National Art Education Association

Locale 7: Higher Education A. Its Involvement in Adult Art EducationAuthor(s): Freda H. Goldman and James A. SchwalbachSource: Art Education, Vol. 18, No. 9, Continuing Art Education for Adults (Dec., 1965), pp.21-23Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3190658 .

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Included in the instruction are planned opportunities for visiting art exhibits and displays in order to fill in gaps in art understanding and to expose the students to a variety of art expressions. Each class member is helped to proceed at his own rate of speed to develop his potential without pressure. Physical limitations are considered at all times and present par- ticular challenge to the instructor. Our experience has shown us the need for expansion, continued experimentation and needed cooperation among all in- stitutions interested in enriching the lives of older people through the various art media.

Freida E. Gorrecht is ACSW Executive Director, UAW Retired Workers Centers of Detroit.

LOCALE 7: HIGHER EDUCATION A. Its Involvement in Adult

Art Education

FREDA H. GOLDMAN

Although there is no question that the much discussed contemporary American cultural "explosion" is reflected in artistic activity on American campuses, there is some doubt whether this expanded activ- ity has deeply affected adults. Magazine stories, and Sunday supplements of news- papers, hail new university art centers, the vogue of university artists-in-resi- dence, and the campus art festivals. But for opportunities for non-professional adults to pursue artistic cultivation in depth, one looks in the average college catalogues still mostly in vain.

Nonetheless, on the whole, universi- ties are accepting a growing responsibili- ty with respect to art, and in this growth adults as well as young people are profit- ing. The programs and activities discussed below give evidence of the variety of possibilities now being explored. They represent, it is important to note, a limit- ed area of university activity. We are con- cerned here not with the total university involvement in art education, but only with those efforts that relate to adults who, as laymen and amateurs, are inter- ested in continuing their education in art. Thus, we do not include the courses and programs offered that are aimed at pro- ducing professional artists or teachers of art, nor do we include here most of the work of university art extension divisions as an area of concern. Neither of these areas, of course, will be altogether miss- ing, for there is much overlapping of pro- gram offerings.

With respect to current university art education programs designed especially for adults, the story is simply told. Al- most all universities - private colleges too, but especially the state universities -offer some forms of art education pro- grams for adults. Most of these are standard skill and appreciation courses that differ from one university to another mainly in the number offered. If we in- clude, however, programs that are not strictly adult offerings, adding the ac- tivities of universities that involve adults, even though they are not directed spe- cifically to them, the picture is somewhat more varied.

The fact about the status of art edu- cation is that the arts are still a peripheral concern within adult education, and in turn that adult education is itself equally marginal in the university as a whole. Thus, the situation actually is that the

total amount of adult art education is relatively small. In most universities there are only a few routine programs for adults, and in some places there is none at all. On the other hand, in an increas- ing number of institutions, a growing in- tensity of interest has led to a willingness to apply effort and a budget to develop the arts along imaginative lines that probe the possibilities of art education for adults. These form the basis for the gen- eralizations in this article.

Dramatic advances have occurred mainly in the extra-curricular, or the co- curricular areas. In the performing arts more liberally, but in the creative visual arts also, some universities have under- taken revolutionary new roles. Accepting the imperative in the present cultural mood, they have turned patron, curator, impresario. A university today may ac- tually be the regional base for art, help- ing to bring art into close proximity with on-going life, even in outlying areas. As a matter of fact, it is often asserted that the university's main function in relation to art today is to be the central medium through which the present cultural growth can touch wide groups of Ameri- cans.

In these new roles, the university serves adults as well as undergraduates. An artist-in-residence at Iowa State Univer- sity includes in his experimental studio programs, Iowa City people and wives of faculty along with the college students. Aaron Bohrod, an artist-in-residence on campus of the University of Wisconsin, and his counterparts on other university campuses, whether they actually teach or simply open their studios to observers, help to create a climate that excites ar- tistic interest, supports talent, and stimu- lates high aspiration in the community as a whole.

Universities also provide an art "gal- lery" at home and on circuit that is some- times the only serious art exhibited in an area. The Nebraska Sheldon Art Gallery (and its Spring Fine Arts Festival), the Wyoming Traveling Art Exhibit, and the traveling shows sent into the Upper Pen- insula of Michigan by the University of Michigan-all serve areas where art mu- seums are often entirely out of reach to inhabitants. Artistic tours, fairs, compe- titions, lectures are characteristic activi- ties of present day state universities, and they serve adults in the communities as well as undergraduates. University gal- lery shows or festival exhibitions are among the important art events in many communities. In the urban centers stu- dents are often taken on tours to the galleries of art institutions, and courses in appreciation and understanding are

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LOCALE 6: MILITARY COMMUNITY CENTERS The Army Crafts Program

The Army Crafts Program serves all Army personnel alike. The cultural im- pact of arts and crafts serves a two-edged purpose, contributing to the welfare of the individual soldier while providing peaceful incentives for the Army. Crafts shops provide a relaxed and stimulating environment where military personnel may increase their capacity to identify and solve specific problems. The self- confidence and specific skills which re- sult from participation in crafts programs are directly transferable to the military mission, to disciplined use of leisure time, to the profitable development of an avo- cation, and as preparation for retirement. These "military community centers" are designed 'to serve a highly concentrated male population. The program strives to provide constructive practice in the arts and crafts, to broaden the base of knowl- edge and experience, and to afford some aesthetic growth. Personal help is given at the time of the individual's point of need.

in January, 1951, after careful study of the program's impact and growth from its inception in 1942, the formal designa- tion as "The Army Crafts Program" was determined. Subsequently, this program has been recognized as an essential Army recreation activity along with sports, li- braries, service clubs, soldier shows and soldier music. The program operates on all Army installations on a world-wide basis in multiple type crafts shops offer- ing a balanced program of five to seven arts and crafts; and also in special interest shops geared to specific activity such as woodwork, photography and auto repair.

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sponsored jointly with neighboring mu- seums and institutes.

The most common forms of offerings for adults in art are the standard courses in history and appreciation provided in the regular undergraduate curricula, and the studio courses for amateurs which range from painting and drawing to in- terior decorating and cloth weaving. There are also special programs that make imaginative use of resources in both metropolitan and rural areas, and that try to offer integrated, extended, and vigorous educational experiences worthy of art and of the university. Among these are some new forms that demonstrate the kinds of ingenuity and innovation being introduced on campuses around the coun- try. They reflect some of the different forms courses take when they appear on university calendars as workshops, lec- ture series, film series, discussions and classes. For example, the three-year Fine Arts Program at the University of Chi- cago combines art, music and literature in an extended, well-coordinated program of layman education in depth; a travel- study program at the University of Cali- fornia at Berkeley includes a Mexican trip with study of its art; a gallery-touring course of the City College of New York demonstrates use of local resources; a museum visiting trip, from Wisconsin to Chicago, demonstrates still another way to put students in direct touch with the art objects they are studying; a network of painting clubs and conferences in the University of Michigan's Upper Peninsula program shows how a stable program of studio work may be built in outlying areas where there is no center and often no university faculty.

A development that may be of more

significance than their as yet small num- ber indicates is the developing pattern of introducing art education into coordinated adult education programs. The new spe- cial programs for women, for example, almost always include courses in art (e.g., the Arts and Crafts Workshop at North- eastern University.) Urban education programs sometimes include art as one element of urban living (for example, the Landscape Design course at the Uni- versity of Oregon). Art courses are built also into the new "degree program espe- cially for adults" (for example, the New York University Associate in Arts De- gree Program). In some liberal-educa- tion-oriented labor programs (e.g., the Resident Labor Education Program at Indiana University) lectures on art and visits to campus museums are part of the curriculum.

In another aspect of their work, uni- versities serve adults by providing tech- nical assistance to local groups engaged in art production or art promotion-help- ing them to announce their activities, to sell works (University of Washington Arts and Crafts Guild), keeping local artists informed on subjects of interest to them (University of Michigan Art News- letter), providing a course in framing and matting (University of Wisconsin), and many others.

Summarizing the variety of programs and functions today found among uni- versity activities on behalf of art educa- tion for non-professional adults, we note that they may be grouped in three cate- gories of basic purpose:

One: Producing and Performing: (To train the producers of art objects.) Here fall the courses and activities that em-

phasize the development of skills and techniques, and the knowledge and un- derstanding necessary to produce respon- sible work.

Two: Appreciation and Understanding: (To develop the audience for art.) In this category will be found courses and programs that encourage interest through exposure to art works, augment enjoy- ment and appreciation through providing aesthetic experience, develop basic un- derstanding through communication of knowledge of history, theory, etc. - all activities that may lead to sound critical judgment as an ultimate characteristic of the consumer.

Three: Supportive Services. (To provide technical assistance.) In this class of ac- tivities are marketing services, artists-in- residence, promotional devices, and other activities intended to support purposes one and two.

Difficult to staff, expensive to design, only inadequately backed by the univer- sity's central administration, art educa- tion for adults has always presented uni- versity educators with some very prickly problems. In recent years, however, the arts have gathered some impressive sup- port from the public's increased interest in art, a support that today presents a challenge the universities and colleges cannot easily ignore. While there is gen- erally more willingness to undertake adult activities with relation to the arts, there is still great unsureness about just what ought to be done. Today the way uni- versities define their responsibility and the extent of their commitment varies widely; but most programs are planned in response to immediate pressure from adults seeking opportunities to advance

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their knowledge of art. Long range plan- ning to achieve a coordinated program that can prepare an artistically cultivated public is still to be accomplished. The most important task for the field today, therefore, in the opinion of many critics, is to clarify what is central in the respon- sibility of the university with respect to the arts, and to carve out roles that can and should be filled by institutions of higher education. Freda H. Goldman is in the Center for the Study of Liberal Education for Adults, Boston, Massachusetts.

B. The Demise of the Tower

JAMES A. SCHWALBACH

Early in this century a great president of the University of Wisconsin stated that "The borders of our campus are the borders of our state". This philosophy and the rapid development of the "mul- tiversity" (universities with multiple cam- puses) has given rise to university ex- tension programs that aggressively serve the entire community outside of the cam- pus. It is, indeed, a "breaching of the scholastic ivory tower" that is unique to universities in the United States, particu- larly the great land-grant institutions.

Very little restatement is necessary to make the general goals for all art educa- tion compatible with those of adult edu- cation in the visual arts. If there is a major difference it is the stress laid by most extension personnel on action pro- grams which extend beyond the realm of the classroom. Often they are linked to specific problems, needs, groups and en- vironments. University Extension aggres- sively seeks to make art a more vital

force in our society. To describe, too briefly, the peculiar

role that universities play one needs to make four points. One: The very word "extension" suggests an obvious and sometimes unfortunate role. It is that of extending the knowledge and services of the university community to the entire state. It is unfortunate when programs devised primarily to serve the needs of the campus are literally transported out into the state. These programs are uni- versity-oriented instead of community- oriented. Such forms of campus programs usually need drastic tailoring to be used in the hinterland. Too many university extension programs consist entirely of classes (both credit and non-credit), lec- tures, exhibitions, seminars, workshops, radio and television programs, etc. Two: At the University of Wisconsin we feel that our most important role is that of taking the initiative to seek out commu- nity problems and then using the vast re- sources of the university to solve them. One such problem of an aesthetic nature is the growth of community ugliness through thoughtless and unplanned de- velopment. Through a planned program of urban aesthetics, Professor Frederick Logan of the University of Wisconsin is searching for ways to make the city of Milwaukee aware of some of its cultural heritage before bulldozers remove it completely. He is also editing a future issue of Arts in Society devoted exclu- sively to urban aesthetics. This maga- zine, particularly addressed to adult edu- cation, is published by the University of Wisconsin Extension Division. Some problems are economic and social. Pro- grams promoting the production of ex- cellently designed craft items for sale

have been organized by the Wisconsin Extension for home craftsmen and In- dians. Art activities are also helping ur- ban negroes to find identity and status. Three: Universities through their size and prestige often dominate the educational community. They can play the role of initiating worthwhile aesthetic programs which lack sufficient community support. The universities must lead in the effort to raise standards of all adult education towards higher goals of excellence. Here, however, they must avoid the practice of intellectual snobbery by ignoring the aesthetic starting point of their clientele. Four: The university should continually aim to make its program superfluous as quickly as possible. As soon as other adult educational agencies can carry out such programs the university should de- fer to them. It can then seek new chal- lenges. The university can then play its unique role, that of educational inspira- tion and leadership. James A. Schwalbach is in the Extension Division, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

LOCALE 8: ARTS COUNCILS A. Three Statements on the New

York State Council on the Arts

SEYMOUR KNOX In the five years since the Legislature established the New York State Council on the Arts as a temporary agency, twen- ty-six states and the Federal government have followed its lead. In 1960, the idea of general support of the arts by govern- ment was unique in the United States. By the end of 1964, California, Con-

PHOTOS: All photos on ths page taken at the textile workshop sponsored by the Uplands Arts Council, using the resources of the University of Wis- consin Extension Division. This workshop, designed to appeal to families who wish to participate together, is part of a week-long series covering art, crafts, architec- ture, theatre, and opera. (Locale 7: Higher Education)

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