Projects are where it's at!

                                        We might learn a few things if we let go of the past, as the teachers and children demonstrate at Creative Arts Charter School. Although this video is not focused on the art classroom, it still shows the advantages of project-based education. Allowing students to engage in student-led project-based education opens a world of opportunities for student creativity and growth. This video gives a good summary of how students are growing in their individual learning and creativity through lessons based on "real world" investigations. 

I believe that this is easily relatable in art class. Yes, I do believe that going back to the fundamentals in art learning are important. Being aware of vocabulary terms and theories are great, but I believe that students need to practice and relate these terms to areas that they are familiar with in their lives. For example, a teacher could focus a lesson around the period of Cubism. Instead of making students paint their own versions of cubist paintings based off of examples of Picasso's work shown in class, students could paint a picture of a famous landmark in their town in the cubist style (from many different points of view, incorporating shapes, etc.). I believe that forgetting about the past of art education is wrongful. As humans, we like knowing about our past and where we came from. I think that the same idea is applied to art education. 

I remember my first high school art class. It was an intro course that focused entirely on the basics. I remember being bored because I wanted to get into things that were more intense! I wanted to feel like an artist. I would come to class knowing exactly what I would be doing in the next 50 minutes, be working with the same materials and the same still life for days. I know that my art teacher always had really good intentions, however. I understood that he wanted students to grasp basic skills, vocabulary, and methods. One thing that did bother me, however, was that the projects were the same from year to year. In personal views, art teachers should be very open to new projects and new ideas for learning. I think every art student has a project somewhere of a charcoal still life where we focused drawing where the light hits the objects. On critique days, isn't it thrilling when no one's art looks the same?

As the Creative Arts Charter School video showed, students and teachers utilize the real world in projects. Students shouldn't be asked to recreate what has already been created. They should be encouraged to think outside of the box and I believe that the art room is where this idea should be applied. Think of artists in decades past such as Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, or Claude Monet. These artists worked from fundamental methods and theories and applied their knowledge in response to the real world. Most of their art was created in direct response to ideas, beliefs, emotions, and experiences of their times. 

It might be time to let go of cookie-cutter art projects of the past and embrace contemporary art movements of the future. I believe in allowing students to make meaning in their projects from real world experiences. I always felt prouder of my work when I was able to make meaning in my art projects.