The Journal of the National Art Education Association: September 2010 by flavia bastos

The Journal of the National Art Education Association September 2010 Volume 63, No. 5 $9.00

Special Double Issue

“I am moved by the proposition that education is a vehicle of social transformation.”

EDITOR: Flávia Bastos EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Kelli Aquila Instructional Resources Coordinator: Rina Kundu EDITORIAL REVIEW BOARD: Cynthia Bickley-Green, Melanie Buffington, Kelly Campbell-Busby, Sheng Kuan Chung, Nicole Crane, Melanie Davenport, Read Diket, Rick Garner, Mark Graham, Jay Hanes, Suzan Harris, Jay Heuman, Olga Hubard, Karen Hutzel, Themina Kader, Sharon Johnson, Lilly Lu, Marjorie Manifold, Anne Marquette, Elizabeth Reese, Priscilla Roggenkamp, Ryan Shin, Cathy Smilan, Kryssi Staikidis, Michelle Tillander, and Gina Wenger. NAEA BOARD: Barry Shauck, Bonnie Rushlow, F. Robert Sabol, Deborah Barten, Mark Coates, Kim Huyler Defibaugh, Patricia Franklin, Kathryn Hillyer, Mary Miller, Bob Reeker, Diane Scully, Lesley Wellman, John Howell White, and Deborah Reeve. NAEA Design and Production: Lynn Ezell NAEA Staff Editor: Clare Grosgebauer Art Education is the official journal of The National Art Education Association. Manuscripts are welcome at all times and on any aspect of art education. Please send one double-spaced copy and a CD with digital files, prepared in accordance with the 6th edition Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association to Dr. Christine Ballengee-Morris, Editor, Art Education Journal, Department of Art Education, 128 North Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210 To facilitate the process of anonymous review, the author’s name, title, affiliation, mailing address, and phone number should be on a separate sheet. Retain a copy of anything submitted. For guidelines, see Art Education under ‘Writing for NAEA’ at www.arteducators.org. Authors are encouraged to submit photographs with their manuscripts. Art Education is indexed in the Education Index, and available on microfilm from University Microfilms, Inc., 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. For quantity reprints of past articles, please e-mail lezell@arteducators.org for order forms. © National Art Education Association 2010. Allow up to 8 weeks to process new member and subscription publications. Art Education (ISSN 0004-3125) is published bimonthly: January, March, May, July, September, and November by The National Art Education Association, 1806 Robert Fulton Drive, Suite 300, Reston, VA 20191. Telephone 703-860-8000; fax 703-860-2960 Website: www.arteducators.org Membership dues include $25.00 for a member’s subscription to Art Education. Non-member subscription rates are: Domestic $50.00 per year; Canadian and Foreign $75.00 per year. Call for single copy prices. Periodicals postage is paid at Herndon, VA, and at additional mailing offices. Printed in the USA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Art Education, National Art Education Association, 1806 Robert Fulton Drive, Suite 300, Reston, VA 20191.

Cover (details from images, clockwise from top): Image from “Y Se Repite,” p. 57; image from “Art in Social Studies Assessments,” p. 31; image from “An Inevitable Question.” p. 6; image from “An Invitation to Social Change,” p. 36; image from New Voices program, Fall of 2009, high school program produced by Prairie, Inc. for SCPA students in Cincinatti, Ohio; image from “Art in Social Studies Assessments,” p. 33. Quote from Editorial, p. 3.

The Journal of the National Art Education Association

contents

September 2010 [Volume 63, No. 5]

Editorial

What Does Social Justice Art Education Look Like? [ Flรกvia Bastos ]

An Inevitable Question:

Exploring the Defining Features of Social Justice Art Education [ Marit Dewhurst N ]

Structuring Democratic Places of Learning: The Gulf Island Film and Television School [ Juan Carlos Castro N and Kit Grauer ]

The Challenge of New Colorblind Racism in Art Education [ Dipti Desai ]

Art in Social Studies Assessments:

An Untapped Resource for Social Justice Education [ Susan Zwirn and Andrea Libresco N ]

An Invitation to Social Change:

Fifteen Principles for Teaching Art [ Carrie Nordlund N , Peg Speirs N , and Marilyn Stewart N

Instructional Resources | Exploring Racism through Photography [ Cass Fey, Ryan Shin, Shana Cinquemani N , and Catherine Marino N ]

Your Art is Gay and Retarded:

Eliminating Discriminating Speech in the Secondary Arts Education Classroom [ Brian Payne N ]

Y Se Repite

Folk Art in the Urban Artroom

[ Adriana Katzew N ]

[ Donalyn Heise ]

A Cross-Cultural Collaboration:

Using Visual Culture for the Creation of a Socially Relevant Mural in Mexico [ Kathy Hubbard ]

Fundreds in Arkansas: An Interdisciplinary Collaboration [ Angela M. La Porte ]

The 2010 Lowenfeld Lecture | Creativity and Art Education: A Personal Journey in Four Acts [ Enid Zimmerman ]

figure 1 Photo by Eleanor Batista-Malat, grade 7, October 2009.

Editorial

what does social justice art education look like? Education for social justice is education for a society where the rights and privileges of democracy are available to all. Art education for social justice places art as a means through which these goals are achieved (Garber, 2004, p. 16). Social justice involves a negotiated vision, which can be surprising at times. The photograph above is from a community art program called Kid’s View: On Assignment, sponsored by Prairie, Inc. (http://www.cincinnatikidsview.com/), a Cincinnati art gallery with a strong mission of community engagement and social justice. In this program, 10 local middle-school age children participated in an after school photography class that introduced

them to four community agencies in the surrounding Northside neighborhood. One of these agencies, Visionaries and Voices (http://www.visionariesandvoices.com/content/vv-home/) provides art studio space, activities, and exhibitions for adults with developmental disabilities. Kid’s View students learned about the work of Visionaries and Voices’ artists, especially Nikki Martin, a fashion designer who created the garments modeled by other Visionary and Voices artists and staff in a fashion show. At face value, a traditional white-clad bride in the runway strikes as conventional (Figure 1). It is tempting to interpret any fashion show as a celebration of consumer culture, and the bridal figure as the embodiment of glamour, women’s wedding fantasies, and mainstream representations of marriage as a heterosexual union. However, under the surface, we find nuance. This fashion show was created and carried out by people often excluded from the creative side of the fashion industry, and, therefore, it

became empowering. Furthermore, the event took place just before the local election and had the goal of creating awareness about a levy issue supporting the city’s developmental disabilities services, which was ultimately sanctioned. The photograph demonstrates that Kid’s View students learned about photography, but more importantly, they also learned about the exciting affinity between art and activism, the importance of getting involved, and the possibility of making a difference. Transformative Education | I am moved by the proposition that education is a vehicle of social transformation. I am first generation college-educated, of a mixed-race background, non-American from a developing country, not a native speaker of English. I taught kids who did not have shoes, let alone textbooks, and kids who lived in gated communities and came to school in chauffeured import cars. Through my personal and teaching experiences with elementary grades in both private and public schools in Brazil, as well as my current academic work in the United States, I contemplated the breath of the social gap, and witnessed the transformative power of learning. This transformative work is personal, it is based on constant and evolving reflection about our own instances of oppression and privilege, as much as that of our students.

–Flávia M.C. Bastos, Editor

References Freire, P. (2006). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum. Gablik, S. (1993). The re-enchantment of art. New York: Thames and Hudson. Garber, E. (2004). Social justice and art education. Visual Art Research, 30(2) 4-22. Praire Gallery. Retrieved June 2, 2010 from http://www.cincinnatikidsview. com/onassignmentgallery.html Visionaries and Voices. Retrieved June 2, 2010 from http://www. visionariesandvoices.com/content/vv-home

Flávia M. C. Bastos is an Associate Professor of Art Education and Director of Graduate Studies, College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning, University of Cincinnati. E-mail: flavia.bastos@uc.edu

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I am extremely grateful by the support of our organization in making this issue possible and I expect it will make an impression on you. It makes a powerful statement about or field’s engagement in relevant social justice work. It announces connections between creativity, art teaching, and transformation. It indicates that social justice is an important, perhaps essential, dimension of our profession. To my question of “what social justice art education looks like?” I offer this carefully crafted issue of the journal as a partial answer. Another fundamental aspect of doing social justice art education work is predicated on our ability to create and support a professional community who cares about these issues. Social justice art education can be surprising, personal, and multifaceted. Echoing the powerful shift from objects to relationships evidenced in postmodern art (Gablik, 1993), it invites a new type of professional engagement. This compelling Art Education issue enables us to contemplate facets of our work for change and inspires us to keep going.

Social Justice Issue | My enthusiasm for theme of past convention dovetails with a large contingent of the organization’s membership, as evidenced in the many quotes from conference attendees. An impressive line-up of contributors, working in the United States, Canada and Mexico, discusses several dimensions of social justice, including issues of race, social class, art world’s hierarchies, interdisciplinary connections, and creativity. They collaborate with activist artists, present their own artwork, and transform learning spaces around them, such as their own classrooms, museums, community centers, or the streets.

This special social justice issue expects to (1) provide written documentation of the convention’s theme by serving a postfacto proceedings of selected presentations and panels, (2) carry the ideas and concerns shaping the convention to the entirety of our membership, especially those unable to attend the conference, and (3) create opportunities for continued reflection about the conference’s theme.

This special issue of Art Education is shaped by a vision of the journal as a transformative educational vehicle that can further the education of our membership not to accomplish conformity, but to engage in “the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world” (Freire, 2006, p. 53). This issue celebrates the unique role and potential of art in promoting a kind of critical awareness that generates understanding, discourse, and actions aimed at change. Freire affirms unequivocally that only humans “are able to achieve the complex operation of simultaneously transforming the world by their action and grasping and expressing the world’s reality in their creative language” (p. 68). It follows from this proposition that art education’s humanistic mission can better be fulfilled in the promotion of change, and the quest for social justice.

The special design pays homage to the distinguished 13 contributions that comprise this issue. Capitalizing on the graphic design expertise available at my home institution, and the background of my Editorial Assistant Kelli Aquila (see guest designer statement), designing this special issue also became an educational project as it was integrated into Ms. Aquila’s capstone experience in the Art Education Master’s Program.

comments from 2010 naea national convention attendees: [This conference gave me voice!] [The art teacher can, and perhaps should, assign content-driven problems (social, or otherwise) for the student to explore. However, the art teacher should not, overtly, influence the students to take up his or her pet social, political, or religious agendas.] [I thought the theme was almost tired, but it was not terrible.] [Loved the convention theme. Such an important and relevant topic!] [I would like to see some effort to bridge the gap between theory and practice for the practicing art teacher. When is the last time you had a primary or secondary art teacher speak at a general or super session?] [Bravo to the NAEA board, Division Directors, Regional Presidents, Maryland Host Committee, and staff for creating and facilitating the important, groundbreaking 50th Annual Convention Theme, Art Education and Social Justice!] [It is important that the topics apply to all students from the privileged to the at-risk.] [This was one of the best NAEA conventions I have attended. Perhaps it was the nature of the theme that lead to deep and intriguing connections for the arts.] [Social Justice theme was not appropriate for all levels. I did not find the workshops to be practical. There was very little that I was able to use in the classroom.] [The theme, Social Justice, was timely and well-explored. I wonder how it will make a difference to the way in which art is taught in our country?] [I thought convention was completely relevant to my teaching practice as a community artist and teacher.] [As an elementary art teacher I can hear someone say, ”social justice for elementary?” ‘You better believe it.’]

figures From New Voices program, Fall of 2009, high school program produced by Prairie, Inc. for SCPA students in Cincinatti, Ohio.

From the guest designer: I have described myself as many things: daughter, friend, student, artist, graphic designer, teacher. As editorial assistant of Art Education, I have been pushed to explore the ways in which these many roles intersect and overlap, framing a unique perspective. I learned that art, design, and education are not separate entities, but interdependent fields that inform and encourage one another.

Kelli M. Aquila is a Master of Art Education student at the University of Cincinnati and is excited to start teaching this fall at Hilliard Bradley High School in Hilliard, Ohio.

References Ballengee-Morris, C., & Stuhr, P. L. (2001). Multicultural art and visual cultural education in a changing world [Electronic version]. Art Education, 54(4), 6-13. Cranmer, J., & Zappaterra, Y. (2003). Conscientious objectives: Designing for an ethical message (p. 75). Mies, Switzerland: RotoVision SA. Samara, T. (2005). Publication design workbook: A real-world design guide (pp. 13-14). Beverly, MA: Rockport Publishers, Inc.

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As Guest Designer of this special issue, I was challenged to help our readership access, engage with, and find meaning in the ideas presented by our authors. Because the written word is meaningless if no one takes the time to read it, my goal was to create a professional, engaging layout to catch the readers’ eyes, pulling them into the work (Cranmer & Zappaterra, 2003).

– Kelli M. Aquila, Editorial Assistant & Guest Designer

A more democratic approach, whereby the disenfranchised are also given a voice in the art and visual culture education process and the disenfranchised, as well as the franchised, are sensitized to taken-for-granted assumptions implicit in personal, national, and global culture.

Thank you, NAEA board and staff, for supporting this special issue, especially Publications Manager Lynn Ezell for giving me this opportunity; thank you to Flavia Bástos for your constant guidance and encouragement as my professor, mentor, boss, and friend; and thank you to our readers for bearing with me—I am honored to have been a part of this issue and look forward to your response.

According to Timothy Samara (2005), the primary function of design is to give form to an idea or subject matter in a way that is relevant and accessible to a particular audience. The vast array of issues, ideas, and perspectives encompassing the theme of social justice make it an intimidating subject matter. BallengeeMorris and Stuhr (2001), provide a holistic look at “the dynamic complexity of factors that affect all human interaction: physical and mental ability, class, gender, age, politics, religion, geography, and ethnicity/race” (p. 10), and propose for art education,

To increase accessibility and value to our audience, I chose to: break the articles down from large blocks into smaller more digestible chunks, mimic the natural motion of reading from left to right, use large images at the top of many pages to draw readers in while maintaining the flow of reading, and form strong horizontal bands that create movement between spreads. The combination of typefaces Adobe Garamond and Gill Sans signifies the field’s ability to incorporate art’s historical past into meaningful discourse regarding contemporary ideas. This final design represents a true intersection of my roles as artist, designer, and art educator.

figure 1 This series of prints aims to draw attention to racial stereotypes in our society.

an inevitable question: Explor ing the Defining Features of Social Justice Ar t Education

By: Marit Dewhurst

“What do you really mean by social justice art education?” It is an inevitable question. In fact, I would be shocked if no one tentatively raised his or her

workshops in museums or graduatelevel education classes to earnestly ask, by social justice art education?” I am not surprised because this question constantly causes confusion among not only the students, but also the educators, researchers, and artists working at the intersection of art, education, and social justice. The labels for this work come in many shapes, among them, activist art (Felshin, 1995), community-based arts (Knight & Schwarzman, 2005), new public art (Lacy, 1995), art for social change (O’Brien & Little, 1990), and community cultural development (Adams & Goldbard, 2001). Despite these various names, this work often shares a commitment to create art that draws attention to, mobilizes action towards, or attempts to intervene in systems of inequality or injustice. And yet, in a field with growing numbers of social justice arts organizations

And so I am not startled each time a student hesitantly asks, with a hint of frustration or even exasperation, “What do you really mean by social justice art education?” In responding to this inevitable question, those of us engaged in this work must parse out exactly what it means to do social justice art education. If we fail to rise to this challenge we risk losing the clarity required to advocate for our work, to train future educators, and perhaps most importantly, to separate out art practices that truly impact injustice and those that may

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“Sorry, but just what do you really mean

education professional development

hand in any of my art and social justice

and the accompanying conferences, special journal issues, and edited books, the very definition of what is meant by social justice art education remains elusive. Some variation in nomenclature can be attributed to the multiple disciplinary lenses—from art history and anthropology to community development and public policy—that have been used to analyze this work. However, hidden in this tenuous terminology are competing visions about the very nature of social justice art education. Such differences appear to hinge on three main debates: (1) how strategic the artistic and activist decisions are in relation to their potential to effectively change policy; (2) what constitutes activism or social change; and (3) if emphasis is placed on the process or the product of artmaking. These big, often philosophical debates require us to unpack the purposes, expectations, and perspectives that compel us to mix art and social justice work.

figure 2 Paulina’s “Homeless in New York “ postcards sought to change audience perspectives about the prevalence of poverty.

If critical pedagogy is about learning to critically examine the world around us—to pull apart the structural factors that lead to injustice—then why stop at the obvious examples of inequality?

inadvertently perpetuate inequality under the name of good intentions. If everything can be contained under the term social justice art education, then we lose the opportunity to further research and develop the unique possibilities of this particular approach to learning in the arts.

critical pedagogy, a pedagogy of its own emerged. While this pedagogy of activist art1 is by no means conclusive, it raises several distinctions that hone our understanding of what really is social justice art education.

Observing, interviewing, and working alongside young people as they create works of art that critique, contest, and strive to affect conditions of injustice, I have witnessed the ways in which social justice artmaking begins to take on a certain shape. To explore that shape, I recently conducted a qualitative study that examined the educational processes that occur when young people create works of art to impact injustice (Dewhurst, 2009). Through interviews and observations of 14 teenagers participating in a free after-school activist art class, I investigated how they experienced and described the act of making a work of art to impact injustice. In analyzing the ways in which these young people approached their own social justice-driven artmaking, I noticed three main pedagogical activities— connecting, questioning, and translating—that comprised the practice of making a work of activist art. As I integrated these observations and experiences with the theoretical literature on

A Particular Practice Social justice education in the arts is a practice—an evolving, iterative process. As critical pedagogy scholars write, social justice education is a way of teaching that seeks liberation for all people (Horton, Kohl, & Kohl, 1998; Freire, 1970; hooks, 1994). As such, the means—as much as the end product—are integral to make a work of art “activist” or “social justice” in nature. While people often assume that social justice art education must be based on controversial or overtly political issues (i.e. race, violence, discrimination, etc.), this is not always the case. Rather, as long as the process of making art offers participants a way to construct knowledge, critically analyze an idea, and take action in the world, then they are engaged in a practice of social justice artmaking.

9 9 Christian’s experience offers a glimpse into the key pedagogical activities of a social justice art practice. A closer look at the processes and examples that emerged from the young artists participating in my research suggests that this practice has a particular shape. The following dimensions constitute a pedagogy of activist artmaking that sheds light on the educational significance of creating art for social justice. Connecting. Pulling from the language of social justice education, activist artists “start where they are.” To identify these connections, activist artists engage in critical reflection and attentive exploration of the ways injustice plays out in the world and in relation to the artist’s own life. These acts of naming and articulating are ways of learning about the nature of injustice. As 16-year-old Paulina described, seeing the issue of homelessness take on a life within her own everyday experiences grounded her even more within the issue: “And everywhere I went I actually became noticing homeless people [sic]…. starting to do the project it opened my eyes again and I was able to see them.” Questioning. Activist artists embark on a quest for a deeper understanding of the issues of injustice about which they will create art. These investigative and analytic questions lead to

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Christian,2 a young artist in a social justice photography class I taught, was adamantly committed to fashion photography. While other students gravitated to the topics I had anticipated—school reform, gender inequality, domestic violence—Christian’s choice of fashion seemed a far cry from the activist topics I had expected. Frustrated, I sat down as he arranged his photos in lines. I asked him questions about the choices he had made, about his love of fashion, about why it felt compelling. And then, why did it matter? To whom did it matter? What purpose did it fulfill? And as I asked these questions—drawing out some of the cultural, social, psychological, and economic factors embedded in the idea of fashion—our conversation grew more animated. We soon found ourselves questioning some of the murky cultural and economic significance of fashion. Suddenly, Christian was connecting fashion to a social pressure to conform to different class standards. And suddenly, I began to understand that perhaps the “social justice-ness” is not tied to specific subject matter. If critical pedagogy is about learning to critically examine the world around us—to pull apart the structural factors that lead to injustice—then why stop at the obvious examples of inequality? Why not engage in such a critical examination of technology, science, or, for that matter, fashion?

figure 3 Estela’s final project balanced activist intentions and aesthetic aims.

an unfolding and critical inquiry into the multiple social, cultural, political, and economic factors that contribute to their selected issue. In conducting research on their issue, artists experience varying levels of an increased critical consciousness about the meaning of their issue within the world. Through both posing and pursuing questions, activist artists are simultaneously learning and teaching about social issues in ways evocative of critical pedagogy’s collaborative problem-posing education (Freire, 1970). Seventeen-year-old Alejandra described her critical realization of the number of unrealistic images of women that exist in the magazines she often reads after examining them in light of her project on body image: “So just learning the statistics… you don’t realize, like how many bad images there are in magazines, so… it really helped me to look at, you know, magazines differently.” Translating. Activist art is created with an express intention to challenge and change conditions of inequality or injustice. This requires artists to move beyond surface illustrations of injustice to make tactical decisions about how best to affect structures of oppression—not just the symptoms. Art

made for social justice is not simply a meandering inquiry into the play of light or color across a page, but an inquiry motivated by a specific, purposeful desire to impact structures of injustice. In the act of translating, activist artists negotiate the concurrent goals of creating an aesthetic object and achieving their intended activist aims. Translating requires activist artists to critically reflect on the purposes of their artwork and to match those with appropriate artistic tools, materials, and techniques. Watching students negotiate the balance between intended impacts and aesthetic aims reveals the unique challenges of making art for social justice. Estela, a teen participant in a mixed media activist art class, was nearly finished with her final sculpture when she ran up against a problem. Estela began her project with a vision to use a singed American flag. “But,” she described, “I thought about it and I felt that, that it was too manufactured.” Estela worried that the inclusion of the American flag would not only be overpowering, but it would also hide the intricate collage of newspaper clippings she had carefully constructed. To cover these clippings would diminish her intention

Student-Driven Projects | Educators striving to encourage learners to direct their own projects should leave room for learners to identify and define their own artmaking. Prompts and assignments should offer multiple opportunities for interpretation and experimentation so students have control over the direction of the project. There should be many ways in which a student can make decisions to create their own version of the assignment. Students should be encouraged to articulate their intentions for their artwork and to share those with others. To this end, educators should allow learners to select their own topics for exploration and respond with activities and lessons that move students into a deeper analysis of their topics. Educators must trust that the processes of connecting, questioning, and translating will allow students to create final works of art that successfully achieve both their activist and aesthetic aims.

Despite the warning that social justice art education must be responsive to the specific people and place in which it takes place, the question remains: “How does one really do social justice art education?” For educators interested in the intersection of artmaking and social justice education, Art made for social justice the challenge of teaching in a is not simply a meandering way that encourages learners to identify, critique, and take inquiry into the play of light action to dismantle unjust or color across a page, but structures of power can be overwhelming and filled an inquiry motivated by a with uncertainty. However, the key pedagogical features specific, purposeful desire to articulated above suggest a impact structures of injustice. series of strategies for initiating social justice art education projects. Collaborative, Reciprocal, and Contextual Planning | Before proceeding with any set of practical tools, it is imperative that we understand that social justice art education involves teachers and learners building understanding and action together. Therefore, this approach to art education requires a fundamental shift in the relationship between students and teachers. Such co-constructed learning, what Lissa Soep (2006) refers to as “collegial pedagogy” is core to critical pedagogy and empowers all participants to act

Relevant Reflection | To encourage the process of connecting, educators should develop lesson plans and activities that encourage learners to reflect on their own identities, experiences, and interests to help them identify project topics that are meaningful and rooted in students’ own lives. They can then help students locate topic ideas within students’ own daily interactions, environments, and relationships by motivating them to attend to the ways in which their topic appears in their lives.

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Doing Social Justice Art Education

as agents, not subjects of their own practice. A commitment to collaboration and reciprocity allows participants to both direct the development of their intended artistic and social justice impacts towards their audience while also experiencing some of those impacts (increased awareness, critical consciousness) themselves. This shift in attitude has dramatic implications on curriculum planning. There is no formulaic script, no universal step-by-step curriculum. What works with one group of participants, in one community, in one particular institution may or may not work with another group. The practice must be iterative and evolving based on the people and contexts—in school, out-of-school, in a particular community, etc.—at play. Given this challenge, educators interested in planning for social justice art education may find the following practical characteristics useful in scaffolding their teaching.

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to educate viewers about current civic rights violations. And yet, without the flag, the connection to American policies faded, weakening her desired impact to have viewers reflect on their rights as U.S. citizens. To add the vibrantly colored flag over the somber blacks and grays of her piece could impede the aesthetic success; to leave it out might render her intended impact invisible. At last, Estela reached a solution: she thinned the red and blue paint, resulting in a translucent veil of color over her collage—enough to convey the idea of a flag without losing the aesthetic appeal of the subdued colors or the critical details in the collaged clippings. Holding both aims throughout her process, Estela thoughtfully negotiated the balancing act between the drive for an aesthetically engaging work of art and one that would still result in her intended impact.

Critical Questions | Building on the web of connections laid out through the process of connecting, educators can shift to questioning as a tool to prompt learners to delve into a study of their topics. This process enables learners to gather the information and multiple perspectives necessary to create works of art that strategically aim to impact social justice. Through activities ranging from one-on-one questioning and collaborative informationgathering projects, to more conventional research techniques such as interviewing, literature analyses, and basic statistics, educators can support the unfolding inquiry that will result in richer understandings of the various structural (i.e. cultural, political, economic, etc.) factors contributing to injustice. Educators should encourage both investigative (What’s happening?) and analytic (Why is it happening?) questions that help students identify the possible tactics and tools to effect change. A Tactical Balance | Once students narrow in on the specific strategies they will use to create their works of art, they begin the process of translating their ideas into objects or actions that will affect injustice. In this phase, students should be encouraged to balance both their activist intentions and their aesthetic aims—sacrificing neither one for the other. This process requires both individual and group critiques that facilitate discussion about the possible reactions of the audience to help learners revise their work. Ideally, students would be encouraged to explore a range of media to select what materials and methods are most appropriate to alter the systems of injustice they identify. Public Audience | Art that is created to challenge or change injustices must be allowed to leave the confines of the room in which it was made in order to reach the intended impacts of the artist. While this step can open up students and educators to criticism and censorship, to lock it up is to prevent the work from actually influencing inequality and therefore really becoming activist art.

Conclusion In classrooms, community centers, museums, and alternative learning sites across the country, large numbers of young people are creating works of art—from murals and plays, to photographs and poetry—that question, challenge, and at times, impact existing conditions of inequality and injustice. As educators, researchers, and artists interested in understanding and supporting this work, we must continue to try to define the work we do, even if our answers are not quite complete. If the growing number of youth arts organizations and schools claiming to offer social justice art education is any indication, this field will continue to expand. With this expansion will come more complicated questions about the nature of social justice art education. Questions regarding an educator’s insider or outsider status within a community, or who is responsible when a project “fails” or whether or not the young people creating work should be paid may soon become the next critical questions we ask each other. As intriguing and necessary as these next questions are, we are ill-equipped to debate them until we have come to a stronger understanding of what we actually mean when we call something social justice art education. Only then, when we can answer the inevitable question about the very definition of social justice art education will we be able to truly advance the powerful possibilities of this work.

Endnotes 1

Throughout this work, while I usually refer to social justice artmaking I also occasionally employ the term activist art synonymously. I use the term social justice art not only because The National Art Education Association framed the 2010 Annual Convention and this issue of Art Education around this term, but also because many youth arts organizations employ the term in their program literature. I also use activist art, as it similarly captures the artist’s explicit desire to bend dominant systems of power towards justice and equality.

Names of youth participants have been changed for confidentiality.

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Marit Dewhurst is Director of Art Education and Visiting Assistant Professor at City College of New York, New York City. E-mail: marit_dewhurst@mail. harvard.edu

Knight, K., Schwarzman, M. & many others. (2005). Beginnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s guide to community-based arts: Ten graphic stories about artists, educators, and activists across the U.S. Oakland, CA: newvillagepress. Lacy, S. (1995). Mapping the terrain: New genre public art. Seattle, WA: Bay Press. McLaren, P. (2003). Critical pedagogy: A look at the major concepts. In A. Darder, M. Baltodano, & R. D. Torres (Ed.), The Critical Pedagogy Reader. New York: RoutledgeFalmer. Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Brien, M., & Little, C. (1990). Reimaging America: The arts of social change. Philadelphia, PA: New Society Publishers. Soep, E. (2006). Youth mediate democracy. National Civic Review, 95(1), 34-40. Shor, I. (1992). Empowering education: Critical teaching for social change. Chicago, IL:The University of Chicago Press.

figure 4 A student in an activist art class adds the finishing touches to his project.

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References Adams, D., & Goldbard, A. (2001). Creative community: The art of cultural development. New York: Rockefeller Foundation Creativity & Culture Division. Darder, A. (2001). Reinventing Paulo Freire: A pedagogy of love. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Dewhurst, M. (2009). A pedagogy of activist art: Exploring the educational significance of creating art for social justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Graduate School of Education. Felshin, N. (Ed.) (1995). But is it art?: The spirit of art as activism. Seattle, WA: Bay Press. Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Herder and Herder. hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. New York: Routledge. Horton, M., Kohl, J., & Kohl, H. R. (1998). The long haul: An autobiography. New York: Teachers College Press.

structuring democratic places of learning: The Gulf Island Film and Television School

By: Juan Carlos Castro & Kit Grauer

It is Monday, halfway through the first day of the Youth Media Intensive week-long workshop during spring break at the Gulf Island Film and Television School (GIFTS). Peter Campbell, the mentor for the week, is asking 17 students: “What is your log line?”

Log lines are short, one- or two-sentence descriptions of an idea for a film. The scenario that Peter sets up reproduces what professional script writers would do in the film and television industry—pitch ideas back and forth, entertaining the interesting ones, picking them apart, and asking tough questions. This activity produces an intensive learning and professional creative environment with the group of 17 teens, ages 13 to 19. The curriculum and pedagogy of GIFTS seeks to create a place where the ideas of individuals become collective ideas. By Saturday the group of 17 divided into smaller groups; chose a log line to develop into a script for a 3- to 7-minute film; and learned basic video production including visual composition and storytelling, acting for the camera, sound recording, video and sound editing, and post-production techniques. GIFTS is a community-based new media school founded 15 years ago by a group of documentary and commercial filmmakers on the site of a former logging camp on the island of Galiano in British Columbia, Canada. This article presents insights derived from a component of a larger research project

investigating community-based new media education centers. Specifically, we address these two questions from our time spent investigating GIFTS: (1) What can we learn about art, and especially new media teaching and learning, from alternative sites like GIFTS?; and (2) What possibilities for a democratic and socially just arts curriculum and pedagogy can be learned from a place like GIFTS? It is not enough to merely teach ideas about democracy; they must be embodied in our art curricula and pedagogies. Places such as GIFTS offer insights into possibilities for structuring curricular and pedagogical experiences that use new media and foster democratic practice—communication, collaboration, and collective problem solving. Additionally, we argue that as new media practice, especially filmmaking and video arts, becomes more common in art classrooms (Szekely & Szekely, 2005), K-12 art educators can draw from the curricula and pedagogies from places like GIFTS.

image A ferry approaches the Sturdies Bay. Photograph by Juan Carlos Castro.

15 14 15

Occurring after school or during holidays, these communitybased new media programs have become increasingly common (Goldfarb, 2002; Goodman, 2003; Tyner, 1998). The varied media ecologies in which young people participate have been regarded as both compelling modes of entertainment and powerful means of education. Media ecologies are buttressing and interdependent media that support and integrate with each other dynamically, without canceling each other out (McLuhan, 2005). Community-based programs like GIFTS function largely outside of formal school settings and approach media education from a professional production focus that seeks to foster self-expression, creativity, critical analysis, and the development of identity and voice. As an alternate learning environment, GIFTS offers important pedagogical dimensions to evolving contemporary media ecologies. With teens regularly participating in and through participatory cultures in virtual worlds (Jenkins, Clinton, Purushotma, Robison, & Weigel, 2007), it is also apparent that embodied participation, or gathering

together in real time or space, to engage in new-media production can also be an important aspect of the expanding new media ecologies. Community-based programs provide spaces for meaningful face-to-face encounters to happen and foster democratic skills such as collaboration, communication, and collective problem-solving. Community-based programs can also be seen to occupy a â&#x20AC;&#x153;third arenaâ&#x20AC;? between school and family, where young people are afforded learning opportunities that are unavailable in either context (Kangisser, 1999). Richards (1998) has pointed to the more flexible and democratic structures of curriculum and pedagogy in community-based settings as a distinct advantage for youth engagement and learning. This democratic curriculum and pedagogy is embodied in the media workshops at GIFTS.

Structuring Democratic Curricula and Pedagogies There has been an increasing call for art educators to teach for democratic values and social justice in their classrooms (Carlson

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Community-Based Media Arts Centers

& Apple, 1998; Darts, 2004, 2006; Desai & Chalmers, 2007; Freire, 1997; GaztambideFernandez & Sears, 2004). As educators, we share the view that imparting such values seems to be of utmost importance. On one hand it is important to teach the values of democracy and of treating each other with respect and dignity. On the other, it is equally imperative that educators ensure that their teaching of such ideas is not undermined by a curricular structure and pedagogical approach that creates its own systems of oppression. In a typical week at GIFTS, during students’ spring break or in summer media-intensive courses, one usually would not hear the words “democracy” or “social justice” spoken. Yet under the pressure of having to work together to fully conceptualize, script, act, shoot, edit, and produce a short film, students are learning how to collaborate, compromise, and communicate. These are foundations of what it means to live in a democratic society. Far from experiencing a seamless process of collaboration, students are continually confronted with struggles, tension, and difference. It is in this third and transformational place that students learn what it means to believe in something together to be able to collaborate, compromise, and communicate around a shared project. Filmmaking differs from traditional media processes such as painting in that it is not a solitary task of creating. It often involves the clashing of egos, which creates tension and a

top Most of the social interaction occurs in the common courtyard area. The large building at the far end is the main classroom. To both sides are student dorm rooms for the in-residence camp.

bottom The entrance to GULFS, located on the site of a former logging camp on Galiano Island, British Columbia, Canada. Photographs by Juan Carlos Castro.

constant struggle to have one’s ideas heard. This is important for classroom art educators to pay attention to as creative practices shift through new media to more participatory activities (Jenkins et al., 2007).

Third pedagogical sites are distinguished by fluidity and permeability which allow the boundaries of the world of professional artmaking to blur with that of conventional schooling. GIFTS embodies these qualities: it is neither a traditional schooling environment nor a professional film set, but something in-between. It is a transformative place, not only for the students but also for the mentors themselves. Heath (2001) stated that the

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curriculum, pedagogy, and place enable a freedom that comes with considerable responsibility. From how the mentors and interns address students to how staff interact, there is a sense of shared responsibility to helping students not only make films, but make change. Students are expected to respect each other while also contributing to being part of a team, taking on multiple roles with the ultimate goal of making a film by the end of the week. This is a third site—one where students can enter, construct, and present an identity, not without constraints but with a

Creating a place for learning, one that is outside of the bounds of everyday schooling experiences and connects to the lives of our students, is a possibility that needs to be considered in discussions of K-12 art classrooms. Brent Wilson (2008) described a third pedagogical site as a “life-changing space where new forms of hybrid visual cultural artifacts, production, and meaning arise through informal contacts among kids and adults” (p. 120). Such productive informal contact is characteristic of GIFTS: although initially formal, boundaries between mentors, interns, technical assistants, and students at GIFTS is initially formal, those boundaries between their respective roles are fluid and ever-shifting throughout the week.

GIFTS was founded on principles of nonviolent communication and filmmaking: both the act of making films and of working together to be able to communicate and collaborate.

A Third Place for Learning 17 16

GIFTS was founded on principles of nonviolent communication and filmmaking: both the act of making films and of working together to be able to communicate and collaborate. The

purpose, to work together not only on making a film but on how to communicate, compromise, and collectively problem solve.

value of these places of learning is that they “enlist young people in meaningful planning, assumption of “real” roles in organization and management, and sustained focus on details critical to quality-level long-term production” (p. 10). The professional-like working environment, complete with professional expectations, identities, and histories, serves both as a support and as constraints that enable, thereby providing a transformational experience for students.

Transformational Places of Learning Places of learning, as described by Elisabeth Ellsworth (2005), are where and when “[e]verything we ‘know,’ everything that is ‘tellable,’ emerges out of the time and place of this embodied movement/sensation—which is also a time and place of self-dissolution” (p. 167). Dissolution means a moment when the binary of self/other are smudged. What places of learning do, according to Ellsworth, is create a place of dissolution in which the “I” reemerges, changed through the experience. The binary of self/other is transformed. When students walk off the ferry and are transported to the remote camp they are able both to take on a new role and also to have no preconceptions on building relationships with their fellow students. The self/other binary is blurred to become terms such as community, family, team, and film crew. There are no other distractions and no other reminders about who they were and the contexts they came from. It is a chance to perform themselves anew. The social bonding and transformation that occurs between participants is not without its own tensions and struggles while students work to remake their identities in communication and collaboration with each other. Tension erupts as ideas for films are negotiated and roles such as director, editor, and sound grip are traded, shifted, and cycled through during the week. Mentors constantly point to the constraint of time to remind students that it is the deadline they need to work against, not each other.

Communication and Collaboration Essential to making a place like GIFTS a successful learning environment is the teaching of communication tools used in filmmaking, which enables successful collaboration. These tools include scripts, storyboards, shot lists, and meetings. By the end of the week most students have lived and worked intimately together, shooting all day and editing through the night. Some decisions have been fought over and some agreed upon with a simple nod of the head. As a team they learn how to work together toward a common goal and use the tools of communication taught by the mentors in addition to those they have developed on their own. Students speak about the roles that they are assigned and how they adapt to their roles and negotiate new ones. They also speak about how their roles are fluid: each is encouraged to be a director, work on sound, or work the camera, and each can have a hand at trying out each other’s roles. As shooting begins, mentors are observed as they are getting involved, picking up a boom, wrapping cables, and even washing dishes after lunch

without being prompted or asked. It is the development of a “shorthand,” so that each individual can communicate effectively, that makes it possible to work together. Absent from GIFTS are titles like Teacher, Ms., or Mr. There is no one labeled as teacher at GIFTS. Instead, the title of mentor is assigned to the person who would traditionally be called a teacher. However, the mentors are not trained as teachers; they are usually professional filmmakers. Part of making GIFTS a third site of learning is stripping away the formalities of schooling. The goal is to make a film in a week; this liberates mentors to not dictate what ideas students explore, but to point towards possibilities to consider and pitfalls to avoid. The constraints of having to make a film in a week enable the possibility of taking on a decentralized role in the learning. The mentors treat students as professionals and teach them the vocabulary and practices of filmmaking. By the end of their experience, students understand that mentors are not like their teachers at school. Mentors at the beginning of the week are often seen and treated as teachers; as the week unfolds their identities shift as they become collaborators and eventually fade into the background. Mentors do not limit what students wish to attempt. Rather, they say things like: “Have you considered this? What’s your log line? How will you communicate this idea visually? How will you get that shot? With this much dialogue in your script, it might not be possible to find an actor on the island who can do this.” Because the mentors have the experience of making many films and seeing the process unfold over and over, they can ask questions, make statements, and offer prompts—not to shut down students or give them easy solutions, but rather to point toward possibilities and pitfalls of working in their contexts and with their ideas. What can we, as art teachers, learn from places like GIFTS? One of the goals of this study was to look at these third pedagogical places to find different ways of thinking about teaching and learning in public school art classrooms. Many things happen at GIFTS that are just not possible in art classrooms. However, a number of salient insights into how teens learn and what they respond to can be incorporated into our classroom for more democratic practice.

Constraints That Enable: Productive Tension We operate in the world under constraints. There are basic physical constraints such as gravity, financial constraints such as funding, and time constraints such as project deadlines. Without constraints in our lives there would be too many possibilities to choose from: limitless options leading to inaction. There are constraints that come from outside of our everyday lives and there are those that are part of the contexts we live in and engage with. At GIFTS, there is the meta-constraint of time: having to conceptualize, script, act, shoot, edit, and produce a film in a week. The constraint of time is always pointed at by the mentors as a reason to work through problems, tensions, and even fatigue. The responsibility is put on the students to

above Warren Arcan gives a student feedback about his script ideas.

below right Disembarking the ferry at Sturdies Bay, Galiano Island. Photographs by Juan Carlos Castro.

below center The video editing studios at GIFTS.

below left Group meetings are common throughout a Youth Media Intensive workshop.

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Sense of Agency | It is through the constraints of time and of having their ideas subjected to a level of productive and supportive critical development that students at GIFTS gain a sense of agency. Agency is defined here as a freedom to act from an understanding that students are depended on and can have an effect not only on their peers, but the working environment, the mentors, and the final product. It is a sense that what they do matters, not only to them but to each other.

Teaching as Pointing Toward Possibilities and Pitfalls | The etymology of the word teach comes from the root taecan, meaning “to show,” “present,” and “point out.” Mentors often talk about not knowing what ideas students will want to explore in their films. They focus not on what they can do to prepare, but on how they can respond. Mentors draw from their vast and deep knowledge of working as filmmakers to ask those tough questions, to articulate the constraints they are working under, to point out the possibilities and pitfalls of how students might bring their ideas to the screen. The mentors at GIFTS improvise to meet needs of the individual and the collective, striking a delicate balance between making sure ideas are heard and valued while ensuring there is movement towards the group’s goals throughout this intense week. As art teachers, we can similarly shift the responsibility for the ideas explored to students while drawing from our own experiences of artistic inquiry.

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Classroom art teachers can point toward such productive constraints—such as a group exhibition, a scholarship, or a contest outside of the school—to move the why of making art from “because my art teacher wants it” toward “because we have a shared goal to meet.” Like the mentors at GIFTS, art teachers can move from the center—not bearing any less responsibility, but shifting the role of teacher as giving knowledge to that of pointing toward the possibilities and pitfalls ahead.

Art teachers will always have to work with a level of responsibility in the classroom, yet they do not have to be in the center of ideation, production, and exhibition. It is about creating a place where a shared project of inquiry in which every student feels they have a say and stake, whether it is working in a small group to make a film, or as an individual painter to contribute to a group exhibition. They are depended on to contribute.

meet the challenge of making a film in a week. GIFTS students’ collective stake in the final screening of their films is not the only constraint that enables them to care deeply about their films. It starts on the first day, when students are asked: “What’s your log line?” From that moment onward, it is about their goals and ideas. Students are not told what ideas to explore; they are asked tough questions about their ideas, and, through a looping process of idea-pitching, to question and rework to another pitch, students’ ideas are tested, questioned, and refined. In the end, it is their ideas brought to life on the screen.

Summary GIFTS students remark that mentors are not like their teachers at school. Anna C.,¹ a student and member of a documentary team, remarked that their mentor, Liam Walsh, “had his ideas and he didn’t force them on us.” When asked to elaborate, especially about how this could translate for teachers in schools, she said: have it a circle, don’t have the teacher as the main point of focus… don’t be pressing the gas and steering. Just put road signs out that say: if you want to do this, take this road… if you want to try it and you don’t like it, there’s always a u-turn, right? Don’t be stuck in your ideas and your thoughts and beliefs, because not everyone will have that and even… and you can’t force it on people, so don’t. (Anna C., GIFTS student, personal communication, August 22, 2008). Places like GIFTS are instructive for art teachers—not to, as Heath (2001) warns, “become the source of one more ‘to-do’ mandate for their classrooms” (p. 15). Rather, the value of such third pedagogical places of learning is in the lessons they offer for creating a democratic place where the curriculum and pedagogy foster communication, collaboration, and collective problem solving. It is the shared belief in the process of artistic inquiry, not just individually but collectively. Places like GIFTS stand as examples of the learning potential of structuring our curricula and pedagogy to be more democratic in its enactment.

Endnote ¹ Participants in our study were required to sign a consent form (for participants over 18 years old) or assent forms (for participants under the age of 18 years old). Participants under the age of 18 were required to have a signed parental consent. Due to the public nature of participants’ artistic productions they were given the option to have all of their videos, interviews, and images attributed to themselves. Anna and her parents assented and consented to having her identity attributed to her artistic productions, interviews and images. Her documentary group’s film on gaming can be accessed at http://www.youtube.com watch?v=SOyemamCXxU.

Authors’ Note We gratefully acknowledge financial support of this research through a Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Grant (Kit Grauer, principal investigator; Sandra Weber, co-investigator; and Anita Sinner, collaborator).

“Don’t be stuck in your ideas and your thoughts and beliefs, because not everyone will have that… and you can’t force it on people, so don’t.”

below The countdown clock which charts the flow of production in a typical GIFTS course. It is located outside of the main classroom in the common courtyard area. Photographs by Juan Carlos Castro.

left Liam Walsh works with students in the editing room.

Juan Carlos Castro is Assistant Professor of Art Education at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. E-mail: juan@juancarloscastro.com Kit Grauer is Associate Professor of Art Education at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. E-mail: Kit.grauer@ubc.ca

Heath, S. B. (2001). Threeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a crowd: Plans, roles, and focus in the arts. Educational Researcher, 30(7), 10-17. doi:10.3102/0013189X030007010 Kangisser, D. (1999). The third arena: After school youth literacy programs. New York: Robert Browne Foundation. Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robison, A. J., & Weigel, M. (2007). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Retrieved from http://www.digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/ cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_ WHITE_PAPER.PDF McLuhan, M. (2005). Understanding me: Lectures and interviews. S. McLuhan & D. Staines (Eds.). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Richards, C. (1998). Beyond classroom culture. In D. Buckingham (Ed.). Teaching popular culture: Beyond radical pedagogy. London: UCL Press. Szekely, G., & Szekely, I. (2005). Video art for the classroom. National Art Education Association. Tyner, K. (1998). Literacy in a digital age: Teaching and learning in the age of information. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Wilson, B. (2008). Research at the margins of schooling: Biographical inquiry and third-site pedagogy. International Journal of Education through Art, 4(2), 119-130. doi:10.1386

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Carlson, D., & Apple, M. W. (1998). Power, knowledge, pedagogy: The meaning of democratic education in unsettling times. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Darts, D. (2004). Visual culture jam: Art, pedagogy and creative resistance [microform]. Vancouver: University of British Columbia. Darts, D. (2006). Art education for a change: Contemporary issues in the visual arts. Art Education, 59(5), 6-12. Desai, D., & Chalmers, F. G. (2007). Notes for a dialogue on art education in critical times. Art Education, 60(5), 6-11. Ellsworth, E. (2005). Places of learning: Media, architecture, pedagogy. New York: RoutledgeFalmer. Freire, P. (1997). Pedagogy of the oppressed (20th-anniversary ed.). New York: Continuum. Gaztambide-Fernandez, R. A., & Sears, J. T. (2004). Curriculum work as a public moral enterprise. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Goldfarb, B. (2002). Visual pedagogy: Media cultures in and beyond the classroom. Durham: Duke University Press. Goodman, S. (2003). Teaching youth media: A critical guide to literacy, video production, and social change. New York: Teachers College Press.

References

the challenge of new

colorblind racism in art education

By: Dipti Desai

The election of Barack Obama, the first African American President of the United States, is undoubtedly historic. Many of us, both people of color and White were deeply moved the night of the election. In New York City, where I live, and around the country and globe, celebrations broke out and people took to the streets reveling in the beginning of a new age. Immediately, news commentators and media pundits proclaimed that we had entered a post-racial era. This view that an Obama victory would signal the end of racial inequality was a major concern of several Black intellectuals and bloggers who supported Obama prior to the election. Lawrence Bobo, a Black sociologist, said “If Obama becomes the president, every remaining powerfully felt [B]lack grievance and every still deeply etched injustice will be cast out of the realm of polite discourse” (Swarns, 2008, p. 1). Mr. Obama was clearly aware that his candidacy or election would not solve the nation’s racial inequities. His March 2008 speech was the only one to address race directly. According to Glen Ford (2008), the Obama Campaign was “relentlessly sending out signals to [W]hite people that a vote for Barack Obama, an Obama presidency, would signal the beginning of the end of [B] lack-specific agitation, that it would take race discourse off of the table”(¶ 11). Perceptions and beliefs of racial inequality vary widely between Blacks and Whites (New York Times /CBS News poll, 2008).

As art educators who work with the next generation of teachers, we need to pay close attention to this disparity as it speaks to the racial divide that colors the experiences of students from public schools to universities. In public education today, we are faced with three interconnected realities: (1) the majority of teachers are white, middle class, and female; (2) our student body is racially diverse and the rapidly changing demographics point to an increase in students of color; and (3) students of color are more at risk of failing in our schools. This new reality suggests that art teacher education needs to directly address racial inequality. In this article, I examine the ways the colorblind ideology shapes our post-Civil Rights society, what is now being called the new racism. I look specifically at the ways colorblind ideology is produced and reinforced through multiculturalism and visual culture (media). I then look at how it shapes art teachers’ understanding of racism. Drawing on the work of several contemporary artists who challenge the colorblind ideology, I argue that through new representations of race/racism in the art-world, media, and classrooms we can shape anti-bias art education practices.

Racial Inequality in the Age of Obama We are not in a post-racial era. The gap between Whites and people of color continues to grow in education, health care, income, unemployment, and incarceration (see Figure 1). It is clear then that racism is still endemic to our society. As Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (2004) explains “Racism springs not from the heart of ‘racists’,” but from the fact that dominant actors in a racialized social system receive benefits at all levels (political, economic, social, and even psychological), whereas subordinate actors do not” (p. 558).

figure 1 Chart Based on National Urban League’s 2009 The Equality Index that is part of their report titled State of Black America and 2009 Bureau of Justice Statistics Report.

Median Household Income

Unemployment

Without Health Insurance

Incarcerations

Hispanics

$37, 913

12.1%

30.7%

2.4% Hispanic Males

Whites

$55, 530

8.5%

10.8%

0.8% White Males

Blacks

$34, 218

14.8%

19.1%

4.6% Black Males

Art educators who work in teacher education must examine the new colorblind racism that frames our understanding of difference in order to challenge racist practices in our schools and communities. This honest examination is required if we are to address what the playwright Anna Deavere Smith (1993)calls “our struggle to be together in our differences” (p. xii). Each year in my university classes, I witness the deep racial divide between students of color and White students. White students are annoyed when students of color challenge their colorblindness. These challenges inevitably lead to heated and emotional charged discussions about race and racism. Students of color, on the other hand, avoid confronting racist discourses and often remain quiet—perhaps something they learned to do from a very young age. Talking about racism is difficult, painful, and emotional. Vastly different lived experiences inform students’

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The dominant narrative of the post-Civil Rights era is the notion of color blindness, which is an important component of what sociologists are calling the new racism. Shaped by the liberal discourse of individualism, freedom and opportunity, contemporary racism is described as laissez faire racism (Bobo, Kuegel, & Smith, 1997) or colorblind racism (Bonilla-Silva, 2001). Despite differences in the terms used to describe our current racial condition, broadly speaking, the beliefs and views that frame contemporary discourses on race include the notions that (1) people of color should pull themselves up by their bootstraps,

Colorblind racism, according to Bonilla-Silva (2001, 2004), involves: (1) an increase in covert racial discourses and practices; (2) avoidance of racial terms and claims by Whites that they experience reverse racism; (3) language or “semantic moves” that avoid direct racial references in order to safely express racial views; and (4) invisibility regarding the mechanisms of racial inequality. To speak about new racism does not mean we have not made advances regarding race relations since the Civil Rights movement. We have. However, as a nation and certainly in our schools we tend to avoid meaningful discussion about racism.

Seeing Colorblindness

implying that they are unmotivated; (2) discrimination is not the cause of racial inequality; (3) government gives too much attention to race and gives too many opportunities to people of color and not to Whites; (4) people of color are to blame for the persistent gaps in socio-economic conditions and in education; (5) race is no longer an issue; (6) Whites face reverse racism; and (7) people of color tend to use the race card to their advantage.

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For several years now I, among other art educators, have written about the ways the institutionalization of multiculturalism has perpetuated racism by reinforcing the idea of a colorblind society. It does this by focusing on culture, ethnicity, and the celebration of diversity (Colins & Sandell, 1992; Ballengee-Morris & Stuhr, 2001, Desai, 2008, 2005, 2000; Wasson, Stuhr, & Petrovich-Mwanki, 1990). Multiculturalism as enacted in a majority of elementary and high school art classrooms is about tolerating diversity, which has led to the marketing of difference in particular ways, rendering invisible the racialization of punishment, immigration, schooling, art practices, and media. The growth of multiculturalism (schools to corporations) implies that we have “‘overcome’ racism without necessarily shaking up the power structures that are expressed through and that constitute the social context of racism” (Davis, 1996, p. 43). The underlying assumption is that difference can be understood by acquiring knowledge about it and this knowledge will erase racial inequality. However, as Angela Davis (1996) states, “Policies of enlightenment by themselves do not necessarily lead to radical transformations of power structures” (p. 47).

understandings of racial inequality. For many of my White students, their experience of difference is experiential, as they grew up in White suburbs and attended K-12 schools where the majority of students were White. Even those White students who grew up in major cities experienced racial segregation. They typically attended city schools with a high percentage of White students. Many White students’ understandings of difference are based on popular culture and media images that promote racial inequality as a thing of the past. They grew up seeing images and often stereotypes of African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans in the media and in advertisements on a daily basis. Our visual culture continues to reproduce colorblind racism by naturalizing and normalizing images of racial difference in the name of cultural diversity.

Visual Culture and Colorblind Racism Popular magazines and the media are important pedagogical spaces (Giroux, 2006) as they provide the first lessons on colorblind racism. I use both visual culture and contemporary art to start conversations about how race relations are part of our daily lives and how these experiences shape our values and beliefs about different racial groups. One project my students undertake is to analyze contemporary cultural products (TV shows, films, paintings, shoes, advertisements) that have stirred racial controversy. They explore the ways colorblind ideology is shaped or negated through the various discourses circulated about a cultural product. This then opens ways of understanding how discourses in our cultural landscapes are racialized. For example, the April 2008 Vogue magazine featured for the first time on its cover a photograph of an African American man, Lebron James, with top model Gisele Bündchen. This image sparked a major controversy exposing the fault-lines of race relations in the United States, as the cover portrays Lebron James in an ape-like stance, bearing his teeth while simultaneously clutching a petite white model, Gisele Bündchen, recalling images of King Kong. Similarly, Adidas introduced a new line of trainer shoes called the “Yellow Series” that represented a stereotypical cartoon image of an “Asian youth with bowl-cut hair, pig nose and buck teeth” (n.a. 2006, ¶ 1). This image offended many

Asian Americans, but Adidas contended that the artist Barry McGee created this image as an anti-racist commentary. Disney, one of the most powerful oligopolies in the world, is a cherished part of childhood experiences in the United States, shaping understandings of social relations as normative and given, rather than constructed. Disney images represent dominant ideas of race, gender, sexuality and social class (Tavin & Anderson, 2003). Naomi Klein (1999) writes that “Disney has achieved the ultimate goal of lifestyle branding: for the brand to become lifestyle itself ” (p. 155). Most Disney shows over-simplify the complexities of race/racism and neutralize it through colorblind ideologies. In February 2005, Disney Channel aired “True Color” the 53rd episode of its longest-running sitcom, That’s So Raven, which was nominated for an Emmy Award and praised for its portrayal of African Americans. The episode, despite its African American cast, stopped short of addressing the political landscape of race/racism that permeates our society by limiting the discussion of race to one episode, thereby relegating challenges to dominant culture to the margins (Tavin & Anderson, 2003). Another media example is the award-wining movie Crash, directed by Paul Haggis. This movie caught our culture’s imagination and has been hailed as a true post 9/11 representation of the complexity of race relation’s in our country. From high schools to universities, Crash is widely used in classrooms to address race-relations. “Crash is eminently pedagogical. It clearly attempts to teach the viewer something about race and racism” (Howard & Dei, 2008, p. 4). The teachings regarding race, however are ultimately about individuals and their prejudices across the racial spectrum, leaving one with the message that racism is an individual and not systemic issue. As the editors of the book Crash Politics and Antiracism: Interrogations of Liberal Race Discourse, Howard and Dei state, “What is interesting about this movie, however, is that while to many it purports to say something new, anti-racist and anti-colonial analyses reveal that it plays directly, with almost no deviations, into dominant oppressive, Eurocentric, and white supremacist discourses of race” (p. 4). Our students need to develop racial literacy to identify and critique racial discourse in popular culture, media and other sites of visual

figure 2 Shepard Fairey stickers on a date book.

The Obama campaign strategically used the colorblind ideology to gain support, especially in swing states: “Obama’s appeal among white Americans, its seems rests on his perceived ability to transcend race—that is, not to be a [B]lack candidate but simply an American one…” (Mazama, 2007, p. 3).

Similar to critical pedagogical practices, contemporary artists pose questions that prod us to examine taken-for-granted ideas about race, racism and whiteness. These questions allow us to begin the process of thinking critically about how our experiences are shaped by our social position, which is always informed by history. Much of the work done by contemporary artists of color who examine race, racism, and whiteness situate their work within a historical context—thereby challenging an a-historical analysis of policies, laws and institutions that is perpetuated by our educational system. Their work asks viewers to consider their social position in relation to our history. One of the main reasons for colorblind racism is the lack of knowledge and understanding about the history of race and racism in the United States. I often show my students two brief episodes of the PBS series Race: The Power of an Illusion in which Harris (1993) argues that “Whiteness” became property; one that holds tremendous value both materially and symbolically. The normalization of whiteness produces the colorblind ideology. Exploring the notion of colorblindness, Diggs (2009) created a public art project called “ Face” that was intended to open dialogue about race relations at Williams College, where in the spring of 2008 a major bias incident took place (see Figure 3). Students at Williams asked to focus on race relations for a

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A recent visual culture site that needs examination is the new genre of Obama art that is truly historic. Art scholar Steven Heller (2008) states, “Never, as far as I can tell, in the history of a presidential campaigns has such a huge out-pouring of independent posters been created for a single candidate” (¶ 1). Obama’s race as well as his message of hope and change were factors that inspired many artists. Yet, the majority of artists de-emphasized Obama’s race, rarely depicting his skin color. The most famous example of Obama art that captured the nation and world is the ubiquitous red, white, and blue posters of Obama inscripted with the words “hope” or “progress” and reprinted on buttons, stickers and T-shirts (see Figure 2).

Reframing Race through Contemporary Art

to reproduce colorblind racism by naturalizing and normalizing images of racial difference in the name of cultural diversity.

On the other hand, the work of African American graphic designer Ray Noland, the first artist to create and promote Obama art, did not appear to appeal to the masses. Noland represented Obama as part of an African American discourse both ideologically and aesthetically by consciously depicting him in variations of brown. In one poster he uses basketball imagery and in some other posters he is shown among bullhorns and a mass of protesters holding picket signs repudiating the Iraq war. 25 24

culture. Lani Guinier (2004) indicates that racial literacy is first an interactive process in which race functions as a tool of diagnosis, feedback, and assessment. Second, racial literacy emphasizes the relationship between race and power. Racial literacy reads race in its psychological, interpersonal, and structural dimension. It acknowledges the importance of individual agency but refuses to lose sight of institutional and environmental forces that both shape and reflect that agency. It sees little to celebrate when formal equality is claimed within a racialized hierarchy Our visual culture continues (p. 115).

figure 4 [below] NYU Student Artwork for the course; Contemporary Art and Critical Pedagogy: Issues in Race, Representation and Multiculturalism

figure 3 [right] Peggy Diggs, Face, 2009. Public Art Project, Courtesy of Artist.

day as part of “Claiming Williams,” the college’s first day of spring semester. The genesis of this project began a few years earlier when Diggs discovered that her family owned slaves in Virginia in the 17th and 18th centuries. Shocked and horrified by this knowledge, she “worked towards doing public art work about race, investigating whiteness in relation to non-whites. (Few white artists have dealt with their own whiteness in their work, and there are few models to wrestle with)” (Diggs, 2009, ¶ 1). Posing questions to herself about whiteness and race on the margins of books and articles became part of her artistic process, in much the same way that critical educators use the question-posing method in their teaching. These initial questions were reworked, discarded and new ones added in consultation with students, staff, and faculty at Williams College. Diggs decide to place two questions on each napkin used in all the dining halls at Williams College from February 6-13, 2009. Staff, students and faculty could respond to the questions as a URL was provided on the napkin in hopes that a dialogue would ensue regarding race relations at Williams College, which like a majority of colleges in the US is predominantly a White institution. Here, the public space of dining halls and the Internet become an educational space that opens dialogue about people’s feelings, thoughts, and experiences about race, racism, and white privilege. This is the first step toward developing an anti-racist pedagogy.

It is this creative potential of art that forces us to dream of a different future—a more racially just future for all of us.

Confronting the Colorline as a Way to Build Culture Drawing upon the dialogical nature of contemporary art, I asked my students to create a public artwork that was based on an analysis of four to five interviews they conducted with preservice or practicing art teachers regarding their views on race, racism, and art education. Not surprisingly their analysis showed that there was a clear distinction between the few teachers of color and the majority of White teachers they interviewed about their understandings of race relations and its impact on their class, schools, and communities. White teachers’ understanding of race relations was based, for the most part, on a color-blind ideology. Most White teachers provided a ubiquitous response: “I do not see race I only see children.” Multiculturalism was the primary means teachers identified to address race relations in their art classrooms.

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Take for example, the contemporary artist Hank Willis Thomas who portrays the normalization of Blackness by appropriating the language of advertising in his series B(r)anded and Unbranded Reflections in Black by Corporate America 1968-2008 (2005-2008) as it can be easily decoded. Unbranded Reflections in Black by Corporate America 1968-2008 is a series of images taken from advertisements printed from 1968 to 2008 in popular African American magazines, such as Essence and Ebony. He digitally

By un-branding the advertisements he wants us to think about how signs shape particular understandings of our world. By highlighting the role of visual culture, Thomas points to the insidious ways in which race, gender, and capitalism get linked to individual desire and individual agency.

the function of art has always been to break down the crust of conventionalized and routine consciousness. … Artists have always been the real purveyors of the news, for it is not the outward happening in itself which is new, but the kindling by it of emotion, perception, appreciation. (pp. 183-184).

I believe that advertising’s success rests on its ability to reinforce generalizations around race, gender and ethnicity which can be entertaining, sometimes true, and sometimes horrifying, but which at a core level are a reflection of the way culture views itself or its aspirations. (http:// hankwillisthomas.com/portfolio.html)

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The challenge of anti-racist pedagogy is to work with both my White students and students of color to gain a more nuanced understanding of how racism, gender, social class, disability, and sexuality shapes our educational experiences and spaces. As future teachers, they need to be able to negotiate the terrain of race relations that can only begin if they acknowledge colorblind racism and how it intersects with social class, gender, disability, and sexuality. I believe that contemporary art that explores the complexity of race and racism open spaces for students to touch the discomfort about difference that resides in our body, as embodied knowledge, rather than just cognitively. As John Dewey (1954) reminds us,

erases text, logos, and any other advertising information revealing how the naturalization of race relations is coupled with the desire to sell products to African Americans by showing images of themselves. He appropriately begins this series in 1968, a critical and turbulent time in politics that witnessed the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, widespread demonstrations against the Vietnam War, and the eruption of race riots in hundreds of cities across the United States. Speaking about this series, he says:

References

The challenge for my students then was producing artworks as strategic interventions to open dialogue about the complexities of racism rather than shut down conversations or perpetuate colorblind racism. One group created text badges in black and white that challenged a black and white binary shaping much of the literature in critical race theory, while another group installed three headless gender-neutral kids sitting in chairs against a changing background that spanned the color spectrum (see Figure 4). These works directly critiqued multiculturalism’s colorblind ideology’s celebration of diversity as a rainbow coalition. In an era of public spectacles, multiculturalism is one such spectacle (Davis, 1996) that continues to reproduce colorblind racism. Multicultural images in visual culture and art education curricula are pervasive and need to be critiqued as they shape dominant racial narratives. The works of contemporary artists discussed earlier are forms of counter narratives that open ways for us to begin the hard work of directly addressing the unspoken color line in our classrooms. The power of art resides in its ability to reframe issues of race and racism. Creating artworks in art classes that speak to the emotional, physical, and psychological toll of racism in our daily lives and the lives of our communities can break the silence and pry open dialogue about racial inequality. Anzaldua (1990) reminds us that creative acts for people of color are “acts of deliberate and desperate determinations to subvert the status quo. Creative acts are forms of political activism employing definite aesthetic strategies for resisting dominant cultural norms and are not merely aesthetic exercises” (p. xxiv). It is this creative potential of art that forces us to dream of a different future—a more racially just future for all of us. And, it is in this art-based dreaming that “we build culture” (p. xxiv) that works to dismantle the color-line in our scthools and society.

Dipti Desai is Director, Art Education Graduate Program, Department of Art and Art Professions, at New York University, New York City. E-mail: dd25@nyu.edu

Anzaldua, G. (1990) ( Ed.). Making face, making soul/Haciendo caras. San Francisco: Aunt Luke Press. Ballengee-Morris, C., & Stuhr, P. L. (2001). Multicultural art and visual cultural education in a changing world. Art Education, 54(4), 6-13. Bobo, L., Kuegel, J. R., & Smith, R. (1997). Laissez-faire racism: The crystallization of a kinder, gentler, antiblack ideology. In S. T. Tuch and J. Martin (Eds.), Racial attitudes in the 1990s: Continuity and change, pp. 15-42. Westport CT: Praeger. Bonilla-Silva, E. (2001). White supremacy and racism in the post-civil rights era. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner. Bonilla-Silva, E. Lewis, A., & Embrick, D. G. (2004). I did not get that job because of a Black man: The story lines and testimonies of color-blind racism. Sociological Forum, 19(4), 555-581. Collins, C., & Sandell, R. (1992). The politics of multicultural art education. Art Education, 45(6), 8-13. Davis, A. (1996). Gender, class and multiculturalism: Rethinking ‘race’ politics. In A. Gordon & C. Newfield, (Eds.), Mapping multiculturalism, pp. 40-48. Minneapolis & London: University of Minnesota Press. Desai, D. (2008). Living the discourses. In K. Keifer-Boyd, M. Emme & j. jagodzinski (Eds.) InCITE/InSIGHT/InSITE: 25 Years of The Journal of Social Theory in Art Education, pp.33-4. Reston, VA: National Art Education Association. Desai, D. (2005). Places to go: Challenges to multicultural art education in a global economy. Studies in Art Education, 46(4), 293-308. Desai, D. (2000). Imaging difference: The politics of representation in multicultural art education, Studies in Art Education, 41(2), 114-129. Dewey, J. (1954). The public and its problems. Athens, OH: Swallow Press. Ford, G. (2008, January 9). Interview with Amy Goodwin, Now, Radio-WBAI. Giroux, H. (2006). America on the edge. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Goodman, A. (2008). Barack Obama and the African American Community: A Debate with Michael Eric Dyson and Glen Ford. Retrieved on January 24, 2010 from http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/9/ barack_obama_and_the_african_american Guinier, L. ( 2004). From racial liberalism to racial literacy: Brown vs Board of Education and interest-divergent dilemma. Journal of American History, 91(1), 92-118. Harris, C. (1993). Whiteness as property. Harvard Law Review, 106, 1707-1791. Heller, S. (2008, Oct 21). This elections poster child. The New York Times. Retrieved on January 24, 2010 from http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes. com/2008/10/21/this-elections-poster-child/?pagemode=print Howard, P. S. S., & Dei, G. J. S. (2008) (Ed.). Crash politics and antiracism: Interrogations of liberal race discourse. Peter Lang Publishers Klein, N. (1999). No logo. New York: Picador. Lorde, A. (1984). Sister outsider. Berkeley, California: Crossing Press Mazama, A. (2007). The Barack Obama phenomena. Journal of Black Studies, 38(1), 3-6. McKissack, F. (2008/2009). We still aren’t in a post-racial society. Retrieved on January 12, 2010, from http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/23_02/ race23 Rethinking Schools Online-- Volume 23 No. 2 National Urban League. (2009). The Equality Index. State of Black America Report. New York Times/CBS News Poll (2008). Peceptions and beliefs of racial inequality vary widely between Blacks and Whites. Smith, A. D. (1993). Fires in the mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn and other identities. New York: Anchor Books, Doubleday. Swarns, R. L. (2008), Blacks debate civil rights risk in Obama’s rise. Retrieved on September 5, 2008 from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/25/us/ politcs/25race.html Tavin, K., & Anderson, D. (2003). Teaching (popular) visual culture: Deconstructing Disney in the elementary art classroom. Art Education, 56(3), p.21-24, 33-35. n. a. (2006). Adidas hit over “racist” trainer. BBC News Online retrieved on January 27, 2010 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4895898.stm Thomas, H. W. ( n.d.) retrieved on January 26, 2010 from http:// hankwillisthomas.com/portfolio.html U.S. Department of Justice-Bureau of Justice Statistics. Retrieved on August 16, 2009 from http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/prisons.htm Wasson, R. F., Stuhr, P. L., & Petrovich-Mwaniki, L. (1990). Teaching art in the multicultural classroom: Six position statements. Studies in Art Education, 31(4), 234-246.

CALIFORN IA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS Offering 21 undergraduate and 7 graduate programs in: Art Architecture Design Writing

SAN FRANCISCO OAKLAND WWW.CCA .EDU 8 00.447.1 ART

Introducing the new Interaction Design Program in fall 2011

VCG will consider for publication manuscripts that address gender issues in the context of visual culture and arts education. To be considered, manuscripts should be no more than 5000 words in length with an abstract of 150 words. Images are encouraged with manuscripts and should be sent in digital format (jpg, gif, or png) with copyright permission provided.Visual research is encouraged but images must be accompanied by text. Original manuscripts should be prepared according to the APA (5th edition) style. Include in a cover letter that the manuscript is original, not previously published, and not under consideration elsewhere. Please place your name only in the accompanying cover letter and not in the manuscript to facilitate anonymous review. Send the manuscript electronically as an email attachment with .doc extension and your name to Karen Keifer-Boyd at kk-b@psu.edu and Deborah Smith-Shank at debsmithshank@gmail.com.

The Art Education Program in the School of Art at the University of Cincinnati seeks a tenure track Assistant Professor in Art Education. Qualifications include: Ph.D. or Ed.D. in Art Education required. A minimum of three years K-12 art teaching experience. Fluency in current research methodologies. Experience with and ability to teach contemporary issues in art education, such as social, economic, and political concerns; identity representation; urban education; and current research methods. Ability and willingness to collaborate in teaching and research and to undertake administrative responsibilities. Experience in higher education highly desirable. Start date is September 2011. To apply visit http://www.jobsatuc.com posting 28UC2930 The University of Cincinnati is an equal opportunity employer. Women and People of Color are encouraged to apply.

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Submission of Manuscripts: September 15 is the deadline for submission of articles, images, and reviews of books, video/films, performance/actions, Websites, visual culture, and exhibitions for an annual publication each autumn since 2006.

POSITION OPENING

Visual Culture & Gender (VCG) is an international, freely accessed, online journal available @ http://www.emitto.net/visualculturegender. The journalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s purpose is to encourage and promote an understanding of how visual culture constructs gender in context with representations of race, age, sexuality, social units, (dis)ability and social class, and to promote international dialogue about visual culture and gender.VCG is also concerned with the learning and teaching processes and/or practices used to expose culturally learned meanings and power relations that surround the creation, consumption, valuing, and dissemination of images, and involves issues of equity and social justice in the learning, teaching, and practice of art.

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Call for Papers!

art

in social studies assessments: An Untapped Resource for Social Justice Education

By: Susan Zwirn & Andrea Libresco

A relatively new trend in assessment in American history education offers interesting opportunities to inject the arts into mainstream education in ways that could provide a catalyst for engagement with social justice issues. Document-based questions [DBQs] on statewide social studies assessments afford art and social studies teachers interested in social justice issues such opportunities. Long a staple of Advanced Placement exams, DBQs are turning up on statewide elementary, middle, and high school social studies assessments and have become an integral part of social studies curricula and tests in New York. These types of questions represent an authentic assessment, in that students read and analyze passages and visual images and then synthesize the information into a coherent essay. A pioneer in creating DBQs, New York state suggests that documents should include graphs, charts, maps, cartoons, photographs, artwork, eyewitness accounts, and historical passages and requires that its social studies assessment contain at least 2-3 visual documents per DBQ (NYS Social Studies). The input of art teachers in the creation and analysis of these exams (which are not constructed by a corporation but by New York teachers) is desirable if the assessments are to realize their potential for fostering social justice curriculum and instruction.

Why should art teachers committed to social justice issues care about social studies assessment? The arts are now, and historically, marginalized in American public education. In order to graduate from high school in Germany, students need 7-9 credits of art; in Japan, they need 5; in American schools, 0-2 suffice (Fowler, 1996). The central role of psychology in educational theory and its strong emphasis on language help account for this de-emphasis of art in American education (Crain, 1992; Cremin, 1976; Kliebard, 1995). Additionally, freedom of expression, available to American artists, may engender a view that educating for social justice is an endeavor that belongs to the history teacher. Teaming with colleagues to select art images for state assessments provides an avenue to place the arts on an equal platform with text in children’s hearts and minds as they engage in interpreting American culture and history.

Art as a Catalyst for Critical Thinking Art teachers’ engagement with the selection of images for social studies assessment is also important because the arts promote alternate perspectives on historical events. By stimulating emotional connections to the past, art works motivate young people to relate past issues to those in their own lives and potentially make connections to events in the present. Issues of power, the legacies of slavery and Japanese internment, questions of legal justice, and justifications for war are some of the complex issues in American history that have inspired artists to create provocative works. Adding images to the teaching of history is an acknowledgment of the increasingly visual world of our students. In our visually oriented culture, where students’ knowledge of the contemporary world, and even of history, is as likely to emanate from television and film as it is from reading, it is critical that educators assist students’

figure 2 [left] Mrs. Nettie Hunt explaining the significance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s May 17, 1954 desegregation ruling to her daughter Nikie, age 3.

figure 1 Rohwer, Arkansas, Ben Sakoguchi, 1999-2001.

Recent experiences in American educational policy provide ample evidence that high stakes testing gets attention. The No Child Left Behind legislation has only exacerbated this fact (Chapman, 2004). How can art teachers, concerned with social justice, make this reality work for us? First, we have to ask ourselves whether all testing is negative. Leaders in the field of social studies education applaud the inclusion of DBQs, first introduced in 1973 (on Advanced Placement exams), because of their potential in stimulating authentic assessment for informed citizenry (Grant, Gradwell, & Cimbricz, 2004; Rothschild, 2000). For example, a recent New York State United States History and Government examination administered to 11th-graders (January 2009) contained a DBQ that asked students to “[D]iscuss how decisions of the Warren Court affected American society.” Two of the nine documents included in the case were visual images. The first, a photo (Figure 2), depicted Mrs. Nettie Hunt explaining the significance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s May 17, 1954 desegregation ruling to her daughter Nikie, age 3. Two other powerful photographs depicting an

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It would be extremely difficult to establish a direct causal link between critical thinking skills resulting from the contextual analysis of art images and an increased propensity for young people to work toward social justice. However, we can posit that the analysis of artworks provides opportunities to consider

High Stakes Testing as an Opportunity

Art that exemplifies the complex contradictions of history can be found in a series of 80 paintings created by Ben Sakoguchi (2009) called Postcards from Camp (1999-2001). Studying family photos to substantiate his childhood recollections of his time in a Japanese internment camp in Rohwer, Arkansas, Sakoguchi authenticated his recollections by examining military, civilian, and internee photographs. Like an historian, this artist studied media of the time, as well as writings by internees, military, and governmental leaders, to reveal social, cultural, and political perspectives. The painting Rohwer, Arkansas (Figure 1) (19992001), shows children playing marbles outside their barracks. The text on the painting belies the cheerful scene: “IF IT IS A QUESTION OF THE SAFETY OF THE COUNTRY (AND) THE CONSTITUTION… WHY THE CONSTITUTION IS JUST A SCRAP OF PAPER TO ME.” JOHN J. McCLOY, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF WAR, 1942.” Our current ‘war on terror’ was similarly promulgated in ways to justify a loose interpretation of constitutional rights. This painting offers tantalizing opportunities to stimulate empathic understanding of people in history and today.

issues of social justice. DBQs are designed to prepare students to consider multiple perspectives, reconcile differing positions, and evaluate the strength of particular arguments. Developing critical thinking skills in children is a necessary first step to nurture an informed citizenry. Calls for social justice can emerge only from an informed population.

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analysis of images. Art has the power to “…reframe public debate about the past and help transform popular memories and histories” (Desai, Hamlin, & Mattson, 2010, p. 11).

figure 4 [below] On September 25, 1957 federal troops escort the Little Rock Nine to their classes at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

figure 3 A mob surrounds Elizabeth Eckford outside Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas on September 4, 1957.

aspect of the Civil Rights Movement appeared on the June 2008 exam: (a) A mob surrounds Elizabeth Eckford outside Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas on September 4, 1957. (Figure 3); (b) On September 25, 1957 federal troops escort the Little Rock Nine to their classes at Central High School (Figure 4). Requiring analysis and synthesis of textual and visual documents on the tests, as opposed to the familiar reproduction of information required by multiple choice items, can give classroom teachers the impetus to use more thoughtful materials in their own teaching. Thus, as Rothschild points out, “DBQ[s] and especially the emphasis on primary sources have profoundly changed instruction at all levels of American history” (2000).

Visualizing a Wider Range of Documents Since the New York State Regents Examination became a high stakes test whose passage is a requirement for graduation from high school, the state has archived all past examinations on the New York State Department of Education website. We were able to access all 24 exams given from June 2001 through January 2009, the period when the DBQ became one of the two required essay questions on the exam. Our analysis of these United States examinations reveal that there were 192 documents on the 24 tests, each containing an average of 8 documents. Out of those 192 documents, 51 (26%) were visual documents. Forty-two of the 51 visual documents could be categorized as arts documents. Thus, of the 192 total documents, 42 or 22% could be labeled as arts documents. Viewing the 42 arts documents, there were 17 photographs, 17 political cartoons, 7 advertisements of some kind (posters, flyers, broadsides), and 1 illustration (State Assessment History: Social Studies Regents Examinations).

If art teachers and their social studies colleagues work together, students in U. S. History classes can benefit from analyzing images in lessons and assessments.

This list of images is remarkable for what it does not include: images generally considered to be fine art. Most of the images are what Rothschild refers to as “informational images” (Rothschild, 2000, p. 555), the types of images that art history tends to ignore. Working in isolation from art educators, social studies educators are the sole selectors of all DBQ images, which helps to account for the dearth of fine arts on these tests. Studies of secondary teachers in New York have found that, since the advent of DBQs on the state social studies tests, teachers are more attentive to the use of primary source documents, including images (Grant, Derme-Insinna, Gradwell, Lauricella, Pullano, & Tzeto, 2001, 2002; Schwartz, Blue, Klemann, Kramerson, & Perielli, 2002). Standardized tests have become important drivers of curriculum and instruction. Classroom teachers are turning to art and museum educators to assist them in preparing students to interpret DBQs (Richner, N., personal communication, May 1, 2010). There is no reason why social studies teachers should not turn to their art teacher colleagues down the hall as well. Because social studies assessments in New York State are created, piloted, and edited by groups of teachers, it is entirely possible that art teachers could be part of those groups. Just because this has not occurred to date (Larson, J., personal communication, April 12, 2010) does not mean it cannot be considered. Even if no art teachers were included among the test-creators, art teachers can still have an effect on test construction and classroom instruction, albeit from a slight remove. If art teachers and their social studies colleagues work together, students in U.S. History classes can benefit from analyzing images in lessons and assessments.

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If well-constructed assessments and their concomitant professional development programs can foster critical thinking instruction, there is every reason to believe that assessments can also foster social justice instruction through the opportunities to read visual culture provided by DBQs. A critical examination of social studies assessments in New York State and the possibilities for the intersections of social studies, art, and social justice provide art educators with a significant

Teachers of global history may be more accustomed to showing works of art than their counterparts who teach American History. The state core curriculum has many more references to works of art through the Renaissance, though few in the most recent centuries, as written works come to dominate the suggested documents list in the 20th century (NYS social studies – Core Curriculum). In New York State’s United States History core curriculum, there are many fewer references to art documents; the emphasis of K-12 education is for students to understand “the structure and function of governments and to learn how to take on their roles as citizens” (NYS social studies – Core Curriculum). Indeed, the only overt references to art are found in the Gilded Age with Thomas Nast cartoons, the Progressive Era with Jacob Riis photographs, and in the “culture” of the Depression/New Deal time period (NYS social studies – Core Curriculum). The scarcity of artistic documents may be attributed to the fact that New York State’s U.S. History course emphasizes the Constitution and its effects throughout history, with little emphasis on what is revealed through cultural production.

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Studies of elementary assessment in New York State in English Language Arts and Mathematics have found that the tests, which require more writing and problem solving, have driven instruction and professional development programs that also focus more on writing and problem solving (Cizek, 2001; Cohen & Hill, 2000; Firestone & Mayorwetz, 2000; Dutro, Fisk, Koch, Roop & Wixson, 2002; Mathison & Freeman, 2003). Thus, proponents of critical thinking have concluded that the easiest way to reform instruction and improve educational quality is to construct better tests that emphasize critical thinking (Yeh, 2001; Firestone & Mayorwetz, 2000). Closely linking professional development to analysis of statewide assessments and the creation of DBQs may become a means for teachers to insert more documents, both textual and visual, that encourage critical thinking into their classroom instruction.

opportunity to emphasize the critical role of art to reflect and shed new meaning on history and culture. We invite art teachers to become involved with selection of images that will require students to analyze issues of power and social justice for DBQs on state assessments and in classroom lessons.

figure 5 Slavery, Slavery, Kara Walker, 1997.

Tests’ Potential to Drive Social Justice Instruction

linking images and social justice issues

Rohwer, Arkansas, Ben Sakoguchi, 1999-2001

The Migration of the Negro,

(Figure 1) See pages 3-4 for a discussion of this painting.

Jacob Lawrence’s Migration series, 1940

Sakoguchi, born in California, has created several series

In 1941, at a time of pervasive and legalized segregation,

of paintings that include the subjects of Japanese

Lawrence was the first African American to be

internment, slavery, baseball and race, and other aspects

represented by a major New York City gallery. Lawrence

of American culture. A prolific artist who has chronicled

confronted contemporary themes affecting the lives of

controversial historical and cultural issues, Sakoguchi’s

African Americans, such as migration, work, and family,

series of 80 paintings, Postcards from Camp, portrays life

with powerful, simplified shapes and color in a way that

before, during and after Japanese internment.

included strong social commentary.

Sacco and Vanzetti, Ben Shahn, 1931-32

Slavery, Slavery, Kara Walker, 1997

Following World War I, nationalistic zeal was reflected in

(Figure 5) Motivated by her love of history painting,

an emerging artistic style that produced many potent

Walker strives to move from the pomposity and

images, stimulated calls for social and economic justice,

inaccuracy endemic in historical paintings to a brutal and

and came to be known as Social Realism. A Jewish

meticulous kind of art that explodes racial stereotypes in

refugee from Lithuania, Shahn examined his ethnic roots

disturbing images. (Desai, et. al., 2010). Inspired by the

while the Depression developed, which reinforced a

antebellum South and 18th- century silhouettes, this

concern for the plight of workers. Shahn is particularly

installation commands an entire room with images of

known for his series on the Sacco and Vanzetti case that

blacks and whites of all ages, some engaged in disturbing

grappled with the trial and execution of Italian

poses. Drawing from slave narratives as well as her

immigrants. In addition to chronicling the central issue of

imagination, her research of Southern life, and even the

his time, Shahn’s art suggests compelling comparisons to

novel Gone with the Wind, Walker’s artwork compels

issues confronting today’s immigrants and other working

the viewer to engage with history in a visceral, wrenching

class Americans.

way (Desai, et. al., 2010).

Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, Grant Wood, 1931

The Death of General Wolfe, Benjamin West, 1771

Reared in a small shack in Iowa, Wood is considered a

The compelling story of this tenth child of an innkeeper

Regionalist painter who claimed that his best ideas came

includes that he was taught to mix paints by Native

while on a farm. The painting conveys a fable-like quality;

Americans in the region. The depiction of the Native

the dwellings look like doll houses with a rocking horse.

American warrior is an idealization of the concept of

The artist presents the vantage point of the viewer in a

the noble savage. In opposition to the images in

way that makes the viewer feel omniscient, as we look

twentieth century cowboy films, Wolfe portrayed the

down on the monochromatic, dramatic scene. Patriotic

main Native American embodying deep thought. This

fervor can turn history into a fable that ignores

painting was extremely controversial at the time, as it

inconvenient truths.

ignored the convention of dressing figures in classical attire. Wolfe has ‘re-written’ the actual event as no Native Americans were present; they were fighting for the French against the British.

Analyzing images, including fine arts, can support the growth of basic historical literacy abilities by stimulating students to analyze artistic ideas, take positions and defend them, examine the world of visual images they live in, and ask new questions and produce historical information in novel ways (Desai, et al., 2010). Here are some possible examples by American artists that reveal volumes about their subjects. The first image reveals the bias and role of story in historical painting, the purpose of which has been largely usurped by photography today. Other artworks that offer rich possibilities are noted on the previous page.

The Power of Art and Studies Teachers to Foster Thoughtful Citizens The small sample of artworks above reveal glorification of the past, the impact of slavery on its victims, and the injustice faced by Americans. Art stimulates emotional connections to the past and understanding in unique and profound ways that can never be duplicated by mere words or graphs. DBQs should include works of contemporary and traditional artists, as their creations offer alternate perspectives on historical events.

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Andrea S. Libresco is Associate Professor and Graduate Director of Social Studies Education and Associate Director of the Center for Teaching and Scholarly Excellence at Hofstra University. She has written on a variety of topics, including citizenship, current events, and gender and conducts ongoing research on the effects of the New York State elementary and secondary social studies tests on instruction. E-mail: Andrea.S.Libresco@hofstra.edu

Susan Goetz Zwirn is the Graduate Director and Associate Professor of Art Education at Hofstra University. Her research areas include the marginalization of the arts in American education, arts integrated curriculum, and the artist teacher. In addition, she is a painter and arts program evaluator. E-mail: catsgz@hofstra.edu

Cizek, G. J. (2001). More unintended consequences of high stakes testing. Educational Measurement 20(4), 19-27. Chapman, L. (2004). No child left behind in art. Arts Education Policy Review, 106, 2, 3-20. Cohen, D. K., & Hill, H. C. (2000). Instruction policy and classroom performance: the mathematics reform in California. Teachers College Record, (102) 2, 294-343. Crain, W. (1992). Theories of development. NJ: Prentice Hall. Cremin, L. (1976). Traditions of American education. New York: Basic Books. Desai, D., Hamlin, J., Mattson, J. (2010). History as art, art as history. New York: Routledge. Dutro, E., Fisk, M. C., Koch, R., Roop, L .J., & Wixson, K. (2002). When state policies meet local district contexts: standards-based professional development as a means to individual agency and collective ownership. Teachers College Record, (104), 4. Firestone, W. A., & Mayorwetz, D. (2000). Rethinking “high-stakes”: lessons from the United States and England and Wales. Teachers College Record, (102) 4, 724-749. Fowler, C. (1996). Strong arts, strong schools. New York: Oxford University Press. Grant, S.G., Derme-Insinna, A., Gradwell, J., Lauricella, A.M., Pullano, L., & Tzeto, K. (2001). Teachers, tests, and tensions: Teachers respond to the New York State global history exam, International Social Studies Forum, 1(2), 107-125. Grant, S. G., Derme-Insinna, A., Gradwell, J., Lauricella, A. M., Pullano, L., & Tzeto, K. (2002). Juggling two sets of books: A teacher responds to the New York State Global History Exam, Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, 17(3), 232-255. Grant, S. G., Gradwell, J.M., Cimbricz. S. K. (2004). A question of authenticity: The document-based question as an assessment of the students’ knowledge of history. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, (19)4, 309-337. Kliebard, H. M. (1995). The struggle for the American curriculum 1893-1958. New York: Routledge. Mathison, S., & Freeman, M. (2003, September 24). Constraining elementary teachers’ work: dilemmas and paradoxes created by state mandated testing. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 11(34). Retrieved September 24, 2003, from http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v11n34/. New York State Social Studies. Learning Standards and Core Curriculum: Global History and Geography, United States History and Government, Grade 12 Social Studies. Retrieved January 26, 2010, from http://www.emsc.nysed. gov/ciai/socst/pub/sscore2.pdf. New York State Social Studies. What are document-based questions and why are we doing them? Retrieved March 28, 2006, from http://www.emsc. nysed.gov/ciai/ dbq/iione.html. Regents Exam in U.S. History and Government. (January 29, 2009). Albany, NY: New York State Education Department. Retrieved May 25, 2009 from http://www.nysedregents.org/testing/socstre/us-109/us-109.pdf. Rothschild, E. (2000). The impact of the document-based question on the teaching of US history, The History Teacher, (33)4, August, 495-500. Sakoguchi, B. (2009). http://www.bensakoguchi.com/series_postcards_from_ camp.php Schwartz, S., Blue, S. Klemann, M., Kramerson, A., & Perielli, J. (2002). Using document based questions (DBQ) as a research tool for the teaching and learning about young adults. Paper presented at the annual conference of the National Council for the Social Studies, Phoenix, AZ. State Assessment: Social Studies Regents Examinations - U. S. History, http:// www.nysedregents.org/testing/socstre/regentushg.html Yeh, S.S. (2001). Tests worth teaching to: constructing state-mandate tests that emphasize critical thinking. Educational Researcher, (30)19, 12-17.

35 34

Art teachers strive to teach children how to read the visual signs of past and present cultures. DBQs offer art teachers intriguing openings to extend their influence beyond their own classrooms to those of their social studies colleagues. If art teachers contribute to the creation of social studies assessments and instruction, they will have greater opportunities to challenge social studies teachers and students to analyze artworks for what they reveal about societal values and power structures. In the process, they may nurture students to become more visually literate and help create informed citizens who have the tools to analyze and critique their society.

References

an invitation to social change: Fifteen Pr inciples for Teaching Ar t

By: Carrie Nordlund, Peg Speirs & Marilyn Stewart Thirty years after its completion, The Dinner Party found a permanent home at the Brooklyn Museum in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art (see Figure 1). At the request of artist Judy Chicago, we—Kutztown University colleagues Carrie Nordlund, Peg Speirs, and Marilyn Stewart— developed a curriculum guide for educators to include this significant artwork in K-12 programs. Chicago’s hope was that by engaging in serious investigation of the artwork, students would develop a consciousness about gender, along with a deep understanding of women’s

history, including the obstacles women faced as they struggled to participate fully in society. After the artist approached Marilyn Stewart to write a curriculum and she, in turn, put together our team, we decided that we would invite others to join the project. Focusing especially on K-12 teachers, we hosted an Invitation to The Dinner Party Summer Institute at Kutztown University in 2007. Our invitation to the participants was to investigate The Dinner Party and, in the spirit of its creation, assist afterwards in the development of curricular strategies for exploring the artwork in K-12 classrooms. Given our own backgrounds and orientations, we knew that our one-week institute would need to exemplify feminist pedagogy while modeling exemplary methods for interpreting complex artworks such as The Dinner Party. Our planning process drew upon our deeply embedded orientations to feminism and social justice, as well as our beliefs regarding the importance of

figure 1 The Dinner Party, 1975-79 Photo © Donald Woodman. Reproduced with permission from Through the Flower.

understanding artworks as situated within multiple and overlapping contexts. In this article we introduce these orientations and beliefs in the form of 15 principles that guided the planning and implementation of our summer institute program.

Our 15 principles guided the Invitation to The Dinner Party Summer Institute and played a central role in the later development of The Dinner Party Curriculum. The principles provided us with a theoretical framework for developing the curriculum, now published at throughtheflower.org. Like many complex works of art, The Dinner Party often is considered for K-12 curriculum one of two ways, either simplistically where meaning is ignored or misunderstood, or

Start with Students. It is important to begin a teaching assignment by assessing and getting to know the individuals within a group in order to decide how to proceed. Preliminary communications and introductory learning encounters might address the following: Who are our students? What do they know? What are their personal experiences? Our group of Institute participants came from regions across the country as well as outside the United States. Before meeting them in person, we sent questionnaires and collected data to guide us as we finalized our Institute planning. We learned, for example, the extent to which the participants were familiar with The Dinner Party, feminism, and feminist pedagogy. We were able to begin the week with a sense of which participants might be willing to share their experiences in teaching about women’s history, gender issues, or The Dinner Party. When employing this principle, teachers might create ways for their students to share what they know about a topic, what they would like to know about it, and their personal experiences associated with it. Having an understanding of their students—who they are, what they know and what they care about—allows teachers to better plan for and facilitate meaningful student experiences.

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15 Principles for Teaching About Complex Artworks

In what follows, we explain each principle, describe how we employed it in the Institute, and highlight how teachers integrated or might integrate it into their own elementary, middle, or high school art curriculum. At any given time, while planning and implementing curriculum, a teacher might be guided by more than one principle.

Completed in 1979, The Dinner Party is an icon of feminist art and honors 1,038 women in history. Thirty-nine women are represented by place settings on a triangular table, a symbol of equality. These women are commemorated with intricately embroidered table runners and china-painted plates with central motifs symbolic of the woman honored. Another 999 names of mythical and historical women of achievement are inscribed on the tiles in the floor on which the table rests. These women also are portrayed symbolically in the hand-colored photo-and-text collages comprising the Heritage Panels. The installation also includes six woven banners incorporating triangular, floral, and abstracted butterfly motifs. These hang in procession and greet visitors to The Dinner Party. The installation took more than 5 years to complete and required the help of over 400 women and men, mostly volunteers.1

The principles are applicable for addressing any artwork, but especially artworks that are conceptually and physically complex, as is much contemporary art. Participants in our Institute employed these principles as they took what they learned into their own classroom situations. They contextualized learning by applying these principles in unique ways so as to develop curricula that met the students’ interests and needs in their distinctive school settings. 37 36

Within feminist pedagogy, what we choose to learn about and how we engage with course content bring awareness to the issues and oppressions surrounding women and other underrepresented groups. The ultimate goal is for social change. Toward that end, we felt strongly that future generations of women and men needed to know about The Dinner Party and women’s historical contributions to Western civilization. Social change, however, depends further upon an understanding of The Dinner Party within its own social, political, ideological, historical and art historical contexts. A deep investigation of the contexts surrounding the artwork reveals how its creation was necessary in order to address the erasure of the achievements of women from history. The Dinner Party is a catalyst for questions about social equity then as well as now. Understanding this potential of The Dinner Party was paramount in the selection of the enduring idea that would anchor our institute planning: knowing our history helps us understand our present and plan for our future.

worse, dismissed altogether as unteachable. Guided by the 15 principles, our approach to The Dinner Party involved a deep investigation of the artwork so that its many layers of meaning would be revealed and understood as too significant to ignore. Essentially, these principles reflect feminist pedagogy as well as model the time and commitment it takes to really study or engage with one or more artworks. We believe that our 15 principles, based on our ideas about art, curriculum, and pedagogy, represent solid teaching practice and remind us to strive for equity within classroom practices. Feminist pedagogical practice makes room for all voices and honors inclusion so that issues of difference emerge for all to recognize. Within such practice, classroom participants gain awareness of diversity and even experience tension concerning differences.

Create Community. Believing that people learn best in a supportive, communal environment, we planned many of our early Institute activities so that participants would come to know and understand each other within professional and personal contexts. For example, we designed a pre-assignment that required participants to arrive at the Institute with a visual representation of a woman of their own choosing, selected with the same criteria employed by Judy Chicago and others when making decisions about the women featured in The Dinner Party. The sharing of these assignments featured prominently in the development of community as our Institute participants revealed their decisionmaking process and, in many cases, their personal approaches to artmaking. As the week progressed, we engaged participants in activities designed to build trust, find common goals, and learn through the exploration of differences. Seeking to emphasize that everyone has something to contribute, we dedicated much learning time to large and small group discussions with all members of the group seated in a circle. We modeled how to facilitate discussion and learning activities that created opportunities for co-constructed involvement. Teachers interested The purpose of looking at in creating community within complex works such as their teaching settings might begin with circle discussions, The Dinner Party “is to emphasizing the importance of develop metaphors that help all voices being heard. As students become accustomed to listening us understand difficult issues, and responding to their peers in large circle discussions, they can not to use the works as move into smaller circle groups, starting points for imitation.” with the goal of all students knowing that their ideas and experiences have value within a caring community of learners. Teachers will find additional strategies for building community throughout the encounters and lesson suggestions at throughtheflower.org. Likewise, this website has an open forum for continuing the dialogue about the Curriculum as well as issues of feminism, gender, and diversity. Find Ideas. It was paramount for the participants at the Institute to discover and construct ideas about The Dinner Party by spending enough time with the artwork and its various contexts. Participants reflected on, responded to, and honored ideas emerging

from investigating the art and sharing personal stories. Through sustained and focused critical inquiry about the art and its contexts that speak to the human condition, we extracted enduring ideas. These led participants to essential questions such as: Who are our predecessors? What is history? Who decides what is included and excluded from history? Why is history symbolized in art? How do we mark our place in history? How are differences transcended? What traditions do we pass on and what traditions do we disrupt? After our Institute, art teacher Tammy Taylor2 returned to her K-12 classroom with curricula objectives regarding how her students could consider who writes history. In considering how one decides who is included and excluded from history, her students created persuasive letters addressed to museums and galleries urging curators to exhibit more women artists. Look for Metaphors. The purpose of looking at complex works such as The Dinner Party “is to develop metaphors that help us understand difficult issues, not to use the works as starting points for imitation” (Gaudelius & Speirs, 2002, p. 400). Understanding metaphor as a way of seeing one thing as something else, implying a comparison, our list of relevant metaphors associated with The Dinner Party included the body, butterfly, altar, shrine, and table. We focused on the metaphor of table to exemplify this principle. The table figures prominently in The Dinner Party and can be seen as an altar, a gathering place, a ceremonial structure, and so on. We designed an activity for the Institute participants that resulted in rich discussion as they shared personal stories and memories of family interactions around tables in their homes when growing up and today. When studying a work of art, we encourage teachers to select a metaphor that can ignite discussion and help animate the ideas of the artwork in an approachable way. After our Institute, art teachers Dayna McNichol and Stephanie Spencer used the table metaphor in a matching activity to introduce The Dinner Party to elementary art students (see Figure 2). Extend the Community. We suggest teachers consider local, regional and artworld communities for resources to enliven exploration and deepen understanding. In some cases this might mean inviting experts into the classroom, in other cases it might mean visiting experts in their own settings. For example, in our Institute we invited feminist art historian and art educator Martin

figure 2 Matching Metaphor Activity. Elementary students match metaphors with images of tables.

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Establish a Safe Place. We established a protocol for large group discussions modeled after feminist pedagogy that cultivated a climate of respect for differences as they emerged throughout the Institute (Speirs, 1998). Following the protocol, participants developed a sense of community and trust with each other. During discussions they made links between the subject matter and their own lives or experiences. Participants refrained from making negative comments or judgments about what people said, they spoke one at a time, listened attentively, asked questions for

Encourage Dialogue. Dialogue does not happen automatically when studying works of art. It requires preparation in many forms and should make available multiple ways to respond to prompts and questions. We routinely gathered participants in situations with questions, activities, and prompts that would encourage dialogue among them. We required that participants keep a journal/ sketchbook to record, respond, and reflect on

the dayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s activity or assigned readings. The pages of our custom-made spiral bound journals contained questions printed across the top of paper strong enough for artmaking, with the hopes that this would further encourage reflection and dialogue. Evening reflections in the journals prepared the participants for the next dayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s discussions and helped them make links between their own lives and the course material. We also reserved time throughout the day for participants to reflect and respond in their journals after activities or group discussions. After our Institute, middle school art teacher Kris Tuerk opened dialogue by having her students share artwork made by women in their families.

Rosenberg who lives and teaches in our region to present on women artists in history. Dr. Rosenberg, the author of Gender Matters in Art Education (2007), presented a compelling case for the inclusion of women artists in the K-12 curriculum. We also arranged a field trip to our local Allentown Art Museum where Dr. Jacqueline Atkins, Curator of Textiles, showed images and actual examples of historical textiles referenced in the runner designs at The Dinner Party table. As we learned the history of textiles, we became increasingly more appreciative of the extensive research Judy Chicago and her team of experts performed in order to make decisions while creating The Dinner Party. When teachers reach out beyond the classroom community to include local experts, they then provide opportunities for increased connections with works of art.

WORD CARDS

STATEMENTS

WORKSHEETS PLACE SETTING COMPONENTS CONTEXT CARDS

clarification, kept information confidential when asked to, repeated important points and added to them, and when appropriate, thanked each other for what they offered to the discussion. When teachers want to establish a safe space, they can keep a queue of names so that opportunities to speak go in order of the hand raised first. If someone tries to dominate the discussion or wishes to speak again teachers can ask the person to wait until others respond before calling on them again. When necessary, teachers should correct misunderstandings or misinformation, and ask new questions prompted by responses. Educators construct a safe space by their actions and attitudes. Make Room for Multiple Voices. Learning that diverse positions co-exist around an issue may be unsettling for some people and eye-opening for others. Listening to what others have to say, even when it may be different from what we know or believe, allows us to weigh our ideas against others, compare, build better arguments, or let go of ideas with which we disagree or that we no longer need. This type of learning is vital to the survival of a truly democratic society. We designed activities to recognize issues of difference, challenge assumptions, promote decision-making, expand perceptions, and practice negotiation within groups. One activity asked participants to identify with statements about race, class, gender, and ethnicity. Participants learned that gender intersects with different social factors, thus

expanding their understandings of identity. After our Institute, Addy McKerns asked her high school students to consider the following prompt, â&#x20AC;&#x153;If I did not let gender stereotypes play a role in my life I would definitely learn how to ___________.â&#x20AC;? After collecting and reviewing studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; responses, she created experiences in which all of her students were given the opportunity to take on these other-gender tasks. Make Comparisons. Students better understand the content and context of an artwork when that work is connected through subject matter, time, metaphors, themes or message to other artworks. We suggest collecting images for students to compare with the artwork being studied. Teachers can design comparison activities with additional artworks created by the artist or with artworks by other artists. Rich juxtapositions can ignite discussions and encourage deeper investigations. We encourage teachers to consider a multitude of sources on the subject of the artwork to facilitate and promote different forms of evidence for meaning making. For example, collecting critical reviews of the artwork being studied and gathering information on a particular issue addressed by the artwork. Studying an historical artwork over time can provide rich context and a range of perspectives. After our Institute, elementary art teacher Maureen Yoder taught a lesson where her students compared and contrasted The Dinner Party to other monumental works

figure 3 Guide Practice. Institute participants working in small groups to interpret the meanings in specific place settings of The Dinner Party.

We designed activities to recognize issues of difference, challenge assumptions, promote decision-making, expand perceptions, and practice negotiation within groups.

41 40 Encourage Inquiry. We took seriously the adage that the more we know, the more we want to know. As participants explored specific place settings, the history of women at the table and other components and ideas associated with The Dinner Party, they had many questions. As facilitators, we recognized that since investigation is the path to deep understandings, we had a crucial role in establishing situations in which questions and subsequent investigation likely would arise (Stewart & Walker, 2005). In addition to emphasizing the importance of questions, we also provided resources for continued research. As the week progressed, the number of resources placed around the room increased. Participants were given the opportunity to probe further into areas of feminism, feminist art, global feminist issues, gender issues in art and education, women’s issues and achievements, and so on. Teachers should know that even though their students are highly motivated to learn, they can ask provocative questions and encourage research.

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Explore Contexts. As we come to know an artwork through investigation of its social, political, historical, and ideological contexts, we develop deeper understanding and appreciation of its meaning and significance (Barrett, 1999). The Dinner Party was created at a time when dominant historical accounts of Western civilization consistently failed to recognize achievements of women, when second wave feminism sought to address this absence and other inequalities, and when feminist artists challenged established artworld history, concepts, and practices. Because we were committed to encouraging a deep, rich exploration of The Dinner Party, we designed activities through which participants increasingly considered the artwork in the context of feminism, feminist art, and gender roles in art history. We showed the film, Right Out of History: The Making of Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party (Tyson & Demetrakas, 1980), featuring the day-to-day circumstances through which the artwork was made. After our Institute, art teacher Danielle Dente helped her middle school students inform themselves through an exercise during which students separated “girl” toys from “boy” toys. Part of this learning encounter involved a discussion about how the students came to those decisions. Elementary art teacher

Andrea Horn provided her students with images of males and females who made great contributions to society. She then challenged her students to identify the people in the images. Each time the exercise was carried out, her 5th-grade students knew the males but not the females.

such as The AIDS Memorial Quilt, Mount Rushmore, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, highlighting the commemorative nature of The Dinner Party.

Guide Practice. Interpretation is the process through which we come to understand the many layers of meaning in an artwork. Because these understandings have the potential to provide insights into our own lives and the lives of others, and because these kinds of insights are what we aim for and anticipate for all who encounter artworks, it is important to become facile in constructing and communicating interpretations. Teachers sometimes falsely assume that their students automatically or intuitively know how to interpret artworks. We recognize the importance of purposefully teaching students how to gather information provided in artworks and their contexts and to imaginatively combine these data to offer answers to the question: What is this artwork about? (Danto, 1981). We modeled strategies for guiding practice in investigating meaning, sequencing the activities so that first, we led the whole group in an interpretive discussion about a familiar (and nonthreatening) artwork, while providing prompts on 3” x 5” cards to assist in describing the artwork, sharing contextual information, and constructing interpretations. Next, we unpacked the experience and named its various components so as to make explicit what was implicit in the process. As we moved into the second planned activity, we provided packets of materials and instructions for participants to work in small groups to interpret the meanings in specific place settings at The Dinner Party (see Figure 3). We reminded participants that through practice, they would become increasingly proficient in offering interpretations (Stewart & Walker, 2005). When teaching young people how to interpret artworks, teachers can articulate the process, offer guidance, and provide opportunities for students to practice their developing skills.

Reflect. Ongoing participant journaling both in and outside of classes was central to our reflective practice during the Institute. We cultivated an ethic of taking stock by asking ourselves: Where have we been? Where are we? Where are we going? Recurrent thoughtfulness about place, feelings, insights, ideas, and contexts allowed us to mediate sensitively through the many layers of meaning in The Dinner Party. We concluded that purposeful, careful contemplation is necessary when unpacking any dense work of art. Given that The Dinner Party poses a multitude of enduring ideas and that the Institute participants were ceaseless with their emerging discoveries and curriculum connections, we created an archive for spontaneous insights. In a private, quiet area, we provided a video camera so that participants could record emerging thoughts and happenings. This provided another medium for participants to debrief and speak to what they were thinking at the moment. Likewise, as facilitators of the Institute, we continually assessed, debriefed, and discussed daily activities in order to feel, sense, and (re) consider how the learning might go. Student reflection processes can be part of a lesson culmination when an art teacher asks reflective questions such as: “How did your research help you to better understand the woman you chose? How did your research help you to create the banner in honor of her?” (Weber, 2010, p. 14). At the end of The Dinner Party Institute we emphasized the importance of closure and reflection for a unit of study by celebrating dinner as tradition, reflective dialogue, and sense of community. Much like Judy Chicago and her team of helpers would meet for potluck dinners during the making of The Dinner Party, we shared a meal as a venue for voices to be heard and epiphanies to be performed within the dinner talk.

Be Flexible. When teaching, there should always be room for a change in plans. Teachers should be open to possibilities that emerge from unplanned or unanticipated events, experiences, and responses if they support the artwork being studied and the goals of the lesson. In our planning, we scheduled activities tightly because of a limited time frame and a desire to keep participants engaged and interested. We learned from our participants that they wanted time just to be with the artwork, to look and internalize, without external engagement. Suggestions such as these can enhance curricular activities and in this case, replace original plans with something better.

Find Support. When deciding whether or not to bring certain artworks into the curriculum, it is imperative for teachers to discuss curriculum plans with appropriate administrators and colleagues. Even if there is only one art teacher in the school, s/he should cultivate professional relationships with other teachers and a building administrator if possible, people whose opinions are valued and trusted. Educators should take the time to articulate reasons and build a case for why the artwork is important to include in the curriculum and how it can be done, and invite participation by members of the school community. Participating can help others see the work in new ways. If teachers cannot convince trusted colleagues of their plans, they should rethink them.

Conclusion

For more information about The Dinner Party, visit throughtheflower.org.

Permissions from Institute participants were sought and granted through informed consents. Real names of participant art teachers are used in the article to acknowledge the teachers’ perspectives and contributions.

References Barrett, T. (1999). Criticizing art: Understanding the contemporary. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing. Danto, A. (1981). The transfiguration of the commonplace: A philosophy of art. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Gaudelius, Y., & Speirs, P. (2002). Contemporary issues in art education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Rosenberg, M. (2007). Gender matters in art education. Worcester, MA: Davis Publications. Speirs, P. (1998). Collapsing distinctions: Feminist art education as research, art and pedagogy. (Unpublished dissertation). Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. Stewart, M., & Walker, S. (2005). Rethinking curriculum in art. Worcester, MA: Davis Publications. Tyson, T. (Producer), & Demetrakas, J. (Director). (1980). Right out of history: The making of Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party [Motion picture]. (Available from Through The Flower, 107 Becker Avenue, Belen, NM, 87002) Weber, M. (2010). Classroom connections: Displaying thankfulness for women in history.Retrieved from http://www.throughtheflower.org/ dpcp/encounters. php?sid=2a045d646fc365a9fc1dc2abada20395

Carrie Nordlund, Peg Speirs, and Marilyn Stewart are Professors of Art Education in the Department of Art Education and Crafts at Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA. E-mail: nordlund@kutztown.edu, speirs@kutztown.edu, stewart@kutztown.edu.

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We, along with Judy Chicago, intended for the Institute participants to find their own voice through deep engagement with the content and contexts of The Dinner Party. As investigations about the art deepened, our Institute participants became impassioned about becoming part of the legacy of The Dinner Party and the re-telling of history. They have applied their understandings in diverse classroom settings and we invite you to consider their curricular models and the classroom connections available at throughtheflower.org.

The sustained presence of feminist art in the dialogue for social justice in art education has roots in the women’s movement, which supports social and political issues as content for teaching.

Endnotes

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When taking the time to unpack complex works of contemporary art, using relevant principles from the 15 described in this article, teachers and students give attention to issues raised by the work. Feminist art and feminist pedagogy both serve the ideals of social justice by giving attention to the issues and oppressions surrounding women and underrepresented groups and prompting us to take action. As an icon of feminist art, The Dinner Party carries historical significance because it addresses the erasure of women’s lives and achievements from the history of the Western world. The sustained presence of feminist art in the dialogue for social justice in art education has roots in the women’s movement, which supports social and political issues as content for teaching. Feminist pedagogy offers art teachers strategies through which to facilitate learning within their own classrooms with a goal of social transformation.

Through the process of writing curriculum for The Dinner Party we experienced self-discovery, personal and professional growth, and an increased commitment to women’s issues in contemporary society. This strengthened our role as teachers because we changed along with our students. Social change begins with oneself before it can become a collective effort.

instructional resources

exploring racism

through photography By: Cass Fey, Ryan Shin, Shana Cinquemani, and Catherine Marino

Recommended for Grades 9-12

This Instructional Resource presents a selection of photographs from the collection of the Center for Creative Photography (CCP) at the University of Arizona. The photographs of Marion Palfi, Ansel Adams, and David Levinthal are included as examples of documentary, found, and staged imagery that reflect historical and social practices of individual, societal, and institutional racism in the United States. These photographs were originally presented as educational programming at CCP, where they were discussed with classes studying racism, writing, and art and visual culture education. Areas of study across the

Race, Representation, Social Justice, and the Classroom According to Apple (1993) race is not a stable category. It intersects with culture, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality and is enacted in society in different ways. Representations such as photographs shape how we view people and the world and can also be used to enable students to think about race and race relations. Since the political struggles of the civil rights movement, the feminist movement, and the gay and lesbian rights movement, many educators have changed their notions about curriculum to include discussion of representations and their ability to shape understandings. They feel that education can be used to remake society and challenge power structures to foster social and political equity. This Instructional Resource for high school teachers was forged as part of this larger discussion through a collaboration with a museum educator, a university professor, and graduate students.

curriculum, including art, photography, language arts,

Objectives

history, sociology and literature can be enhanced as

Students who are involved in these instructional activities will be able to:

students examine these images for insights into racism, social justice, documentation, and creative expression.

• Understand that photography is a medium through which to expose and encourage discussion about racism, social justice, and inequality. • Discuss and investigate societal and institutional racism in the US through photographs by Marion Palfi, Ansel Adams, and David Levinthal. • Develop an awareness of social justice by discussing issues seen within the photographs such as discrimination, stereotyping, disrespect, and oppression of racial and ethnic minority groups. • Create expressive artworks concerning diversity and social justice in historical and contemporary contexts.

instructional resources

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Born in Germany to a Jewish family, photographer Marion Palfi (1907-1978) fled Hitler’s army in Europe and settled in New York City just prior to the outbreak of World War II. As she traveled through many parts of the United States, she was troubled by situations she encountered such as racial intolerance and poverty in urban centers. She also was disturbed by the unwillingness or inability of Americans to recognize and address these problems. Using her camera as a tool to record and address her concerns, she brought a fresh perspective to the topic of racism and injustice in America. Palfi described herself as a “social research photographer” and believed that art could and should effect social change. However, she had difficulty getting her work exhibited and published, largely because many Americans were not interested in seeing and hearing about their country’s social inequities. Palfi produced several large documentary studies that included subjects such as discrimination

against African Americans, poverty in urban areas, and racist treatment of Native Americans. Palfi’s photographs document aspects of U.S. government-sanctioned practices that organized, invited, and sometimes forced the relocation of Native American children from reservations to boarding schools sponsored by the Bureau of Indian Affairs or to Anglo schools and homes. This treatment was spearheaded by a movement at the end of the 19th century to assimilate Native Americans to AngloCaucasian culture in the name of Americanization, which ultimately led to the loss of Native language, identity, rituals, and traditional values (Moore, 2005). Boarding schools funded by the federal government and Christian missionary involvement grew in number and by the 1970s reached an enrollment of approximately 60,000 Native American children (Colmant, 2000). This practice continued until the 1980s.

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figure 1 At Madera, California, the Bureau of Indian Affairs Has a School. “To Change the Indian Is Our Job!” New Arrival, 1967-69. Photograph by Marion Palfi. Collection Center for Creative Photoagraphy, University of Arizona.© 1998, Arizona Board of Regents.

Marion Palfi

figure 2 New Arrivals. He is Hoquiam, She is a Clallam, “Relocation School,” ca. 1967. Photograph by Marion Palfi. Collection Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona. © 1998, Arizona Board of Regents.

Native children in boarding schools were required to speak and use only English. They were prohibited from using their native languages even amongst themselves, or face strict disciplinary measures. They were also required to wear non-native clothing and to cut their hair, which according to native beliefs is only done when mourning. Testimonials of many Native Americans who survived these schools affirm harsh conditions and culturally hostile environments intended to strip them of their identities (Adams, 1997).

Discussion Questions

Palfi’s photograph of a Native American girl as a “new arrival” at a Bureau of Indian Affairs school (Figure 1) is photographed alone in front of a bank of impersonal school lockers. This approach focuses our attention on her disheartened and fearful expression, and body language. The group of young Native American children addressed as new arrivals (Figure 2) have been brought to a “relocation school” by train. The photograph’s title also tells us that the young Native American girl and boy in the center foreground are from different nations.

• Even though the U.S. Constitution declares that no person can be discriminated against because of his or her race, why were Native American children forced to attend Anglo boarding schools until the 1980s?

• Why do you think that the artist chose to photograph this subject? • What do the photographs’ titles tell us about Palfi’s subjects and about what is happening in these scenes? • How would you feel if you were in this situation? • What are the “new arrivals” wearing? Why?

• What other ways have Native American people been disrespected and oppressed throughout U. S. history and popular culture?

instructional resources

Ansel Adams (1902-1984) is one of the most renowned American photographers and respected environmentalists of the 20th century. Adams devoted himself to the interpretation, preservation, and conservation of nature through his remarkable and breathtaking landscape images of the American West. Adams had a strong sense of social responsibility and an innate desire to allow people to experience the landscape he cherished through his photographs. Departing from his well-known landscape genre, the photographs presented here represent Adams’ work as a social documentarian, photographing life at the Manzanar War Internment/Relocation Camp. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor during World War II, the U.S. government, motivated by fear of treason and the potential for acts of espionage, forced more than 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese immigrants living in the western United States into internment camps. The official mandate entitled Executive Order 9066 was issued by President Franklin Roosevelt on February 19, 1942 (Conrat, M. & Conrat, R., 1992). Many had to sell their property at enormous financial loss, taking whatever they could carry while being

treated as the enemy. Critics of these Japanese American internment camps, then and now, believe that Executive Order 9066 violated the Fifth Amendment, which states that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law (Hatamiya, 1994). A government policy or mandate, such as Executive Order 9066, which discriminates against a particular race is a form of institutional racism. This practice has been defined as “policies of the dominant race/ethnic/gender institutions and the behavior of individuals who control these institutions and implement policies that are intended to have a differential and/or harmful effect on minority race/ ethnic/gender/ groups” (Pincus, 2000, p. 31). In October of 1943 and throughout 1944, Adams traveled to Manzanar, located at the bottom of the Sierra Nevada in Owens Valley, California. It was the first and most widely known internment camp to be organized, holding a peak population of 10,046 people of Japanese descent, two thirds of whom were U.S. citizens by birth. Manzanar was functional from April of 1942 until November of 1945. The housing within the camp was one square mile and surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers with armed military police.

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figure 3 Top of Radio in Yonemitsu Residence. Soldier Pictured Is Robert Yonemitsu, 1943. Photograph by Ansel Adams. Collection Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona. © 2010, The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust.

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Ansel Adams

instructional resources

Through these photographs, Adams wanted to show the innate “Americanness” of the internees. Unlike traditional social documentary photographs, Adams’ images did not portray his subjects in distress. His approach was subtler. He wanted to show that the internees were just like normal American citizens. He focused his image making on school, sports, and Christianity, to communicate the idea that Manzanar was a fully functioning American community holding “loyal” American citizens. He was not attached to any kind of governmental agency that could determine his images or point of view. He avoided this kind of sponsorship specifically because he wanted the freedom to work with personal concepts and expressions. In the still-life photograph (Figure 3), there are various elements that are meant to make the viewer feel like this family is truly American. The lily plant, which was historically used within Christian religious art, situated next to the picture of Jesus Christ, represents that this family is embracing Christianity and that faith is an important part of their lives. The portrait taken of one of the family members fighting in the U.S. army and the pile of letters he has written to his younger sister represent a loyalty to America as well as a strong sense of family values.

David Levinthal Contemporary artist David Levinthal (American, 1949- ) stages scenes on tabletops with toys and manufactured objects, and photographs them to create bodies of work about diverse subjects such as space, the American West, war, and racism. Particularly provoking is Levinthal’s Blackface series that repurposes African American memorabilia, drawing attention to racist attitudes and beliefs. These mass-produced objects that included toys, cookie jars, and lawn jockeys were particularly popular in the American south where much of the White population supported slavery and felt anger at being forced to accept freedom for African Americans. The figurines represented resentment toward the abolition of slavery and a nostalgic longing for previous times. Grotesque and silly facial features including smiling or gaping mouths and wild eyes were often incorporated into the figures’ designs resulting in buffoonish or frightening characterizations. Blackface toys and figurines are now collectors’ items and serve as reminders of a time in American history when African Americans were routinely owned, ridiculed, beaten, and killed because of the color of their skin (Rufalli, 2008).

Levinthal began collecting and photographing racist African American memorabilia in 1995 and has included over 100 photographs in his Blackface series. He is aware that there is a thriving market for these figurines and has stated that he can think of “no other group of people that have been so negatively caricatured for such a long period of time” (Brockington, 1997). Levinthal also understands that this work is challenging and that the subject may make some viewers uncomfortable, but he feels it is important to bring attention to these objects as a means of creating a dialogue about racism (personal communication, November and December, 2009).

• Why do you think Ansel Adams chose to photograph this subject? • What are the symbolic and connotative meanings of objects shown in the image, Top of Radio in Yonemitsu Residence? What do the objects tell us about the Yonemitsu family? • Adams chose to exclude the harsh realities of Manzanar. Does his presentation of the subject influence your ideas about Manzanar? • Do these images help us understand what the people interned at Manzanar actually experienced? • Why did Adams photograph and focus on commonalities between the interned Japanese-Americans and Americans outside the camps, rather than their differences? Do physical characteristics or ethnicity define or disqualify someone as being American? How about religious or social affiliations? • The U.S. was also at war with Germany and with Italy. Why do you think that German Americans and Italian Americans were not interned in this country?

Discussion Questions: • Why do you think the artist chose to photograph this subject? • How is the subject represented in this photograph? Does it represent a stereotype? • What do you think the work is about? • Why is this object important to discuss? • Levinthal is a white artist addressing anti-African American sentiment. What is your opinion about this?

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Discussion Questions:

Levinthal chose a Blackface figurine with a large head (Figure 5) and photographed this object using a large camera that greatly magnified the original object and distorted it through selective focus. Levinthal photographed from above and positioned the head closest to the camera so that it would appear in sharp focus compared to the lower part of its body, which is blurred. This conscious staging along with the figure’s startling red lips, which were also part of the minstrel Blackface aesthetic, further exaggerated the shape of the figure and its distorted expression.

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While Adams was most interested in documenting the people of Manzanar and their everyday activities, he also attempted to incorporate the land as much as possible within his photographs. He believed that the environment played a role in how the internees adapted to their surroundings. Through the image of young girls walking to school (Figure 4), Adams was attempting to give the viewer a sense of what it was like to be at Manzanar, as well as depict a scene to which all Americans could relate.

figure 5 Untitled, 1997. Photograph by David Levinthal. ÂŠ Collection Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona.

instructional resources

Social Justice Activities

Conclusion

Activity One:Visual Representation | Have your students view the photographs in preparation for a class discussion. Introduce the idea that everyone at some point has felt like a victim of discrimination, stereotyping, and prejudice. Have students discuss their own personal experiences where they have felt victimized due to these social injustice practices. Have them explain the situation and discuss how it made them feel. Ask students how they could express the situation or their feelings visually and have them create artwork using any media such as photography, painting, sculpture, or collage.

Photography is a powerful medium with which to explore social issues and concerns through the intersection of artistic form and concept. Through the discussions of images and suggested activities, students will understand various ways photographers have documented and addressed racism and discrimination. In addition, this resource will inspire them to create their own artwork in response to complex social issues and dialogues. We also expect that students develop abilities to carefully analyze and interpret photographs, develop and improve their powers of observation, increase vocabulary needed to respond, and sharpen their visual and critical thinking skills.

Activity Two: Photography as Social Justice | Levinthal staged a scene using a once popular African American figurine to create his image. The use of found or bought objects in artwork is referred to as appropriation. Ask students to find an existing image or object that expresses or relates to prejudice, discrimination, or racism. Ask them to stage and photograph a scene using the object to repurpose its meaning. Have them use the following questions to write about their work: What object did you appropriate and why did you select it? How does the object relate to discrimination? How did you set up your scene to speak to the issue? Activity Three:Visual Timeline to Address Racism | Both Palfi and Adams addressed topics that are not openly discussed or presented as part of America’s history. Have students research invisible histories and discriminatory behavior against groups and create a visual timeline representing their research about it.

Rufalli, M. (2008, September 28). To the highest bidder [Television broadcast]. New York: CBS News Sunday Morning.

• How does each image reflect aspects of racism? • What does each photograph communicate such matters? • What is the difference between individual and institutionalized racism? • Which artists show an example of institutionalized racism? • What do the images tell us about the culture in which these subjects were documented or created? • Is the approach used by each photographer documentary, or staged? How does the approach used by the photographer contribute to the message of the work? • Do you think that photographs can communicate ideas effectively? Do photographs have the power to engage and inform the people who look at them?

Cass Fey is the Curator of Education at the Center for Creative Photography and Ryan Shin is an Assistant Professor of Art Education at the University of Arizona. Ms. Fey can be reached at cass@ccp.library.arizona.edu and Dr. Shin can be reached at shin@ email.arizona.edu. Graduate students Shana Cinquemani and Catherine Marino can be reached at shanabeth@gmail.com and catmarino@yahoo.com.

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• What people, objects, and/or events has the artist chosen and framed to explore racism?

Learning can be assessed and evaluated through student responses to the following questions:

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Assessment

References Apple, M. W. (1993). Series editor’s introduction to race, identity, and representation in education. In C. McCarthy & W. Crichlow (Eds.), Race, identity, representation, and education (pp. vii-ix). New York: Routledge. Adams, D. W. (1997). Education for extinction: American Indians and the boarding school experience, 1875-1928. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. Brockington, H. (1997). David Levinthal: Blackface. Retrieved December 10, 2009 from http://www.plexus.org/review/brockington/levinthal.html Conrat, M. & Conrat, R. (1992). Executive Order 9066: The internment of 110,000 Japanese Americans. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press. Colmant, S. A. (2000). U.S. and Canadian boarding schools: A review, past and present. Native Americas Journal, 17(4), 24-30. Hatamiya, L. T. (1994). Righting a wrong: Japanese Americans and the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Kenneth, G. (1994). Mammy and Uncle Mose: Black American collectible and American stereotyping. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Moore, M. J. (2005). An Anglo-American rethinks Native American education: Can we avoid yesterday’s tragedies? Essays In Education, 14. Retrieved November 29 from http://www.usca.edu/essays/vol142005/moore.pdf Pincus, F. L. (2000). The cycle of socialization. In M. Adams, W. J. Blumenfeld, C. Castañeda, H. W. Hackman, M. L. Peters, & X. Zúñiga (Eds.), Readings for diversity and social justice: An anthology on racism, antisemitism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, and classism (pp. 31-35). New York: Routledge.

your art is

gay and retarded: Eliminating Discr iminating Speech Against Homosexual and Intellectually Disabled Students in the Secondar y Ar ts Education Classroom

right GLSEN launched an internet video and television Public Service Announcement (PSA) creating awareness against homophobia through the use of incorrect diction. The PSA featured celebrities Hillary Duff and Wanda Sykes.

By: Brian M. Payne

Issues of gender, race, sexual orientation, and intellectual

of high school peer groups.

Living in a conservative, predominately Protestant community with a population just over 20,000, and with 90% of those people classified as Caucasian (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000), I teach in a school where there is certainly a lack of diversity. Students of a different race, religion, culture, or sexual orientation are contrasted greatly against the White suburban middle class status quo of the student body. I knew the interests of the underrepresented students were most likely ignored and that a proactive approach was needed to ensure they felt secure in my classroom.

It is important for educators to reveal an ethos of appreciation for those students that may be of the social minority, as bullying can manifest itself as both physical and verbal abuse. Teachers have shown an inability to identify bullying behavior (Bradshaw, Sawyer, & Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Brennan, 2007). Leff, Kupersmidt, Patterson, and Power (1999) found that teachers were more aware of bullying behavior in younger students than in adolescents. With homophobia acting as the most damaging prejudice against students who are homosexual or perceived as homosexual, students at the secondary level are more prone to verbal abuse by their peers, whereas physical abuse is more recognizable by administrators or teachers (van Wormer & McKinney, 2003).

According to Rostow, 97% of anti-gay slurs are condoned by educators while profanity and racist terms are reprimanded almost instantly (as cited in Eisemann, 2000, p. 128). Another study conducted by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) found that 90% of students heard anti-gay slang at school, with teachers just as guilty as the students for using slang (as cited in van Wormer & McKinney, 2003, p. 410). With students spending as much time at school as they do at home, teachers are just as much of a role model as their parents or guardians. However, with teachers ignoring or even engaging in slang, this dictates to the students that verbal abuse toward homosexuals and the intellectually disabled is acceptable at school.

disability are taboo among teens, as they are consumed with their own struggle for identity and often unable to view the struggles of those around them who may not fit into the social majority in the overwhelming ecosystem

left A print advertising campaign created by GLSEN defines the correct definition of “gay” and “dyke,” while also making the viewer aware of the harm created by the misuse of the words.

left The Special Olympics developed the “Spread the Word to End the Word” campaign to eliminate the use of the “r-word” from today’s common vocabulary.

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Appropriate Terminology

Not wanting a classroom where homosexual and intellectually disabled students felt marginalized by their peers through the misuse of diction and knowing I would probably have to endure an entire school year filled with correcting negative speech, I sought to create an environment where students learned to accept one another despite differences that may separate mainstream ideology from the foreign. Aside from teaching

I posted the following disclaimer under the “Class Expectations” on the front page of my Art I syllabus I gave my students the first day of class: I expect each student to be able to work in an environment that is void of any slurs or derogatory comments that demean another student. This includes comments pertaining to their style of dress, race, gender, or sexual orientation. There is absolutely no tolerance on this issue. (Payne, 2009) After reading aloud this section of the syllabus I could tell that my words may not have been absorbed by the group of 14- to 18-year-olds that sat in front of me. I followed by stating, “This includes words such as ‘gay’ and ‘retarded.’ ” The students, most of whom I assumed perked their heads up either because they were guilty of such rhetoric, or simply not accustomed to hearing a teacher use these words in the same sentence, were now paying attention. Instead of simply making a disclaimer and moving on to the next section of the syllabus, I used this opportunity to create a teachable moment out of the situation. I explained to the students that one of my best friends was gay,

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Even before teaching my first day of high school and having spent ample time around my teenage cousin and her friends, I was well aware of the misuse of words such as “gay” and “retarded.” Rasmussen (2004) refers to such terms as “catachreses” or the use of a word or expression in a different context from what it was originally intended. Essentially, these catachreses are used as descriptors applied to existing terms in situations where a proper term does not exist (Rasmussen, 2004). Overheard at the local coffee shop or mall, the catachreses for homosexuality and intellectual disabilities are used in a derogatory context when referring to something or someone that isn’t acceptable. Acting a in a goofy way could result in someone being called a “retard.” Even an unlikable pair of shoes has somehow taken a sexual orientation and become “gay.”

students the elements and principles of art, it is essential to prepare them for their role as a member of a productive society outside of high school.

and he made me aware of the emotional hurt that the misuse of the word caused him in high school, and even as an adult the negative slang words still pained him. By bringing a personal account into the conversation, and explaining to the students that while they may not intend to personally hurt the feelings of someone by calling something “gay” or “retarded” their choice of words reflected a lack of compassion and intelligence. “There are thousands of words in the English language,” I summarized. “Why use a word that makes you look ignorant?” I picked up a dry erase marker and wrote the word “gauche” on the dry erase board. “If you need a word to express that something is unsophisticated or awkward, try using this word,” I said. “It makes you sound more intelligent and you’re not hurting anyone by using incorrect speech.” Keeping in mind the conservative nature of the school, I knew complaints from parents were inevitable, as my disclaimer in the syllabus might have been misconstrued as the promotion of homosexuality. However, I successfully averted any complaints by avoiding any speech that may appear to be of a political or social persuasion, and simply presented my case as such that I demanded compassion toward all students in my classroom regardless of their personal beliefs.

Words are Just Words Some may argue that “gay” and “retarded” are just words, and nothing to take offense to by anyone who is affected personally. Blow (2008) claims that the metaphorical misuse of a word describing a disability is simply how we talk and verbally attacking the disabled is not intended. However, for someone who is affected by an intellectual disability or viewed as a minority due to their sexual orientation, this perception can be drastically different. Especially, when those affected are in their most fragile years of development.

Senator Barbara A. Mikulski has headed a recent movement that attempts to break the link between the word “retarded” used as a descriptor for clinical mental retardation and as a derogatory term for acting foolish. Mikulski’s bill, Rosa’s Law, is named after 8-year-old Rosa Marcellino who has Down syndrome, and seeks to eliminate “mental retardation” from federal documents in order to begin the eventual process of phasing out the association between intellectual disabilities and the catachresis, “retard” (James, 2009; Mikulski, 2009). Although Mikulski’s bill is a progressive approach in bringing attention to the misuse of terminology for a negative connotation, it should be noted that changing the clinical name of a disability or lifestyle does not guarantee the new terminology will eventually be used as a catachresis as well. Rather than work around those who have chosen to exploit the use of words such as “gay” and “retarded,” which may only prove to provide a temporary solution, a more viable approach is to make students aware of the harm that certain catachreses cause their peers. GLSEN has created a campaign using a series of print, radio, and television advertisements with the moniker, “Think B4 You Speak,” with the goal of making school-age children aware of the detriment that homophobic language can cause. GLSEN has even enlisted the support of actress Hilary Duff and comedian Wanda Sykes to assist in their marketing campaign (“The Campaign,” n.d.). The Special Olympics have created their own campaign titled, “Spread the Word to End the Word,” to relay their message to prevent the incorrect use of the “r-word.” The Special Olympics, like GLSEN, have taken advantage of social media sites, as well as using celebrities Joe Jonas and John C. McGinley to participate in their public service announcements (“Spread the Word,” 2010).

Reactions in the Classroom Within the next few months, I was shocked at what occurred. Everything that was once “gay” and “retarded” was now “gauche” or “awkward.” Students who accidentally slipped into their former patterns of speech by referring to something as “retarded” would immediately call out, “I’m sorry Mr. Payne! Gauche. I meant it’s gauche.” The fears of my classroom being dominated by incorrect and alienating speech had been curbed by a simple written and verbal plea at the beginning of the school year.

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Brian M. Payne is an Art Teacher at Yukon High School, Yukon, Oklahoma. E-mail: brian.payne@yukonps.com

Blow, S. (2008, Dec. 28). The Dallas morning news Steve Blow column: Steve Blow: We’ve become too quick to judge words as hate speech. Dallas Morning News. Retrieved from Newspaper Source Plus database. Bradshaw, C.P., Sawyer, A.L., & O’Brennan, L.M. (2007). Bullying and peer victimization at school: Perceptual differences between students and school staff. School Psychology Review, 36(3), 361-382. Eisemann, V.H. (2000). Protecting the kids in the hall: Using Title IX to stop student-on-student anti-gay harassment. Berkeley Women’s Law Journal, 15(1), 125-61. James, S. D. (2009, Nov. 18). Rosa’s Law to end term ‘mentally retarded’. ABC News. Retrieved from http:// abcnews.go.com/Health/rosas-law-asks-senate-killslur-mentally-retarded/story?id=9109319 Leff, S.S., Kupersmidt, J. B., Patterson, C.J., & Power, T.J. (1999). Factors influencing teacher identification of peer bullies and victims. School Psychology Review, 28, 505-517. Mikulski, B. (2009, Nov. 19) Senator Mikulski’s Statement on Introduction of Rosa’s Law. Retrieved January 28, 2010, from http://mikulski.senate.gov/record. cfm?id=319975 Rasmussen, M. L. (2004). “That’s so gay!”: A study of the deployment of signifiers of sexual and gender identity in secondary school settings in Australia and the United States. Social Semiotics, 14(3), 289-308. Spread the Word (2010). Spread the word to end the word. Retrieved April 18, 2010, from http://www. r-word.org/ The Campaign (n.d.). The campaign. Retrieved April 18, 2010, from http://www.thinkb4youspeak.com/ TheCampaign/ U.S. Census Bureau. (2000). Yukon, Oklahoma Fact Sheet. Retrieved January 20, 2010, from http://factfinder. census.gov van Wormer, K. & McKinney, R. (2003). What schools can do to help gay/lesbian/bisexual youth: A harm reduction approach. Adolescence, 38(151). 410-420.

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The goal of assuring my students that they can find solace within “The fears of my classroom the walls of my classroom without being dominated by incorrect feeling suppressed by their peers has been and alienating speech had achieved, and has been been curbed by a simple written accomplished much quicker than I had and verbal plea at the beginning anticipated. While the of the school year.” use of catachreses and other incorrect labels are practically nonexistent in my classroom, I cannot guarantee that these students refrain from using such speech in their other classes, the hallways, or outside of school. I can only hope that my students have begun to empathize with their underrepresented peers, and not only refrain from using marginalizing speech themselves, but will now take the initiative to speak up when others use incorrect speech as well. With these students taking the initiative to change their patterns of speech, the words that they choose reflect their personality, creating positive behavioral patterns that make an impact on society.

References

image Mexican field worker standing / Trabajador mexicano de pie .

right bottom Mexican cotton pickers / Recolectores de algodón mexicanos.

right center Mexican girl fetching water / Niña mexicana yendo por agua.

right top Line of Mexican men recruited to work in the fields / Linea de hombres mexicanos reclutados a trabajar en el campo.

y se repite [And It Repeats Itself] By: Adriana Katzew

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Their story, however, is not unique; la historia se repite [history repeats itself]. The history of Mexican migrant workers in the United States is long, with many of them experiencing similar conditions in the past. From the Great Depression through World War II, the United States government, through the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information, had a team of photographers document the lives of Mexican and other migrant workers. Research

In a radio story about Vermont’s migrant workers, interviewees spoke of the isolation they experience, being effectively trapped in the farms where they work, without a driver’s license or a car to move about; having to rely on others to buy groceries, clothing and other necessities; and living in fear of deportation. As people of color they stand out amidst the state’s predominantly White population (96.8%, according to the 2006 U.S. Census), and are therefore easily identifiable by those with the power to deport them. Already Vermont has surpassed its neighboring states in terms of Mexican migrant workers it has deported.

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Y Se Repite [And It Repeats Itself] is a project I conceptualized due to the growing number of Latino/a Mexican migrant workers in dairy farms in the state of Vermont. In 2006, approximately 2,000 Latinos/as—most of them undocumented Mexican migrant workers— worked throughout the state’s dairy farms, yet remained invisible to most Vermonters, who did not cross paths with them.

Through my artwork I fight the sense of historical and present isolation in which we, as people of Mexican descent, often find ourselves.

right Mexican boys sitting / Niños mexicanos sentados.

below right Mexican women sitting / Mujeres mexicanas sentadas.

below Mexican field worker holding baby / Trabajador mexicano cargando a un bebé.

of the Library of Congress’ archives led me to these photography collections, now in the public domain. I conceived this photography project to explore the lives of Mexican migrant workers in this state of isolation. I initially considered photographing the Mexican dairy workers in Vermont, but doing so became out of the question: photographs that would identify them would put them in danger of deportation due to their undocumented status. Instead, in this project I merge images from the Library of Congress with images of milk bottles from Vermont’s dairy farms. The glass bottles themselves are both relics of the past and, more recently, trendy packaging for locally produced gourmet milk. The resulting montages blur past and present, as the ghosts of the past are reflected in the present conditions of Mexican migrant workers in Vermont. Through this project I hope to honor the Mexican migrant workers from the past and the present, and create images that capture an important, yet often voiceless and faceless, segment of the United States workforce. Through my artwork I fight the sense of historical and present isolation in which we, as people of Mexican descent, often find ourselves. Medium. The images are digital. I use photomontage, utilizing my own digital images and images from archives. They are pigment ink prints of approx. 12x17 inches (image size 11x15).

image Mexican field worker’s home with girl peeking / Casa de trabajador mexicano con niña asomándose.

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Adriana Katzew is Assistant Professor of Art Education at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. E-mail: akatzew@massart.edu far right Mexican man with son sitting / Hombre mexicano e hijo Sentados.

right Mexican boy picking carrots / Niño mexicano recogiendo zanahorias.

below Mexican woman picking tomatoes / Mujer mexicana recogiendo jitomates.

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folk art in the urban art room By: Donalyn Heise

Growing up in South Louisiana, I was aware that when

Rationale

someone thanked you for extending an act of kindness,

Folk art can enhance urban art education in a variety of ways. It can (1) address the challenges often associated with urban education, (2) empower formerly marginalized youth, (3) provide access to original works of art, (4) introduce students to resilient individuals who thrived despite obstacles, and (5) provide an inclusive learning environment that is culturally relevant. Each of these is described in the following paragraphs.

instead of saying “You’re welcome,” the customary reply was “Pass it on.” Passing on shared values, beliefs, and traditions is how the soul of our community is revealed, remembered, and respected. Through folk art, stories told visually and verbally using quilting, needlepoint, painting, basket weaving, carving, sculpting, singing, storytelling, cooking, and games, reveal what we treasure. The skills necessary for these art forms are often taught in homes, parks, or on the streets, acquired informally from generations of family, extended family, and friends in the community. With this acquisition, members of our community learn who we are and gain a sense of belonging. This article provides a rationale for integrating folk art in an urban K-12 art classroom to provide meaningful instruction for all students. Lesson examples and resources for integrating folk art in the art curriculum will be provided. This information may provide insight for art teachers using folk art to empower youth who are often labeled as at-risk by societal institutions.

Urban art education challenges. To meet the challenges of youth and society, we must strive for greater understanding, and encourage the voices of all young people. In addition to the challenges all teachers face: truancy, absenteeism, discipline issues, and administrative pressures, art teachers in an urban environment deal with issues associated with at-risk youth. These may include lack of parental support, large class size, and students who have experienced poverty and violence (Jacob, 2007; Wolin & Wolin, 1993; Kronick, 1997). Some adults lack trust and respect of young people in urban settings and blame them for problems of society, such as a rise in violence (Kronick, 1997). Some feel these students are irresponsible and dangerous to society, perhaps contributing to others’ feelings of low self-esteem, disconnect from community, and sense of hopelessness (Kronick, 1997; NYVPRC, 2001; Wolin & Wolin, 1993). Some may even characterize urban youth by juvenile delinquency or criminal behavior (Brendtro, et al., 2005; Jacob, 2007; Kronick, 1997; Taylor, 2003).

Redefining At-Risk The term at-risk is often used to describe students who are at risk of failing academically for one or more reasons (Kronick, 1997; Robinson, 2004). The term can be used to label a wide variety of students including ethnic minorities, the academically disadvantaged, the disabled, students of low socioeconomic status, or students on academic probation. Students labeled as at-risk in an urban environment may display behaviors and characteristics such as: being disruptive in class, frequently calling

out or making inappropriate remarks, not turning in assignments, or not putting forth effort in class. They may be disrespectful, truant, or absent, and notes home to the parents may remain unanswered.

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As teachers attempt to understand and respect inner city youth, community art-based initiatives including folk art integration provide avenues to new ways of thinking. It can engage our youth in creating a dialogue, encourage them to explore what is unique about their culture, and help them connect with past and future generations. For example, in classrooms across the South, students learn about the life and work of Clementine Hunter, a woman who worked in the kitchen of Melrose Plantation in South Louisiana. She started painting later in life, and although she could not read, she is considered a major contemporary folk artist and cultural historian (Wilson, 1990). Using art, she created a visual history of daily life, including washdays, baptisms, and harvesting. Through Hunter’s life and work, students are encouraged to tell their own important stories and find their own voice to communicate social issues and cultural traditions.

Empowering Urban Youth. Educators have written about the power of folk art and its benefit to minority groups (Muri, 1999). Some focus on the role of education and the benefits of culturally inclusive curriculum for empowering marginalized or disenfranchised populations (Adejumo, 2002; Chalmers, 1996). John Goodlad (2001) and colleagues at the Institute for Educational Inquiry claim that the purpose of schooling is to prepare youth for living in a democracy. Some educators feel that community interactions and what students experience outside the classroom can have a greater influence on our youth than the formal education found in schools (Taylor, 2003). Others feel that the key to students’ motivation and engagement is a desire for personally authentic learning found in real-world connections (Anderson & Milbrandt, 2002). Linking students’ schoolwork with important learning passed down from

Integrating folk art in the art room can provide access to content and knowledge for urban youth relevant to their culture. In an urban middle school in Tennessee, the art teacher asked his students to name one museum that they had visited (personal communication). No students responded. Not one student in this urban classroom had ever been to an art gallery or art museum. The students were then asked if they knew anyone who painted, welded, made quilts or baskets, carved, danced, told stories, or played a musical instrument. All students knew at least one person in their community who participated in one or more of these art forms. Through folk art, urban youth have access to primary resources in their families and communities and who courageously voice their ideas and opinions through folk art. By using art as a tool for communicating and advocating social change, they become stewards in the community.

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Robinson (2004) defines at-risk as any student who “regardless of gender, age, race, or socioeconomic status, has the potential to succeed but whose success is inhibited by specific academic or social risk factors” (p. 40). This definition focuses on a student’s potential to succeed, rather than the negative characteristics of failure. Taylor (2003) urges us to not make connections between at-risk and urban, stating that disadvantaged youth can be found in urban, rural, and suburban communities. Our challenge as educators is to provide appropriate instructional strategies that enable all students to succeed. Folk art can provide meaningful engaged learning for urban youth by personalizing the learning experience and providing interaction with authentic works of art. It introduces them to artists in their communities who exhibit the courage, talent, and motivation to express themselves visually without the aid of formal training, and who overcame fear of reproach.

generation to generation can create real world connections in art education. Instead of internalizing negative stereotypes, folk art integration gives urban youth an opportunity to experience success as they boldly express their own ideas. It can encourage them to take risks within a supportive environment.

Students may describe other cultures but fail to recognize they themselves have a culture worth investigating.

Folk art curriculum organized with themes or main ideas can provide access to meaningful learning that links learning to real life experiences. For example, an art teacher can introduce students to the theme of “tradition and change” through the colorful, bold quilts of Gees Bend. Although geographically isolated for many years, this community in central Alabama created beautiful imaginative compositions using materials that were available in the home. In the South, strip quilts were often the first type of quilt young girls were taught to make. Each quilt was crafted with aesthetic sensitivity, compiled of strips of fabric representing attire from individuals in the family. This quilt-making tradition is learned, and passed down from one generation to the next outside of formal education. With access to these indigenous art forms, students can explore the relationship between folk and fine art, investigate the making of these quilts, their origin, and learn about the quilt makers. Students can share traditions in their own community and create art that communicates what they value.

Images courtesy of Outsider Folk Art Gallery, Reading, PA. www.outsiderfolkart.com

Models of Resilience. Folk art can also offer students exposure to role models who are resilient individuals and creative artists. Resilience is gaining attention in urban educational settings (Bernard, 1991; Brendtro & Larson, 2006; Krovetz, 2008; Wolin & Wolin, 1993). Researchers are studying why some people seem to bounce back after suffering life’s challenges, while others do

right Purvis Young. Untitled (Carrying the Locks), 1974. 53˝ h x 84˝ w, house paint on plywood. PYG GB 023

Access to Original Works of Art. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (1983) calls folk art an accessible aesthetic for all learners. Folk art provides all students access to original works of art. It can provide a meaningful context for facilitating class discussions about aesthetics and the nature of art. For example, urban youth who lack access to museums and galleries can critically reflect on the process and content of folk art from their own communities. Students can engage in aesthetic inquiry by interviewing family and community members and investigating local folk art as they explore questions such as: Is this art?

Where can art be found? Is it “good” art? Why or why not? These types of open-ended inquiry encourage critical thinking and allow for individual perceptions and multiple interpretations.

left Purvis Young. Black Jesus, 1973. 95.5˝ x 47.25˝, house paint on wood, PYG GB 013

In another classroom, students focus on the work of folk artist Purvis Young, who discovered he wanted to paint while he was in prison. He creates a visual commentary on the world around him. Young is considered a thoughtful artist who uses art to voice his opinion on societal issues and to tell stories about his community (Congdon & Bucuvalas, 2006). Other students learn about Nellie Mae Rowe, an artist who experimented with reality and fantasy. One of 10 children born to a former slave, she didn’t emerge as an artist until after the death of her husband. Her playful creations include drawings, dolls made from scrap fabric, and chewing gum sculptures. She also created assemblages using found objects. Rowe originally wanted to be a mother, but never had a child. Some suggest she used her art to resolve conflict. Rowe also understood the role of play for stimulating creativity (Crown & Russell, 2007). Through learning about these resilient individuals who overcame obstacles in life, students learn about courage, resourcefulness and inventiveness.

not (Benard, 1991). Resilient people possess a variety of skills, attributes, and abilities (Bell & Suggs, 1998; Wolin & Wolin, 1993) that help them recover from stress and trauma.

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Through folk art education, students connect with community, engage in dialogue, and explore their role as active citizens in a participatory democracy. They are introduced to local artists

Folk Art in Comprehensive Art Education. A comprehensive art education approach is characterized by thematic, crosscultural, interdisciplinary, and inclusive curriculum (Dobbs, 1998; Killeen, 2005). Educators are encouraged to expand their thinking of art education to include art made outside academia and outside the K-12 art room as legitimate and important in the school curriculum (Bowman, 2006; Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, 1983). Milbrandt and Anderson (2002) suggest a framework for teaching that links learning to the world beyond the classroom, emphasizing real world connections to foster authentic instruction in art as a reflection of the human experience. Congdon and Blandy (1999) encourage teachers to include traditional arts from the students’ community, encouraging students’ understanding of themselves and their world.

Many folk artists are resilient individuals whose creations communicate their strength, vision, persistence and problemsolving skills. For example, Bessie Harvey uses found materials to communicate spiritual visions that helped her overcome a life of adversity. Folk artists like Nicario Jimenez feel a sense of purpose as they voice their commentary on social issues, such as racism, loss, and urban decay. His retablos, entitled Years of Struggle, is his interpretation of racism and the struggle of people of color (Congdon & Bucavalas, 2006). Other folk artists, such as Enoch Tanner Wickham, use folk art to honor the heroes in society. Some folk artists are influenced by stories of transformation, power, service to others, rituals, and selfsufficiency (Crown & Russell, 2007). These can be especially meaningful for students in urban environments.

Culturally Relevant Curriculum. Some students struggle to define culture (personal communication). They may describe other cultures but fail to recognize they themselves have a culture worth investigating. Folk art in education has the ability to address these challenges by providing an authentic, inclusive learning environment that is culturally relevant (Bowman, 2006; Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, 1983). It provides students’ access to original creations that are representative of their own culture. Folk art in the art room helps provide meaningful curriculum that celebrates the authentic, unique qualities of a culture or community. When exploring local folk art, students interact with original works of art and discover individual and collective beliefs, traditions, and values of their culture, and begin to realize they are important and worthy of study (Bowman, 2006; Congdon & Blandy, 1999; Congdon, 2004).

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Qualities of resilience include social competence, problemsolving skills, autonomy, and a sense of purpose (Cooper, 2003; Wolin & Wolin, 1993). Social competence includes a person’s ability to interact socially within the environment with appropriate communication, empathy, caring, flexibility, responsiveness, and a sense of humor. Problem-solving skills involve the ability to think critically and create multiple solutions to personal and social problems. When a resilient youth exhibits autonomy, he or she acts independently, with a sense of control. A sense of purpose requires dreams, goals and aspirations, persistence, and an internal and external locus of control.

whose sensitive, artistic and profoundly personal works of art reflect community values, beliefs and traditions.

folk art resources for educators

ArtsEdge (http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org) Integrated arts resources with a searchable database of free, standards-based teaching materials for use in and out of the classroom, professional development resources, student materials, and guidelines for artsbased instruction and assessment, including folk arts education.

Arts for Learning. (www.artsforlearning.org) A professional development resource for teachers and artists that provides access to model programs, research, lesson plans, advocacy, and discussion groups.

CARTS: Cultural Art Resources for Teachers and Students (www.carts.org) Website of the National Network for Folk Arts in Education, with national and regional resources for teaching folk arts.

Folkvine (www.folkvine.org) An interactive website for Floridaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s artists, including games, images and information about art.

Louisiana Voices: An Educatorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Guide to Exploring Our Communities and Traditions (www.louisianavoices.org) An excellent model of instructional resources adaptable for every region, including lessons, worksheets, and guidelines for teaching folk life and conducting fieldwork.

Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (www.folklife.si.edu) Instructional resources, multimedia kits, online lessons and fieldwork guides. Includes Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and Smithsonian FolkLife and Oral History Interviewing Guide.

Selected Books: Congdon, K. (2004). Community art in practice. Davis Publications, Inc. Worcester, MA. Condgon, K. & Bucuvalas, T. (2006). Just above water, University of Mississippi Press, Congdon, K. Blandy, D. and Bolin, P. (2001). Histories of community-based art education. Reston, VA: National Art Education Association. Crown, C. & Russell, C. (Eds). (2007). Sacred and profane: Voice and vision in southern self-taught art. University Press of Mississippi.

In addition, a comprehensive approach promotes originality, problem solving, and higher-order thinking while encouraging interaction with real works of art (Dobbs, 1998; Killeen, 2005). By focusing on folk art, students in urban areas can access primary sources that are culturally responsible and personally meaningful. By researching, exploring, and engaging in dialog about folk art, students uncover relevant contextual information. Barrett (2003) suggests an interpretive model that emphasizes new ways to engage students in critical viewing and thinking. Inquiry prompts can be used to solicit responses, such as: What does this work of art mean? How do I know? What does this work of art mean to me? What does it mean to others? This promotes responsive curriculum by allowing multiple interpretations of art. While a work of art can be appreciated for its form, it may also convey meaning and powerful testimonials to the human experience. To understand the intended meaning, we need information about the artist and the culture in which the artist lived, as well as information about the symbols the artist may have used. Symbols may be unique or personal to the artist, or may represent culturally significant icons. Some southern folk artists are influenced by stories of transformation, power, resilience, service to others, traditions, rituals, self-sufficiency, spirituality, or visions (Crown & Russell, 2007). These can be especially meaningful for students in an urban environment.

Folk Art Resources for Teachers Educational resources exist for integrating folk art in the curriculum (See left). The Louisiana Voices FolkLife in Education Program provides opportunities to explore community traditions through curriculum resources and professional development for teachers (Bowman, 2006). Folkvine.org is another innovative education-oriented project that utilizes new media technology to build a sense of community (Folkvine, 2009). Using video and narrative, participants learn about artists in an effort to understand their art. This interactive website features local artists and invites visitors to participate rather than function as a passive viewer of information. Dedicated educators also rely on national networks for support. CARTS (Cultural Arts Resources for Teachers and Students) is the website for the National Network for Folk Arts in Education (Bowman, 2006). This online clearinghouse for national and regional folklore resources includes virtual folk artist residencies, educational teaching tools, articles, and more.

Conclusions The integration of folk art can provide a safe, nurturing environment for all students to learn by acknowledging the value of art in the community. It can prepare students for participation in a democratic society by recognizing the richness of multiple perspectives found in individual and community creations. It can provide access to art for students who may have never viewed art in a museum or gallery setting. Rather than promoting an approach to art education that reduces art to a commodity, or simply teaching a technique, integrating folk art embraces a concept of teaching that celebrates the uniqueness in each of us, and encourages us to think globally using universal themes. It can help students to understand and appreciate their own culture and others. Folk art can empower formally marginalized students to have a voice in the community conversation. It can help students become active members of the community as they interact with local masters of a living museum, artists rooted in local culture. Students begin to form individual and collective identity as they learn from their indigenous teachers.

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Note: Bessie Harvey image used by permission, for educational, research, and not-for-profit purposes, without fee and without a signed licensing agreement.

Donalyn Heise is Associate Professor of Art Education at the University of Memphis, in Memphis, Tennessee. E-mail: dheise2@memphis.edu

Adejumo, C. (2002). Considering multicultural art education. Art Education 55(2), 33-39. Anderson, T., & Mildbrandt, M. (2002). Art for life: Authentic instruction in art. New York: McGraw-Hill. Barrett, T. (2003). Interpreting art: Reflecting, wondering and responding. New York: McGraw-Hill. Bell, C. & Suggs, H. (1998). Using sports to strengthen resiliency in children. Child Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic North American, 7(4), 859-65. Benard, B. (1991). Fostering resiliency in kids: Protective factors in the family, school, and community. Portland, OR: Western Regional Center for DrugFree Schools and Communities, Northwest Educational Laboratory. Brendtro, K., & Larson, S. (2006). The resilience revolution: Discovering strength in challenging kids. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree. Brendtro, L. K., Ness, A. E. & Mitchell, M. (2005). No disposable kids. Bloomington, IN: National Education Service. Bowman, P. (2006). Standing at the crossroads of folklore and education. Journal of American Folklore, 119(471), 66-79. Chalmers, R. (1996). Celebrating pluralism: Art, education, and cultural diversity. Los Angeles: The Getty Education Institute for the Arts. Congdon, K., & Blandy, D. (1999). Working with communities and folk traditions: Socially ecological and culturally democratic practice in art education. In D. Boughton & R. Masson (Eds.) Beyond multicultural art education:International perspectives (pp. 65-83). New York: Waxmann. Condgon, K. ,& Bucuvalas, T. (2006). Just above water. University of Mississippi Press. Congdon, K. (2004). Community art in practice. Worcester, MA: Davis Publications, Inc. Cooper, N. (2003). Resiliency development of incarcerated youth through outcome based recreation experiences. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Clemson University. Crown, C., & Russell, C. (Eds). (2007). Sacred and profane: Voice and vision in southern self-taught art. University Press of Mississippi. Dobbs, S. M., (1998). Learning in and through art: A guide to discipline-based art education. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Trust. Folkvine.org (2009). Retrieved June 2009 from http://folkvine.org Goodlad, J., Soder, R., & McMannon J. (Eds.) (2001). Developing democratic character in the young. New Jersey: Jossey Bass. Jacob, B. A. (2007) The challenges of staffing urban schools with effective teachers. The Future of Children: Excellence in the Classroom, 17(1), 129-153. Killeen, D. J.,(2005). Transforming education through the arts challenge final project report national arts education consortium. Transforming Education Through the Arts Challenge. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University. Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, B. (1983, Winter). An accessible aesthetic: The role of folk arts and the folk artist in the curriculum. New York Folklore: The Journal of the New York Folklore Society 9(3-4), 9-18. Kronick, R. F. (Ed.) (1997). At-risk youth: Theory, practice, reform. New York: Garland Publishing. Krovetz, M. L. (2008). Fostering resiliency: Expecting all students to use their minds and hearts well. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc., A Sage Company. Muri, S. (1999). Folk art and outsider art: Acknowledging social justice issues in art education. Art Education, 52(4), 36-41. NYVPRC. (2001). Youth development as a violence intervention model, NTVPRC. Retrieved February 2007, from http://www.safeyouth.org. Robinson, N. (2004, March). Whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s at risk in the music classroom? Music Educators Journal, 38-43. Taylor, C. S. (2003). Understanding youth culture. Online Journal of Urban Youth. Retrieved from June 2007. Wilson, J. L. (1990). Clementine Hunter: American folk artist. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Company. Wolin, S., & Wolin, S. (1993). The resilient self: How survivors of troubled families rise above adversity. New York: Villard.

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Integrating folk art into school curriculum is consistent with a comprehensive art education approach in that it addresses academic standards through interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, art based community collaborations. This accessible aesthetic can help teachers and students understand the nature and function of art, and build deeper and more meaningful relationships with art. Most important, folk art provides an authentic, inclusive learning environment that is culturally relevant, thereby inviting all students into the circle of conversation. Pass it on!

References

a cross-cultural

collaboration:

Using Visual Culture for the Creation of a Socially Relevant Mur al in Mexico By: Kathy Hubbard

In the spring of 2009, high school and university students in Georgia and members of a small weaving pueblo in Oaxaca, Mexico, collaborated in designing and creating a mural in the central market (mercado) of the pueblo. A number of lessons emerged from this multi-cultural collaboration. First we learned that using images from popular culture helped in the creation of art work of social value; second, that effective communication between groups separated by language, culture, and geography takes time and commitment; third, that for collaboration to succeed, all participants need to be willing to modify their ideas based on feedback from the other participants; and fourth, that participants develop a sense of

ownership in the project. As the initiator of this collaboration, my job was to support the groups by ensuring that the means of communication between groups was established, that materials were available, and that a reasonable schedule for completing the work was agreed upon.

The Mexico Project: Reaching Out Across Cultures In August 2008, while researching for a study abroad course for university students, I visited the Zapotec community of Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, about an hourâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ride east of the capitol city Oaxaca de Juarez. Ten years ago, I did my doctoral field research in this region of Oaxaca. I knew that Oaxaca is one of the poorest Mexican states and has one of the highest populations of indigenous people. I lived with an indigenous weaving family, learning the weaving craft (Hubbard, 2009). Like the pueblo

below Teotitlan del Valle, central market, location of the Nutrition and Obesity mural.

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During the fall of 2008, I communicated with La Vida Nueva via e-mail. We first needed to decide what form the project would take. The Teotitlan group concluded they would like to design

and paint a mural for their pueblo. They agreed that the university and high school students would assist in designing a mural that addressed four topics of importance to the pueblo: Health | Good nutrition, obesity and its consequences (e.g., diabetes), drug abuse—a growing problem among young folks, and cervical cancer screening. Environment | Separation of garbage into organic and inorganic, proper ways of composting, reforestation—a huge concern here in this semi-arid climate, conservation / proper use of water, and recycling. Education/Learning | Importance of reading for enjoyment, and encouraging parents to read to children. Culture | Preservation of Zapotec language and customs.

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where I lived, Teotitlan is an indigenous weaving community whose weavers dye, spin, and weave sheep’s wool into tapetes with indigenous designs and natural dyes (http://www.intabas. com/zapotecgallery.html). I met the members of La Vida Nueva, a cooperative that plans and executes a yearly project to help the pueblo by providing such needs as trash containers on the city streets, food for elderly women who live alone, or planting hundreds of trees in the nearby mountains. I asked La Vida Nueva if they would be willing to collaborate with one of my graduate classes on a project that would make a contribution to their pueblo. They readily agreed, and “The Mexico Project: Reaching Out Across Cultures” began.

Mural painting is a tradition in Mexico, kept alive by contemporary murals painted throughout the country. In the 1920s, ‘30s, and ‘40s, Mexican muralists such as Diego Rivera painted murals with political content that honored the history of the indigenous people of Mexico (Rochfort, 1993). Murals painted on public buildings, sometimes funded by the federal or state governments, were designed to communicate political and social messages. Our mural would fit into that tradition. The people of Teotitlan wanted the mural to convey a positive message, not one that could be construed as critical. This request reflected a concern about the effects of a teachers’ strike 3 years earlier. In June 2006, Mexico’s public school teachers demanded better pay and working conditions, and called a strike. In Mexico City, the nation’s capital, and outlying cities such as Oaxaca de Juarez, a teachers’ strike and a march in the central square or zocalo was an annual event. Teachers organized in vain for better wages and better conditions for their students. In Oaxaca de Juarez, the riots, According to Freedman marches and barricades took (2003), communication over the picturesque state capital city during the summer and fall between cultures has of 2006. Initially the response of shifted from text-based the Oaxacan authorities was to ignore the strike, perhaps to image-based visuals hoping that this year, like past years, the teachers would get that are understandable tired and return to the across linguistic borders. classrooms. However, the strike took on anti-government overtones, reflecting the people’s anger with their elected leaders. In late October 2006, after 5 months of unrest and protests, Oaxacan state police opened fire on protestors in the streets of Oaxaca de Juarez, killing several people, including an American newspaper reporter. The violence and turmoil was covered by the global media and spotlighted the struggle between government—both national and state—and the local people (Denham, 2008; Kuper, 2009; Nevaer, 2009). Teotitlan escaped the rioting but not the anti-government graffiti, painted on buildings and walls around the pueblo. Graffiti in Mexico—drawings, slogans, sayings, and even lengthy messages—is a way of trying to achieve social justice for the people. In both the city of Oaxaca and in Teotitlan political

graffiti expressed the anger and frustration of the people. Two years later, political graffiti remained on the walls of the streets in Teotitlan. A sense of tension reflected the fear that harsh governmental reprisals could follow any message deemed subversive or unsuitable by the authorities. La Vida Nueva wanted a mural but not a confrontation.

Designing a Mural Early in the spring of 2009, one of my past graduate students, Jason Walker, then an art teacher at Screven County High School in Sylvania, Georgia, was a guest speaker in my Cultural Diversity Through Art course at Georgia Southern University. Jason talked about the cross-cultural experience he and his classmates had had the previous year with migrant children: using visual arts to help the students learn English. My art education students knew about my visit with La Vida Nueva and were enthusiastic about the possibility of doing a project with the people of Teotitlan. Jason volunteered his Screven County High advanced graphic arts students to do graphic designs for each of the suggested mural themes. One of the art education students volunteered to create a blog to supplement e-mail communications between students at Screven County High School and Georgia Southern University, and the people of Teotitlan. Upon Jason’s invitation, I visited his Graphic Arts class at Screven County High. The eight students in the class agreed to make graphic images in the style of Keith Haring (website: http://www.haring.com/home.php) to illustrate the four themes suggested by La Vida Nueva: health, environment, education, and culture. Using images from visual culture, their task was to reduce images to their simplest form, creating a communication that could be readily understood in almost any culture. According to Freedman (2003), communication between cultures has shifted from text-based to image-based visuals that are understandable across linguistic borders. The university students sent a “Creative Brief ” to the high school students that stated the objectives of the project: The designs must be creative and complement the arts as well as having a visual impact. The designs would have to convey a clear message without at the same time being offensive. The high school students created and submitted their designs.

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far right Final Nutrition and Obesity mural design, Screven County High School art students, Sylvania, Georgia.

right Celebrate Culture design concept, Screven County High School art students, Sylvania, Georgia.

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image Ambrocio Gutierrez holding the high school drawing and the sketch with changes.

left Teotitlán del Valle, finished Nutrition and Obesity mural.

Jason expressed his appreciation for his students’ involvement, in a personal communication to me on March 6, 2009. With regard to how my [Graphic Arts] students will work with you, I’m hoping we can act strictly as production artists in this venture. By this I mean, I want [your Art Education students] to be the clients that bring the ideas to the designer. My students will take your ideas and make them into posters…. I’ll act as Art Director on this so that I can make sure that you get good images, but while my students are solid when it comes to producing an image, they sometimes struggle with concept development. If you could bring a fairly complete idea to them, I think that we could produce the image for you…. The Art Education students discussed the designs at length, and sent the designs back several times to Jason’s students for editing and revision. This process gave Jason’s students the experience of having to re-do their work to meet the demands of their “clients,” and it helped my art education students experience the delicate balance between acknowledging students’ first efforts on a task while pointing out areas that need revision. When my university students were satisfied, the designs were sent via the blog (reachingoutacrosscultures.blogspot.com) to Teotitlan. The La Vida Nueva group selected the nutrition and obesity design for the mural

and made some changes to the design. The milk container was changed to look like milk containers found in Oaxaca, the soft drink cup was changed to a bag of chips, a few vegetables were added to the nutrition side, and the English words at the top were translated into Spanish. On the Nutrición side, a fit-looking Keith Haring-like figure, stands on a platform of “Ejercicio – Buenas alimentacion” above a platform with the words “frutas y verdures, granos y cereales.” On the Obesidad side, a Keith Haring-like couch potato leans up against the fat foods –“Comida chatarra.” The design references popular images that are understood by diverse audiences (Keifer-Boyd & Maitland-Gholson, 2007). The people of Teotitlan easily understood the images of soda pop and fast foods used by the Screven County students. All that remained was the actual painting of the mural.

The Completed Mural In August 2009, I returned to Teotitlan and viewed the finished 6’ x 9’ mural. La Vida Nueva obtained permission to paint the mural on an exterior wall of the central mercado, and by mid-summer had completed the mural. As a representative for the group, Ambrocio Gutierrez talked about La Vida Nueva’s experience making the mural. When asked how long the mural took to paint, the reply was: “One week, because it was in a rainy season, and we had to wait so it would get dry.

Once after it was painted it started to rain and the paint ran and we had to paint it again!” When asked why La Vida Nueva had selected the nutrition and obesity theme, he explained: We made a list about all the possible themes and we decided to do it about obesity because of different diseases related to the nutrition and food that people eat here (too much sugar and carbohydrates). Also because the other themes had been used a year ago for another group painting murals. I asked about the group’s reaction to working with U.S. students, and he replied: We didn’t know with whom we were working, I mean we knew the teacher but nothing specific about the students. The blog didn’t work very well, maybe because we don’t have very much access to computers here in Teotitlan. However, we learned that we can work together with people from another country and we can do something to prevent obesity and to create consciousness in the community and promote better nutrition. (A. Gutierrez, personal communication, April 6, 2010)

I support the multicultural imperative of art educators who maintain that the visual arts are a powerful means of helping students develop understanding and appreciation of the various cultural norms informing how we live (London, 1994; Chalmers, 1996). Art education curricula should include projects that represent culturally relevant communication that makes a difference by presenting aspects of a culture that matter to the viewer (Anderson, Gussak, Hallmark, & Paul, 2010). In my university art education classes, I regularly engage students in

The collaboration with Teotitlan continues. I am planning a course for May of 2011 with a colleague whose doctoral fieldwork was also in Oaxaca. It will be a 3-week summer course to examine the relationships between the arts and the indigenous communities (Bastos 2002). The intent will be to broaden the horizons of the American students by a short but meaningful immersion in a foreign culture (Hubbard, 2009). Central to the experience will be a service learning project of community-based art, as yet undetermined, planned collaboratively with La Vida Nueva “to ensure mutually beneficial experiences for everyone involved” (Taylor & Ballengee-Morris, 2004).

Ar t E du cati on [ S eptemb er 20 10 ]

Implications for Art Education Curricula

The importance of this educational experience for students living in a multicultural world is explained by Barell: “…we must educate students to be able to identify important problems, ask probing questions, and conduct rigorous investigations aimed at finding answers and solutions” (2006, p. 5). The students quickly addressed the first problem—establishing communication with the people in Teotitlan—and then got to work on the question of artistic designs, as has been explained above. The work of the students strengthened their understanding of the work and lives of the people in Teotitlan and Oaxaca. Further, the experience of working cooperatively on this mural project with high school students had the desirable result of helping develop group collaboration skills. Ideas for revision were brought forward by both groups of students for improving the work. The spirit of community that developed is an especially important outcome (Anderson & Milbrandt, 2002).

I asked if we could have a plaque made with all our names— high school students, university students and members of the Teotitlan group—on the mural, perhaps made from painted fired clay. The Teotitlan group politely but firmly declined the offer. They explained that the administrators of the pueblo had given permission for painting the mural, but would not welcome a public display acknowledging help from the people of United States. The pueblo is fiercely protective of its traditions and there is a movement to protect Zapotec culture from an encroaching American influence.

The preparatory work I completed in Mexico before the project started made a significant difference. During my visit in August 2009, I had time to drink tea with members of La Vida Nueva and to develop a level of trust and communication, helped by talking with them in their own language. I understood their desire to make a contribution to their community, and expressed my thoughts on having my university students work with them in accomplishing that goal. I emphasized that what I had in mind would be a partnership in which they would have a decisive say in the decisions. During the fall, I continued communicating with the Teotitlan group by e-mail. The result was that when I suggested the project to my art education graduate students in the spring, the foundation for collaboration had been built.

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Ambrocio’s comment about lack of access to computers is an important reality to those of us who assume our own electronic world is equally available to people in other cultures. It may not be the case that “In the global village in which we all live, communication and the sharing of ideas are but a mouse-click away” (Adams, 2002, p. 358). Until that day arrives, patience will be essential for successful international collaboration.

finding ways to reach out across cultural boundaries. In the case of the Teotitlan mural project, I chose a problem-based learning approach in which the students as a group worked with the people of Teotitlan to determine the what, where, and how of the project. This approach reflects the “Collaborative ProblemBased Learning Unit Plan Template” developed by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (dpi.state.wi.us/imt/doc/pbltemp.doc).

right Finished Nutrition and Obesity mural in the Teotitlan del Valle central market.

Art is a vehicle for communicating meaningful messages across cultures.

Our visual culture project shows that art is a vehicle for communicating meaningful messages across cultures. Art education students can rise to the challenge of working collaboratively with people of a different culture in the creation of relevant works. Art educators can use their skills and experience in the creation of trans-cultural relevant community artwork (Cahan & Kocur, 1996). In addition to their traditional tasks of making art and teaching the visual arts, art educators have a role that serves larger social issues as well as the possibility of “individual awareness and transformation” (Goldbard, 2006, p. 58). Our work with the people of Teotitlan entailed paying attention to the social purpose of art, not as the work of a single individual but, in Suzy Gablik’s words, as “the result of a collaborative and interdependent process” (Gablik, 1995, p. 76). That process of collaboration in creating and completing a mural is a rewarding and effective way of helping to build community (Mason, 1999). American students reached out and contributed in a small way to the life of a small pueblo they may never visit but which will always be a part of their art education experience and memories.

Kathy Hubbard is Assistant Professor of Art Education at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. E-mail: khubbard@uwsuper.edu

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