Blog 3: Attentive Living

In k-12 art education, students are often brought up to think of art as solely between the artist and their work. Whether that is through perspective, self-portraits, mediums, or the formal elements of design, learning appears linear and solely self-fulfilling. What some art teachers do not understand, however, is that the subject has a way of involving students with their communities to participate in projects far beyond themselves.

With every school comes a community that surrounds it, whether that be locally or globally. Rather than teaching students to only associate art as an individual practice, teachers can broaden their horizons on what art can do by posing meaningful questions, allowing students to problem-solve real-life issues, or even just collaborating on a project. Sometimes it is crucial to start with just mere, in-class teamwork to eventually build off and encourage students to work out of the school setting. Art, then, becomes a subject with implications in the real world that can show students how they can make a difference. Throughout this process, students will obtain critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, and social skills. Overall, it is an approach that will relate to students' daily lives as well as benefitting the world around them in thoughtful ways.

Though this blog so far has touched on how the arts can encourage students to get involved in their communities, communal arts also teaches students more about their local cultures, artistic practices, and heritages. Project ARTS (Arts for Rural Teachers and Students), for example, was a three-year research program that was designed to "help students retain their cultural heritage and at the same time adapt practices considered necessary to function in American society as a whole" (Clark & Zimmerman, 2000, p. 34). Rural art students, through this program, learned about their local traditions, crafts, histories, and culture to produce, exhibit, and appreciate the arts in a more meaningful way. This emphasis on the community, along with instruction centered around community members' diverse backgrounds, makes students feel validated and encouraged to further pursue the arts.

That is the ultimate goal of Project Arts- to allow students to feel validated and acknowledged. As a future art educator, I want to expand my students' horizons and create a meaningful curriculum that will both bring awareness to real-life issues as well as appreciate the culture of our community.

Citation:

Gilbert Clark & Enid Zimmerman (2000) Greater Understanding of the Local Community A Community-Based Art Education Program for Rural Schools, Art Education, 53:2, 33-39, DOI: 10.1080/00043125.2000.11652379