As I was reading Anne Thulson’s article Contemporary Practice in the Elementary Classroom: A Study of Change,
I kept coming back to Olivia Gude’s article New
School Art Styles: The Project of Art Education. I think that these
articles are strongly related. In fact, I think that Thulson exemplifies Gude’s
vision for contemporary art education. Gude talks about re-imagining art curriculum
and reevaluating how we approach projects. She urges us to let go of the old
school and “make room for other sorts of projects and other kinds of art
experiences.” She addresses both the content and the way that curriculum is
executed. Gude states, “Asserting that students must recapitulate the history of art
in their studies before understanding and making contemporary art is as
discreditable as believing that students must learn outmoded conceptions of
biology or physics before being introduced to the range of widely accepted
contemporary theories. "
There is no reason why elementary kids should learn about outdated
eras in art history before they learn about contemporary art. In fact, I
believe that it is more important for young kids to be able to connect with art
in the context of the current world they live in. If art is made meaningful at
a young age, it is more likely to stay meaningful throughout life. I believe
that art education that is approached holistically can give kids powerful tools
to help them lean about themselves, explore and evaluate the world around them,
and make sense of and give context to the complexities of life. The aim of art
education is not to produce a class full of professional artists, but rather to
show kids the possibilities of art and help them to find a way to use art to
improve their lives.
The way that Thulson has her students interact with art
accomplishes this goal. Her students are not just passive observers of art, nor
do they merely make formal imitations of contemporary art. They actively
analyze and bring their perspectives to the lessons, as they did in the case of
the paper shoes. She also teaches the importance of context. Context is a
concept that is extremely important in all aspects of life, not just art. She
teaches it through site-specific work, where kids can learn through doing that
not all work is appropriate in all settings. In this way, kids relate art to
environment. Interacting with contemporary art and putting work into context,
students have a much more authentic experience with art and are better able to
make it relevant in their lives.
One thing that Thulson talks about is trust. It is my belief
that teachers tend to underestimate their students, and therefore they do them
a disservice. Kids will either rise or sink to your expectations. But if they
are engaged and interested in their learning, what they are capable of can be
truly amazing.
I found Thulson’s method of documentation to be very
captivating. It just seems to capture what art education often misses. It puts
the focus on the experience rather than the product. I think that this is so
much more appropriate for students. Art education is about facilitating
learning, not creating products. I think that preparing the documentation can be
an important step for kids as well. It makes them evaluate their actions and
bring everything together. It has the potential to be a final and unifying
step, bringing cohesiveness and a more complete understanding to experiential
learning.
