Discipline-Based Art Education || The Egalitarianism of Discipline-Based Art Education

National Art Education Association

The Egalitarianism of Discipline-Based Art EducationAuthor(s): Ronald H. SilvermanSource: Art Education, Vol. 41, No. 2, Discipline-Based Art Education (Mar., 1988), pp. 13-18Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3193107 .

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The Egalitarianism of Discipline-Based Art

Education Ronald H. Silverman

urrently, the most widely heralded approach to art education is referred to as discipline-based art educa-

tion (DBAE). Even the most cursory review of the programs for the 1986 and 1987 conferences of the National Art Education Association will easily demonstrate how pervasive DBAE has become, at least in the rhetoric of art educators. National art education journals as well as state art education association publications are full of articles about discipline-based art education.

Accompanying this widespread interest in DBAE are the criticisms of this approach. It has been referred to as elitist, focusing only on the so-called Fine Arts (Bersson, 1986) and as technocratic, because of a perceived emphasis upon highly specific objectives and content and systematic instruction, without an equal concern for the student (Hamblen, 1985). What is implied in these views is that both art and the learner will be short-changed by DBAE because of a too narrow, undemocratic definition of what constitutes subject-matter worthy of study, and a lack of interest in the creative, self-expression of students.

The purpose of this article is to deal with these appraisals by demonstrating that DBAE, when properly implemented, is not only more democratic than other approaches to art education; it also contributes, to a far greater degree, to developing students' expressive abilities. The first step in making this argument is clarifying what is meant by discipline- based art education.

The Meaning of Discipline-Based Art Education As with any new approach that whips up a fervor of interest, there has been more heat then light generated in relation to DBAE. The most primitive and uninformed interpretation is that DBAE simply means a focus on teaching art in a disciplined way; i.e., carefully identifying what should be taught and then requiring all students to study the same specific content. This is, of course, a very myopic view of DBAE. Art should be studied systematically because it has been demonstrated that this is probably the best way to nurture student achievement and to motivate for participation in art activities (Silverman, 1971). Within DBAE, however, the term "discipline" refers to subject-matter and content, and not the imposition of particular techniques.

Nor is DBAE to be confused with "discipline-centered" art education. The latter approach is focused on the student and his or her creativity. Concepts and skills associated with art are studied to facilitate developing abilities for creative self-expression. Efforts are centered on the discipline of art production, and the success of one's program is based upon the extent to which idiosyncratic responses are nurtured.

This approach may easily be accommodated within the recent Goals Statement of the NAEA, which advocates studying art history, art criticism, aesthetics, and the techniques for using art media. The content of what students will study stems from these four areas.

Art Education/March 1988 13



Unfortunately, the nature of these areas and procedures for studying them are not sufficiently explained, which can result in a variety of interpretations. Incomplete or erroneous definitions may, however, not only do violence to a particular field of study, they may also contribute to fostering or perpetuating art instruction that is really not discipline- based.

For example, if art production is construed as simply developing skills for using art materials to express personal reactions to experience, one does not become involved with the issues and problems confronted by artists. Sources for ideas and the world of art must be studied. Concepts and media need to be investigated as one seeks to represent and interpret personal experiences, the visual environment, and prevailing attitudes and values.

If art history is limited to only looking at art forms from the past and identifying the artist and other facts in terms of names, dates, and places, then the activities of art historians are not being emulated. One must also attempt to attribute particular concepts such as style to works of art, and identify the meaning of symbols in a work and the work's own particular history.

If works of art are merely looked at and qualities within them are only described and interpreted in terms of personal preferences, and no judgments are made about the relative significance of their formal, technical, and social values, then art criticism is not being studied or practiced.

And, if identifying the formal and expressive qualities inherent in natural and manufactured objects is the only activity related to the discipline of aesthetics, then a gross misconception about the nature of this discipline is evident. Identifying aesthetic qualities is a part of art criticism; speculating at an abstract level about what kinds of qualities can be appropriately associated with works of art relates to the discipline of aesthetics.

Aesthetics is the field of philosophy that addresses questions, issues, and problems concerned with the nature of art and its personal and social values. Speculating about answers to questions related to why colors and shapes on a canvas can evoke emotional responses, or why a building can be called a work

of art, or examining the differences between aesthetic and other forms of experience, or what a work of art expresses, or the differences between the roles of science and art, are examples of philosophical-aesthetic inquiry. A Particular Definition of DBAE While understanding and utilizing the concepts and procedures associated with the disciplines of art is certainly important to DBAE, it is only a part of the comprehensive definition delineated by Greer when he first articulated the phrase "discipline- based art education" in 1979, and fleshed-out its meaning in a paper five years later (Greer, 1984). In addition to drawing content for study from the four disciplines of art, Greer believes that DBAE also requires that this content be embodied in a written curriculum. Such a curriculum must stipulate the subject-matter to be studied and the understandings and skills to be developed. It must also include the procedures and basic instructional resources that will enable teachers to deliver content and develop student abilities. Procedures for effectively evaluating student achievement should also be included.

It is this emphasis upon a prescribed blueprint that troubles many art educators. Idiosyncratic teaching and learning, valued by those who advocate creativity for both the teacher and the student, appear to be overlooked when everyone is expected to focus on the same content and practice the same skills. The DBAE Curriculum: A Democratic Blueprint There are obvious virtues in teachers and students dealing with art and its disciplines in their own way. Individual talents, beliefs, and propensities should be acknowledged. But where do these attributes come from, and how best should they be nurtured? It is blatant romantic nonsense to continue to believe that everyone is born creative and artistic. There are those who are, but they are the exception and not the rule. Additionally, there is a massive body of evidence that indicates that even those who have inborn talents and dispositions toward innovative and original behavior require the acquisition of knowledge and skills for these potentials to be fulfilled.

The curriculum is the vehicle for

14 Art Education/March 1988

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developing important understandings and skills. A legitimate DBAE curriculum will enhance the opportunities for talented, innovative teachers to offer students an indepth experience with the visual arts. Such a curriculum would offer a wide range of related activities which are concerned with the four disciplines, and a repertoire of concepts and skills that constitute the firm foundation that underlies creative artisitic expression.

As importantly, a DBAE curriculum exposes learners to the world of art and its vast variety of art forms. Anthropologists have clearly documented that art, itself, is the most fundamental source for artistic inspiration. Creativity does not exist within a vacuum. It flows from a confluence of developed representational and interpretive skills and analytical, as well as intuitive, encounters with the real and imagined world, including the world of art.

A worthwhile art curriculum provides for such development and encounters. It serves the talented and creative pragmatically; i.e., it provides experiences with the tools and information needed to produce idiosyncratic and aesthetic forms.

But if DBAE is to be democratic, it must also provide for the majority of students (and teachers) who do not have a particular bent for being creative or artistic. Again, this is achieved through a carefully wrought DBA curriculum. Such a curriculum offers even the most ordinary student the opportunity to acquire expressive skills because step-by-step instructions are provided. Such instructions enable all students to produce works that have some aesthetic merit, even though what they produce may not be very innovative or expressive of personal views. But when skills have been developed, at whatever level of achievement, students can use what they have learned to produce works that are more advanced than those which stem from programs that emphasize expressing oneself, without regard for the processes and concepts associated with the world of art.

All teachers, whether they have extensive, little, or no background in art, can provide adequate and important instruction in art when they are guided by a legitimate DBA curriculum. Knowledgeable, talented,

and/or highly motivated teachers will follow, modify, and improvise upon the instructions and activities prescribed. Others, because of their insecurity or rigidity, will follow lessons closely. But even their students will have an art learning experience that is more comprehensive than the recipe-following, or intuitive, "happy hands" or imitative, "fill-in-between- the-lines" art experiences that too many teachers currently provide.

When there is a comprehensive curriculum to follow (not just guidelines or statements about the virtues of art education), students can be engaged in aesthetic analyses of the natural and manufactured world. These analytical activities can be followed by art making activities that focus on developing skills for handling materials and skills needed to interpret the properties of what has been viewed aesthetically; for example, looking at a series of photographs that depict how water and sky relate to each other, and identifying variations in shape and color. This would be followed by producing a seascape while practicing wet-on-wet painting techniques to blend colors which represent gradations of colors in the water and sky that result from a cloudy or clear atmosphere.

Historical and critical analyses of works of art - learning about styles of art, how art reflects and affects the times in which it was created, and identifying, describing, interpreting, and judging the qualities and meanings in works of art - can be made relevant to the art-making activities of students.

For instance, in relation to the foregoing example, students could view the seascapes of Winslow Homer and identify variations of color and shape, note how colors are produced, and how colors and shapes relate to the mood of particular works. They would also learn about Homer and his interest in the sea, and speculate about how events in the world and other works of art influenced what Homer chose to express in his works, and to what extent they are significant.

Engaging in provocative discussions about the differences between nature and works of art depicting nature, why colors on paper denoting scenes from nature can evoke emotional responses, and the differences between the goals and procedures of science and those of


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art in relation to nature are examples of the aesthetic issues that a DBA curriculum can encompass. As in the examples cited, these discussions could also be related to what had been studied within the other art disciplines.

Working through a carefully constructed curriculum that draws its content from the disciplines of art makes it possible for art to be a part of general education, which is another cornerstone of DBAE. Average and non-art teachers are expected to provide worthwhile art learning experiences just as they provide instruction in other important academic subjects.

Believing that only art trained teachers can provide adequate art instuction removes art from the mainstream of elementary education. Art can be taught by the generalist, not only by the specialist. A DBA curriculum makes this possible. Art need no longer be viewed as an esoteric and mysterious enterprise. When it is removed from these categories, it becomes available to all teachers and through them to all students. That is why DBAE is the most democratic approach to art education. Other approaches focus on the talented, the

knowledgeable, the motivated, or the troubled. DBAE is not concerned primarily with nurturing artists or providing therapeutic, cathartic outlets to achieve emotional equilibrium.

DBAE is an approach that allows art to become part of basic general education. It is the only approach suited to developing the visual- aesthetic literacy of every child. This occurs because of the availability of a comprehensive and carefully structured curriculum. The degree to which achievement in art- understanding, appreciating, and creating - actually occurs is dependent upon the same variables that affect instruction in other basic subjects: the availability of materials, the knowledge, skill, and motivation of the teacher, administrative support, and the character and sophistication of the students.

The possibility and probability that classroom teachers can provide effective DBA instruction is not merely a hypothetical proposition. Since 1983, generalist elementary teachers who have been oriented about DBAE and the curricula designed to implement its tenets have been demonstrating that they can, indeed,

teach art effectively (Hoepfner, 1986). The evidence continues to build. Not

only have classroom teachers proven that they can teach art in important ways, they have also demonstrated that once they become familiar with a DBA curriculum, they can assist their colleagues in also becoming effective at teaching art. Where art expertise is available, in the form of art consultants or art specialists, it has also been proven that this orientation process can be accelerated significantly.

The thesis that DBAE is indeed a democratic approach to serious art education has been proven empirically. There is little need to demonstrate its egalitarian nature theoretically, although logical discourse can also lead one to the same conclusion. Defining Art Broadly But Critically DBAE is a democratic approach to art education because of its reliance upon a comprehensive written curriculum, but what about the content of such curricula and the charge that DBAE focuses on the traditional fine arts; drawing, painting and sculpture, or forms found only in art museums, the "high" arts? Or, that too little attention is paid to non-western and




utilitarian forms? The issue, however, is not selecting

forms to be studied from one branch or tradition of the visual arts to the exclusion of others, but rather how one chooses to identify art worthy of study.

If art is to be defined exclusively as forms that are found in art museums and galleries, then only those examples that meet this criterion will be studied. Art can also be defined as forms which are organized to involve us in aesthetic experience, and the importance of the form (and its appropriateness for study) should be based on the degree to which such involvement may occur. It is conceivable, therefore, that a particular chair may be more important that a particular painting; a particular African tribal mask more important than a work created by a Western sculptor.

The chart below diagrams how art may be defined broadly; many things can be considered as works of art. It also indicates that all works are not of the same magnitude; some works have other attributes in addition to being objects that involve us in aesthetic experience. Such works, therefore, are more worthy of study. This conclusion suggests that art should also be defined

critically. Forms which are capable of evoking

aesthetic responses are represented by the heavy line. This line is conceived as a continuum that includes art works ranging from insignificant popular forms to recognized masterpieces which have withstood the "test of time." This definition could incorporate forms such as a pair of shoes, a domestic shelter, an African tribal mask, or an ancient sculpture of Zeus.

Emerging from the "lesser art" end of the heavy line are four "threads" which symbolize additional qualities that can be associated with some art works. The first thread deals with innovation. Although all works of art elicit aesthetic experience, some are more provocative than others because they confront us with new and unusual approaches to organizing media aind expressing ideas. The degree to which an aesthetic object is truly original in the ways it is made or in terms of how it expresses and communicates its message reflects upon its importance as a workof art.

When a work distills the essence of the social forces of an era or depicts a specific event, or if a work lifts us

morally or strengthens our faith, it acquires social and/or moral values, as well as aesthetic importance. This is symbolized by the second thread in the diagram. Conspicuous examples of such works are the Gothic cathedrals constructed in Europe during the middle ages. They were the social centers for the communities they served. They are also metaphors for prevailing beliefs in an immortal existence in a literal paradise above the clouds, if one lived as a mortal committed to the doctrines of Christianity.

The third thread stands for the historical significance of any object or event which involves us aesthetically. This category applies to works that either play an important role in the evolution of art, or reflect significant political and/or psychological aspects of history. When one views the history of art, certain works are prominent because they are superb examples of the forms which artists were creating .during a particular period. Such works may also link older and newer methods for using media, conceptualizing ideas, and expressing feelings. In addition, art works often document events of the past; e.g., paintings that describe




specific historical battles, insightful portraits of spiritual and political leaders, or genre scenes which inform us about the nature of daily routines and the life of the common folk.

The final category belongs to the rarest characteristic of art works: the thread of prophecy. There are works throughout the history of art that appear to have predicted artistic and social trends. They acquire significance because they contribute to the evolution of art, itself. Such masterpieces prophesy directions which artists will begin to investigate and follow. There are, in addition, rare works which predict the nature of future social events.

Picasso's Guernica is such a work; it predicted both artistic and social trends, new ways to interpret a sense of time and dislocation, and the horror of WW II. The form-follows-function, molded plywood chair designed by Charles Eames is another such work. It started a new trend in chair design and manufacture that related to the emphasis upon mass production and consumption that has become so pervasive since WW II.

The purpose for this exercise about the nature of art is to explain that art works may be selected for study primarily on the basis of their aesthetic, social, and innovative significance, and not whether they are in one form or another, non- utilitarian or useful, or western or non-Occidental.

It should go without saying that choices about which works and forms should be studied must also be related to the developmental levels of children and youth. Students also

LESSER WORKS OF ART

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need to encounter art works that have some relevance to their lives and to what they are studying in school. A worthwhile DBA curriculum will offer a variety of instructional resources, and a variety of art works will be reviewed: different examples from different cultures and from different historical periods. The important difference in DBAE is that these works will be analyzed and studied; children will not merely be exposed to the"magic" in "exciting" works of art.

To reiterate, while curriculum content needs to be democratic, it also needs to focus on significance. Too often students are exposed only to art works that are reflective of folkart or commercially oriented traditions; e.g., making and looking at Mexican bread sculpture while neglecting to study pre-Columbian art or the works of Rivera, Orozco, and Tamayo; or co- pying black and white photographs to develop skills for rendering dark and light qualities and creating illusions of volume, without any reference to the great masters of these techniques such as Caravaggio and Rembrandt.

In relation to the question of content, there is also empirical evidence that DBA curricula address the need for a broad representation from the visual arts. For example, within the SWRL Elementary Art Program distributed by Phi Delta Kappa, students can study works ranging from landscape painting by 17th cen- tury Dutch masters to the batik cloth of Bali, and from the non-objective abstractions of Kandinsky to the classical, geometric forms embodied in Japanese stationery design (Katter, 1986).

GREAT WORKS OF ART

prophetic significance

historical value

social and moral value

innovative significance

Conclusion DBAE is a truly democratic ap-

proach to art education, both in terms of its processes and its content. The subject of art, itself, is dealt with democratically; all its disciplines are included. All kinds of art forms and art works are studied. The emphasis upon a structured DBA curriculum enables all teachers to provide instruction for all students.

The great promise of DBAE is that for the first time in the history of human civilization, receiving an education to appreciate great and important works of art, available previously only to the children of the rich and the powerful, is now within the reach of all the children of all the people.

Making art education more democratic should culminate in producing citizens who are capable of valuing works that are more provocative and elevating than the banal and often demeaning images so pervasive in our popular culture. DBAE is a valid avenue for cultivating the sensibilities required to participate significantly in the more advanced cultural life of one's community.

Because such participation evokes within us deeply felt responses, a sense of euphoria, and even moments of exaltation, it can only result in a much happier and more emotionally fulfilled population. This is, without a doubt, a major goal of all forms of education in a democratic society. D

Ronald H. Silverman is Professor of Art, California State University, Los Angeles, and Associate Director for Curriculum, Getty Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts.

References Bersson, R. (1986). Why art education lacks

social relevance: A contextualist analysis. Art Education, 39 (4), 41.

Greer, W.D. (1984). A discipline-based view of art education. Studies in Art Education, 25 (4), 212-218.

Hamblen, K. (1985). The issues of technocratic rationality in discipline-bsed art education. Studies in Art Education, 27 (1), 43-46.

Hoepfner, R. (1986). Evaluation of the Getty Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts, unpublished report.

Katter, E. (1986). SWRL art history visual resources, unpublished draft.

Silverman, R. (1971). What research tells us about motivating students for art activity. Art Education, 24 (5), 25-31.


OBJECTS AND EVENTS WHICH INVOLVE US IN AES'ITHETIC EXPERIENCE

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Discipline-Based Art Education || The Egalitarianism of Discipline-Based Art Education