Report of the Commission on Art Education

National Art Education Association

Report of the Commission on Art EducationAuthor(s): Jerome J. HausmanSource: Art Education, Vol. 18, No. 7 (Oct., 1965), pp. 29-31Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3190719 .

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REPORT OF THE

COMMISSION ON

ART EDUCATION

On the following pages are highlights of NAEA's latest publication, The Report of the Commission

on Art Education. Edited by Jerome J. Hausman, Commission Chairman, the Report features the

findings of the study conducted by the members of this specially-formed Commission to determine the

role of art, the artist, and art education in our society today. Chapters by each of the Commission

members examine a particular aspect of the question, and excerpts from these writings are

featured here. The 160-page book is available for $2.50 from the NAEA at 1201 16th Street, N.W.,

Washington, D.C. 20036. Discount on quantity orders: 10% for 2-9 copies; 20%

for 10 or more copies.

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"Correlations in themselves do not give form and meaning. The researcher must, by logical, interpretative, computational, and graphi- cal means, make sense out of his data. At this point, hunch playing and insight enter in as a test of the true researcher. He must risk multiple interpretations of a tentative nature. It is the follow-up of hunch playing with persistent and repeated attacks on the same or related problems that develops a fruitful and more inclusive frame- work. One deficiency of art education research is clearly its dearth of devoted and persistent researchers. A series of studies like a series of paintings can reveal insights in depth. Thus a researcher develops a central focus over time. It is out of interaction among scholars thus involved that meaning and theory are carved out.

"Solutions to the major human problems of our time can only be found by humans, not machines; solutions will be found only through developing capacities to act in humanistic as well as scientific terms. Education to do so needs to begin in our primary grades. The essence of education in art in our elementary and secondary schools is in the development of aesthetic maturity and sensitivity in creating visual symbols and in responding to the a7rtifacts and forms of our environment as well as those of the past. In a larger sense, it is education in areas of observation, selection, imagination, action, and judgment- it is education of the mind and heart of understanding and action.

"The need for art education has never been greater. Our society must have the subjective and humanizing values of the arts to balance the objectivity and materialism of science and technology. At the same time, the stress on individuality which is basic to the arts is essential in an age of regimentation and conformity.

"Artists are involved in their own work, arriving at aesthetic solutions, resolving artistic problems, in short, making art. Their problems are those of the canvas, of space, of color and of the other pertinent visual elements and materials. Yet, in developing a style, larger human fac- tors are always present; style partakes of the temper of the times. The

artist is within the stream of history and draws his sustenance from the total human spirit. A civilization's complexities, contradictions, and delineations are mirrored in its art.

"Aesthetic experience occurs more commonly in connection with art because art objects-pictures, poems, plays, songs-have their parts arranged purposely, skillfully, and economically to encourage an aesthetic response. To illustrate this point, we need only compare perceptions of ordinary events with perceptions guided by the organi- zation of a painting. The artist may exaggerate the coolness of a color or the sharpness of a contour so that these qualities are felt distinctly by the viewer. In ordinary seeing, a great number of conflicting qualities are present so that they distract or blunt our perception. Every- thing is more or less blurred and inseparable from everything else. As we 'navigate' through our visual environment, we see just enough to get us to our destination safely. As we 'navigate' through a work of art, we are obliged to perceive vivid and intense qualities because the object has been organized to promote the perception of such qualities. Vividness, intensity, distinctness, or precision of quality are characteristics of the aesthetic.

"Art education cannot avoid being a synthesis of disciplines. Walter Smith was closer to being a master of technical drawing than he was to the arts. John Dewey was a philosopher of education, and Thomas Munro is a philosopher of aesthetics. John Sloan and Kimon Nicolaides were artists, but of marked differences in their involvement in the arts and education. Our outstanding contributors to the background of art education exhibit a range of interests as broad as the practice of the arts during the last century. "The fact that art does not rest on a cumulative and sequential body of knowledge precludes any effort to teach art as if such a sequential body of knowledge did exist. To do so would distort and falsify the truth about art. Art learnings come about through refinement of sen- sibilities and through extended capacities to perceive aesthetic quali-



ties. These learnings need to occur at every educational level. They require a core of common goals to serve as guides for curriculum development and teaching. Differences in educational levels are mani- fested in degrees of subtlety, depth, refinement, insight, and control. When art is taught to bring about understanding of its nature, a core of common goals is valid. The same goals need to function from grade level to grade level.

"In the recent educational trend toward emphasis on the academic disciplines, it is important that the distinctive values inherent in an art program not be overlooked. Art education provides an aspect of experience that no other discipline affords. The art experience, whether it be creating art or understanding the art created by others, is a process of interaction involving the individual, the idea, the tools and materials, and the evolving art form.

"For the art teacher, experience in the field is of special significance because of the nature of the subject taught. In many respects the nature of art is fluid and ever-changing. There is no ultimate or fixed meaning of art acceptable to everyone. The materials used to make art, the techniques employed and the subject matter of art are con- stantly changing. These conditions give particular import to the ongoing experience of teaching. It is the quality of art itself, in relation to the act of teaching, that directly bears on the teacher's effectiveness.

"The strength of an art teacher preparation program is to be found in the nature of its interdisciplinary environment, in its evolving purposes for art education, in the quality of teaching, and in the way it is con- cerned with the processes in the learning of the art-teacher-to-be. Course patterns and less formalized aspects of curriculum such as seminars, independent study, and observations should continuously evolve, forming patterns of experience that point to new possibilities extending beyond the existing program. Such a curriculum better enables students to see interrelationships among their own development as creative persons, the nature of art, and the learning process."

REPORT OF THE

COMMISSION ON

ART EDUCATION



Documents

Report of the Commission on Art Education