Conversations in the Art Class

National Art Education Association

Conversations in the Art ClassAuthor(s): George SzekelySource: Art Education, Vol. 35, No. 3 (May, 1982), pp. 14-17Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3192588 .

Accessed: 14/06/2014 22:16

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

National Art Education Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to ArtEducation.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 188.72.96.21 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 22:16:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=naea

http://www.jstor.org/stable/3192588?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


Conversations in the Art Class

"If children are old enough to perform creatively, they are old enough to talk about the experience of that performance."

George Szekely

Because in my observations of art classes over the last few years

I've found little conversation of substance between art teachers and their students-exchanges that related to the nature of art or to the processes of art as observed or experienced by children-I decided to examine examples of art teaching through a series of tape recordings of art lessons and to analyze the interchanges between students and teachers.

Over an eight-month period, I tape- recorded twenty-seven art classes held by nine different teachers (three sessions were recorded for each teacher). The teachers were randomly selected from an urban school district, and the experiment focused on grades 5, 6, and 7, an overlap between elementary and middle school. The taping was done by student teachers with the consent of the co- operating teachers, who themselves selected the lessons to be taped. The tapes were coded at one-minute intervals according to two major categories: art-related conversation

and non-art-related conversation. Each of these categories was divided into five subcategories:

Art-Related Conversation 1. Conversations related to art

vocabulary: definitions, names of tools, techniques, artists, etc.

2. Conversations related to art materials: their distribution, location, and availability; the nature of their use, etc.

3. Conversations related to media and techniques: instructions and guidelines on how to use materials, safety tips, etc.

4. Art demonstrations: techniques, media, use of tools, materials, and processes.

5. Conversations related to the creative process: discussion of artists' or students' work, ideas, and reactions to art experiences.

Non-Art-Related Conversation 1. Conversations related to attend-

ance taking and anything else concerned with attendance, such as hall passes, office notices, and lateness.

2. General school announcements: changes in school scheduling, ball games, etc.

3. Conversations related to classroom maintenance: cleanup instructions, hanging up coats, putting away books or art supplies, etc.

4. Conversations related to discipline problems: warnings, instructions, or actions related to classroom behavior.

5. Miscellaneous conversations about current events, boy- or girl- friends, the weather, etc.

An analysis of the tapes showed that non-art-related areas took up

68% of the classroom conversation. For example, in the twenty-seven sessions taped, references to art-related category #5 occurred only six times, and even then only in a short, improvised statement. At the beginning and the end of the period, when the teachers dealt primarily with routines and classroom management, the conversation related to art only 8%o of the time. There were seldom adequate explanations of why the students were to do a particular lesson: where the teacher's idea for the lesson came from or what inspired it; how the lesson related to the art world or the interests of the children; or how or what the children might contribute to the lesson. There were very few instances of the children's speaking of their own ideas or sharing their plans and visions with the class or the teacher. There were even fewer discussions of the children's reactions to their own art making, to their accomplishments and difficulties in creation.

In my discussion with the teachers, they gave a number of reasons for these results, which can be sum- marized as follows:

1. The time for working in the class period is short, so that the intro- duction to a lesson has to be short and to the point, and the end of the period has to be devoted to cleanup.

2. Talk before or during the class work is apt to distract the children and to confuse them about the teacher's original intent for the lesson.

3. The children are too young and unsophisticated to benefit from any meaningful discussion of art.

As a result, the art class consists, aside from routine and managerial

Art Education May 1982 15



.~~ ~ ~~~~~~ q

- A

4 A. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ t.

:

Ft*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.. ... .

rir~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ///

< I~~~~~~'

"~~~~~~ r~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/

e~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-U_

-I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ !'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~i



matters, of the giving of a quite specific assignment and the children's carrying it out according to rather limiting instructions. Very little attempt is made to encourage the children in originality or independence. Nor are the children encouraged to think of art as something that extends outside the classroom as a part of everyday life, to relate themselves and what they are doing to the art world, or to think of themselves as possible future artists.

Part of the outcome of this pattern of instruction is that the teacher, too, becomes rigid and stultified. He or she becomes a classroom organizer, manager, and disciplinarian, rather than an artist who shares artistic enthusiasms and discoveries with the children.

Why Discussions About Art Are Important If children are old enough to perform creatively, they are old enough to talk about the experience of that performance. The art class is the logical place for such talk, as there are few opportunities for reflection and discussion at a later time. If the art class is not a place where ideas and problems are shared, the child may as well work alone.

Being in class implies a relationship with others as artists and as audience, others with similar joys and similar problems. It implies learning not only from our own work and from the instructions of the teacher but also from others-including professional artists. Where do they get their ideas from? How do they begin their work? How freely are they able to work? What do they carry over from one experience or work that helps with the next one? Do they have ideas that are similar to our own? How do they execute them differently? What can we discover, with the help of others, from the work we have just done? What would we never do again and why? What can't we wait to do the next time? These are questions that need to be talked about, .explored, and tentatively resolved.

Talking about art serves different purposes at different stages of the work. Before working, it can help us to plan, rehearse, and previsualize what we are about to do. Expressing ideas through language helps us

not only to share them but to clarify them: our ideas become more concrete in form and meaning as we hear them verbalized and discussed. Also, the reactions of others to what we are doing or intend to do can build self-confidence.

During the work, talking about it can help us to slow down its fast- moving pace and gain control and understanding so that we can direct it in a more meaningful way. As they work, children should learn that art differs from other school subjects in that finishing fastest or within a certain time limit is not the goal, that artwork cannot be "timed."

Discussion after the work allows us to share with others common concerns about how seldom we can match the original visions and intentions that impelled us to begin work in the first place and about how this gap between intent and result can be a positive force in pushing us toward trying to find the ideal solution. Those with common problems can help us, just as we can help them, to evaluate what has been accomplished and what still must be done in further efforts. Again, verbalization helps us to put our thoughts into more concrete form so that they can be recalled and used later.

The more children understand the work habits, techniques, and creative processes of others, the more likely they are to understand their own impetus toward artwork and to continue working on their own, outside the classroom, directing their own ideas and taking more charge of their own work.

They may take from the classroom a few of the specific skills they have learned, but the art class's much larger contribution to them is the experience of making art, of creating something of their own. An important part of this creation is learning and thinking about art, artists, and the art process, which influence a lifetime of attitudes about art.

A lifelong interest in art can begin very early in the child's education. Very young children can begin to look at art and artists as a part of their own world rather than as something to be set apart and compartmentalized. They can begin to see art not only as specific projects assigned by the teacher, to be done in class, but as

being tied to feelings and ideas. They can learn these things through conversation about artists and the art process; they can learn that many people make art and that there is an art community. In the process, many of the prevalent misconceptions about art and artists, which are often learned at a very early age, can be dispelled. As a result, art can be demystified for the children, as they learn that ideas can be-and are-gathered from a variety of sources and are formulated, visualized, and executed in a wide variety of ways.

Children should also be shown that art is not a competition and that the presence of an artistically talented brother or the child who is recog- nized as "class artist" should not discourage them from attempting to achieve their own artistic visions- in short, that there are innumerable valuable ideas and ways of expressing them.

In merely working at assigned art projects, children may master certain skills without even thinking about the meaning of their work and their own ideas and feelings about it; it may never occur to them that they can pursue a project independently, without the supervision of the teacher. Rather than presenting unrelated exercises, the teacher, through conversation, can help the child to see art as a part of life (as a way of life, for some people) and can help to make the work in the art class a meaningful individual experience.

What to Discuss with Children Children can learn a great deal from artists, from talking to them, from talking about them and their work, and from seeing their work regularly, wherever it may be found. They can learn that artists work in many settings, that they have work sched- ules and habits that differ widely, and that the variety of materials and processes that they use is almost limitless. In the changing art world of today, children will discover the ideas, the attitudes, and the personal search of the artist may be more important than any particular skills or techniques. Using the artist as an example, children become more self-reliant and more confident in their own ideas and skills, and they may learn to act independently, to follow




through on their own ideas, and to use their own judgment rather than that of parents, friends, or teachers.

Children may also be interested in the sources of artists' ideas and inspiration, including places, objects, and the performances and works of other artists. Many children are collectors themselves and may be fascinated by the sorts of objects and ideas that artists collect. As they find out about artists' varied sources of ideas, children can also be encouraged to imitate artists in observing and making note of everything around them, whether they are at home or on a special outing; to take seriously their own fantasies and visions; to recognize beauty wherever they find it, in found objects as well as in purposefully created or designed works; and to act on their instincts about what may be interesting material for an art project, even though it may appear to others to be funny, ridiculous, or very unusual.

Children should learn that artists keep a constant record of ideas and their sources in sketchbooks or idea books; that when they find these sources, they change and adapt them (through abstraction or sim- plification and through changes in scale, viewpoint, medium, etc.) for their own use, rather than copying them; and that artists work and think continuously about possibilities for projects.

Teachers can discuss with children the continuous nature of working in art, how one idea or discovery may lead to another, and how artists often work in a series, where an idea is pursued over a number of works in which the same concepts, media, and techniques are explored in different ways. Teachers may also point out that although artists may carefully plan their work, through sketches, previsualization, models, and preliminary experimentation and play, during the work they always keep themselves open to changes that may come from new thoughts, accidents, and surprises and that may lead in new directions.

Children should become aware that as a work progresses, artists are constantly making different kinds of choices and decisions and that they relentlessly pursue new and different solutions to artistic problems

both during the work and after it. As a result, no work of art is ever really finished because it becomes the seed for the work that follows.

As children learn about the ways in which artists think and work, they also discover the numerous difficulties facing every artist.

One thing that is very hard for children to deal with is the notion that being creative necessarily involves risking being different and, as a corollary, relying on one's own judgment. If the child's ideas seem strange to others-peers who may scoff and parents or teachers whose opinions may be very strongly opposed to what the child is doing-it takes great courage for the child to persist with his or her own vision and self- criticism as the only guide. Knowing that others go through this same hazard may help the child to sustain concentration rather than become discouraged, be tempted into easy solutions, or be distracted from artwork altogether.

When to Talk to Children about Art Discussions about art seem to be most useful when they emanate from the child's current art problems or experiences.

Discussions that take place before work generate ideas, possibilities, and personal directions. During the work, skills, techniques, materials, difficulties, and the artistic process in general may come into the conversation.

When work has been completed, the perceptive teacher will elicit from the children the joys and frustrations encountered in the work as well as future plans and possible directions that may evolve naturally from the current work-what went wrong, what was discovered, how the original idea changed, what the turning points were, how the artist got new energy and from where, and how something may be approached differently in the next work. These conversations should not be rushed because work must be finished and cleanup must be moved along.

The teacher may plan discussion ahead, around a particular subject, or may take opportunities for discussion whenever they arise spontaneously. In either case, these conversations should be a regular part of the class,

and the children should be encouraged to participate in them freely. Such discussions need not be lengthy or ponderous or overly sophisticated; they should be based on the children's current interests and concerns and should use age-appropriate vocabulary. Personal examples based on the teacher's own experience are useful not only in illustrating a point but in allowing the children to see that the teacher-, as an artist, goes through processes of creation similar to theirs.

Through tape recordings, video- taping, or notations of personal recollection, each teacher can monitor the amount of significant conversation, as opposed to routine, skill instruction, and so on, that takes place in her or his class.

George Szekely is area head and associate professor of art education at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.

References

H. S. Broudy, "Art Education as Artistic Perception," Curriculum Considerations for Visual Arts Education: Rationale Development and Evaluation, Champaign, Ill.: Stipes Publishing, 1974.

C. Copple, I. Spiegel, and R. Saunders, Educating the Young Thinker-Classroom Strategies for Cognitive Growth, New York: Van Nostrand, 1979.

H. Diemert, "The Problem of Content in Art Education," Art Education, Vol. 33, No. 7, November 1980. pp. 28-29.

James L. Jarrett, "Values Through the Arts," Art Education, Vol. 34, No. 2, March 1981, pp. 6-11.

S. Madeja, "The Art Curriculum: Sins of Omission," Art Education, Vol. 33, No. 6, October 1980, pp. 24-26.

E. Mills, In the Suzuki Style- Ways to Encourage Children Musically, Berkeley, California: Diablo Press 1974, pp. 7-39.

R. Smith, "The 'Deschooling' of Art Education: How it's Happening and What to do About it," Art Education, Vol. 33, No. 3, March 1980, pp. 8-11.




Documents

Conversations in the Art Class