughout the year. These are principles that I plan on implementing in my classroom because they make the study of art meaningful and relevant, rather than scattered and shallow.

I appreciated the breakdown of art criticism, art history, art making, and aesthetics:

Art Criticism: interpretation and evaluation of art (describe, interpret, evaluate)

Art History: interpretation and evaluation of art through the lens of the past and how it influences art now. Deals more with time, chronology, classification.

Art-Making: a way of exploring the world, self, and others. Also furthers technical skill, design knowledge, and personal expression.

Aesthetics: addressing the philosophical questions of art involving purpose, value, meaning, and nature of art.

These disciplines are defined as separate spheres, but in reality, none would exist or have purpose without each other. It makes sense to me, then, that we introduce each of these disciplines into our classrooms not as isolated units or ideas, but as ways of thinking that overlap with and inform each other. The best way to do this, as the book describes, is to unify them through big ideas that provide a foundation for our curriculum. I loved that the book pointed out that big ideas shouldn't be isolated to art, but should involve other general studies, creating even more meaning and relevancy for the students.

I am one of those people who would opt for a major in everything. The fact my art class and I can study the life cycle of a star and the stained-glass work of Chartres cathedral in the same class, and then make art that finds meaning in those things and is still relevant to contemporary society excites me. That is the ideal class.

Teaching Metaphor

The art of teaching is comparable to perfecting a recipe of cooked lentils. I attempt this process every couple of weeks, after I have gotten around to buying another carton of chicken broth. Good lentils do not require a rigid recipe to turn out well every time, but they must follow a tried and true liquid-to-lentils ratio combined with careful attention and varied flavor. Without this, lentils can either become too soupy or burn, become too strong or bland. The smell of burnt lentils is something to be avoided at all costs.

After the proper ratio has been established, the cooking of the lentils becomes much more creative. The length of cooking time is based on the amount of liquid you include and the intended texture. The spices one might add are entirely subjective. Flavors such as garlic, salt, and pepper are typical. But past that, the possibilities are as diverse as the spice rack itself. My favorite spice to add is a curry that I purchased in Morocco, whose duplicate I cannot find on the shelves of a grocery store anywhere in America.

I approach teaching much like I approach cooking lentils. I build upon a set ratio, tested and experimented with by authorities with strong cooking—or in our case, artistic and educational—experience. This ratio can be adjusted to suit the result I wish to create. I then add unique flavors according to personal taste, experience, and the needs of the lentils. The lentils respond to the spices I add and the attention I give, and adjustments are made from there. In the end, the success of the lentils is based on the environment I create within my cooking pot and how well the lentils respond to those conditions. As teachers, we construct successful environments by taking suggestions from professionals in the field (i.e. standards, goals, DBAE content), and then adding our personal tastes and experiences in a way that best meets the needs of our students. The plans we make from there must have a degree of flexibility and improvisation as student needs change. In the end, based on the “flavors” we add, our classroom will be very different from the classroom next door, and even from our own classroom ten years down the road because of our changing students and our changing selves.

photo courtesy of simplyscratch.com

Week 2 - Framed Perspectives, Photography as Knowing

Unit theme: Knowing

Art can be a way of understanding and communicating with the world and our circumstances

Artists: Vary by lesson – Timothy O’Sullivan, Henry Daguerre, contemporary photographer, reference to “Naming the View” from Reading American Photographs.

Key Concepts

-        Our knowledge is continuously changing

-        Our perceptions and personal experiences influence what we feel to be true

-        Now knowing is uncomfortable, but can be essential to our growth

-        Art-making is just one way to come to know something

Essential Questions

1.      What does it mean to know?

2.      How do we come to know something? Methods? Senses?

3.      Once we know something, can that knowledge change? How?

4.      How might art become a way of knowing or understanding?

Lesson 1: Framed Perspectives, photography as knowing

Objectives

-        Learn about the history of photography as a medium of examining, surveying, and understanding through the work of Daguerre and O’Sullivan

-        Become aware of the conclusions we draw based on photographic evidences (a so-called “truth” medium)

-        Examine these ideas in relation to visual culture and social media as well as fine art imagery

Lesson/Discussion

-        Briefly discuss a few of the essential questions as foundation of unit and lesson (perhaps one full day of discussion?)

-        O’Sullivan and the survey of the West

o   Why did they choose these particular photos to include in their survey? Think of the purpose of a government survey group.

o   Do you think there is anything they are leaving out?

o   Why might these photographs have been powerful in their time?

o   How do you think they influenced people?

o   Are they telling the truth?

o   Is it ever possible for photos to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

-        Photographs help us gain knowledge and understanding as we draw conclusions based on their subject matter, for good or bad.

o   How do we use photos to influence perception in our own lives?

o   Why do we take photographs?

Activity (embedded in lesson)

               Examine 3 photographs (O’Sullivan, contemporary, tabloid?).

-        What might the photographer’s intention have been?

-        What methods did they use to portray their idea?

-        How does breaking photos down help us in our lives?

Project

Photographs teach us how to know. Can they teach us how to un-know? (cred to Jacob Haupt)

-        Photograph something you see every day 20 different times

-        Write a paragraph about how your perceptions of that thing did or did not change because of it.

Assessment

               Written portion of project, turn in 20 photographs, participation in ending class discussion

Week 1 - Power Portraits

Conceptual Framework - Four Verbs

Analyze
to discover or reveal something through detailed examination. 
In our class, we will be studying historical as well as contemporary works of art to seek to understand art, the artists, and how each applies to our own work.

Experiment
an act or operation for the purpose of discovering something unknown.
As we embark on projects, students will be prompted to challenge themselves by trying something new or pursuing an idea without a predetermined outcome.

Connect
to relate to or be in harmony with, to unite.
The content in our class will be selected to encourage personal application of learning to students' live and choices as well as provide opportunities to relate to each other.

Communicate
to express thoughts, feelings, or information easily or effectively.
As a class, we will discuss our own works of art and the art of others verbally and in writing to practice articulating ideas and responding to the comments of others respectfully.