In his discussions of the arts and education, Eliot Eisner in his book, “The arts and the creation of mind”, states that the arts teach us to make good judgments while suggesting that problems have more than one solution; they teach us to embrace multiple diverse perspectives and to surrender to the unanticipated possibilities of work as it unfolds; they allow us to communicate in ways unlimited by language and numbers and about the foundation of chaos theory — that small acts can have large effects. The arts also teach us to think through and within a material while exploring what cannot be said; and provide us with experiences we cannot access through any other source. But perhaps most importantly, Eisner claims, the ways in which the arts relate to curriculum communicates to the young what it is that adults value. The arts socialize us.

So how do we begin to craft an artistic curriculum? In the most recent issue of the journal Edutopia, teachers from around the nation discuss how they have grounded and built art into their curricula across a variety of subjects. Some incorporate field trips into any topic under study; Sandy Riggle has her geometry students explore reflections, rotations, enlargements and dilations, not to mention symmetry in Escher’s work, alongside research into the mediums used and attributes of the works. In Kansas, students create song lyrics around famous people and dances for mathematical operations, while making mini movies using Windows about the Middle Ages. Other students, similar to our blog on sensazione, create pictures based on the music they hear. These artistic intersections allow students to work several areas of their brains at once as well as unlock their creativity by mixing up media. February is Black History Month = you could always do what one school does and use this as a theme for the month, exploring Black artists over the ages as well as traditionally Black art forms and theirhistories!

If you are looking for something different to do with your own budding artists or just want to expand your own repertoire and mix it up a little, a good place for inspiration is connected to this blog.

Go ahead! Let’s get started with Art!

With thanks to Whirling Phoenix for the beautiful photo!

We recently had the opportunity to pose such questions to Dr Rhonda Robinson, a renowned educator and trainer of teachers and an international expert in visual literacy (look for her podcast coming to this blog next week!). In the realm of the mash-up where any image can be modified using photo shop, Dr Robinson has spent years encouraging children, young adults and graduate students to consider the ways in which images are produced, interpreted and consumed. Whether cutting up comic strips from newspapers as she did with middle school students or using Creativity Express to encourage the artists within her masters level graduate students, Dr Robinson has been a strong advocate for improving visual literacy, media literacy and now also digital literacy.

So what is visual literacy? The term “Visual Literacy” was first coined in 1969 by John Debes, one of the most important figures in the history of International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA). Debes’ offered (1969b, 27) the following definition of the term:

“Visual Literacy refers to a group of vision-competencies a human being can develop by seeing and at the same time having and integrating other sensory experiences. The development of these competencies is fundamental to normal human learning. When developed, they enable a visually literate person to discriminate and interpret the visible actions, objects, symbols, natural or man-made, that he encounters in his environment. Through the creative use of these competencies, he is able to communicate with others. Through the appreciative use of these competencies, he is able to comprehend and enjoy the masterworks of visual communication.”

In an environment where “learning occurs everywhere” because of our access to technologies such as the television and the Internet, it would seem that improving Sensazione by paying attention to the images presented to us on a daily basis, asking questions about how they got to be the way they are, de-constructing them to see the alternative ways they could be put together and appreciating the perspectives different ‘readers’ of these images bring to bear might open up some interesting conversations about the world around us. It can be as simple as clipping out a newspaper cartoon or two and having your children rearrange them; or taking a variety of images and creating a collage; even buying a disposable camera and allowing children to take pictures of their daily lives (I did this once and it was so enlightening) a la Born into Brothels, a film sponsored by the organization Kids with Cameras. And just in case you think it is only children who appreciate such activities, click here to expand your own Sensazione (you have to love the way that word sounds – what image comes to mind?)!

With thanks to Mzelle Biscotte for their wonderful work!