Art with a Voice

     After reading AN INVITATION TO SOCIAL CHANGE: Fifteen Principles for Teaching Art, which centers around Judy Chicago's Dinner Party, I began to think about what it means to teach art. Was it a practician where the essentials required starting with pencil and paper, teaching children how to properly draw houses and trees? At elementary levels of education this method of teaching is no exception to the rule. However, at what point in child development is it safe to use art to focus on bigger issues at hand, such as gender inequality? Perhaps instead of assuming that children do not have the capacity to learn about art beneath the surface, we can teach them how to observe and analyze art at an early stage.
     One of the most important steps in analyzing art, stated multiple times in the article, is communication. We communicate to share thoughts, argue, learn, critique works of art, and to vocalize a variety of new concepts and ideas with one another. In my future teaching career, I would like to incorporate art analysis into my lessons. With younger kids it will be difficult to extract deep meaning from artworks, but we can still use analysis at a more basic level in order to introduce that notion in a simpler way. For example, we could learn about how colors can generally associate with certain emotions. Blue can mean sadness, but it can also exemplify tranquility. Yellows, oranges, and reds used together often give a warm and inviting atmosphere.
     I remember when I was in elementary school, we had little to no art lessons. In fact, I think it was taught by my kindergarten teacher, and I received no art education thereafter until I attended high school. Had I learned how to analyze art at an earlier stage, I would have had a richer experience growing up with the artworks around me. In addition, I believe that discussion and actively thinking about artworks forces us to utilize a larger range of vocabulary (because of the immense amount of jargon pertaining art media and concepts) as well as encourage better writing and speech skills. By learning to talk about art in a sophisticated and intelligent manner, we develop the ability to debate, critique, and organize our thoughts into articulate words. Those skills then become important for essay writing, oral assignments, and interviews. Students can grow up with the idea that art is something to be valued and appreciated, as well as incorporate it into their daily lives. Here's a video that shows more examples of the value of analytical skills:

Nordlund, C., Speirs, P., & Stewart, M. (2010). An invitation to social change: Fifteen principles for teaching art. Art Education, 63(5), 36.