Digication Response

There was so much in here and they all looked like good ideas, but it seems impossible to me to make sure to include them all in a single curriculum. I could take just one of the ideas and form an entire curriculum that would focus on it. I could also take a few and put them together or work little ideas that she presented into a unit, but the way she writes makes me think that each one is vital to the art education experience. I feel as though I could never do anything justice if I tried to do it all. For these reasons I have picked just a few articles/topics that I think are most important and work them into a curriculum.
#1-Postmodern Principles- I have always liked the elements and principles with the caveat that they are not the be all and end all. They were a good way of making sure that my art was well designed. I often asked myself if I had a good emphasis, if it was balanced, if the contrast was evident... I, however, did not like doing a project that was solely focused on these elements and principles. I liked them as background knowledge to help me design and judge artwork. Gude's postmodern principles are great. These to me are just more knowledge and help when making and critiquing art. They are things that I think we need to know about. I had not been taught about juxtaposition in my grade-school years, but I think that it is an important element. Gude's elements and principles make me want to look for even more elements and principle that could be added to a repertoire of art knowledge. Maybe I could even have my classes brainstorm some of their own.
#2-There's Something Queer About This Class- I am a not LGBTQ, but I have friends who are. I have read stories and articles about things that these kids have gone through. I am a firm believer in everyone making their own choices and that being different does not make a person bad or a sinner. Yes, I do still believe in the sanctity of marriage between a man and woman. I do believe that men and women have divine roles and that they are to do these things together. I believe that homosexual tendencies are not what something that should be pursued, but I also believe in agency, love, and acceptance. I may believe in the word of wisdom, but I don't shun everyone who drinks alcohol or coffee. I think it should be the same with the LGBTQ community. There are indeed many gay artists. One of my favorite artists is Félix González-Torres, who is gay and his work actually focuses a lot on his partner Ross. I feel that I should be able to create a safe place for learning and understanding. There should be no one that has to fear coming to class because of their sexuality or really anything that makes them different.
#3-Playing, Creativity, Possibility- YES! What a point! Art does NOT automatically equal creative. I liked a lot of the suggested art projects that foster creativity. I feel that the way to be creative is to let loose. I have said that I love the elements and principles, but they are not all there is to art. I love playing with art, having not pressure, and just trying things out. New materials or methods are not the best to use in a final project, but we should first have some fun testing them out, seeing what we can do with them. Is there a different way to use the materials than what is traditional? My favorite art to do is non-traditional media. I love finding problems and figuring out creative ways to solve them. My roommates ask me how I know how to do all this stuff and all I can say is, "I made most of it up," or "trial and error." I feel like my favorite creations are the ones that posed the biggest challenge and had the most problems. I feel more accomplished and proud of the results. I hope that I can foster this same love for playing, testing, failing, and trying again in my students.
I feel like I can work all of these things into a solid curriculum. While there were many good points and ideas, I think that if I can get these three things together, I will have a great class foundation that is both open and structured. There will be freedom to be who you are and do what you enjoy mixed in with the learning and developing.

Week #4- Stories and Sonders Lesson Plan

Week #3- Chapter Four Reflection

    Before the chapter went into details on the four main parts of DBAE, I had an idea about them. To me, they were four individual aspect that I should make sure I include and link together to form lessons. As I read though, it was weird to me how similar they really already were. I almost felt like I was rereading the criticism section when I moved on to the history section, and when I made it to aesthetics, it rehashed some of the same thoughts from the beginning. I guess, to do a lesson or unit well, everything really should be connected and flowing logically.
    When we learn about specific areas of art or the history of it, we should have questions, judgments, ideas of our own, and see connections. Usually when I see a new work of art, or more accurately, newly brought to my attention, I immediately start an internal criticism trying to fathom it out. This naturally leads to questions and discovering the history of the work, and then I am picking apart the aspects of it that I relate to or would like to try out myself in my works. Suddenly the ideas of DBAE don’t seem so far fetched or ingenious, it is more of a “duh” idea. This is not to say that it is not good, but rather, it makes sense. It is the concise expression of an ideal way of thinking and learning about art.
    Every idea or principle presented in this chapter could be broken down into different aspects and some of those broken down even more. For example, DBAE breaks down into criticism, history, artmaking, and aesthetics. Criticism can further be pulled into description, analysis, interpretation, and judgment. Interpretation focuses on these following aspects:

• Artworks are always about something.
• Feelings are guides to interpretations.
• Interpretations are intended to persuade.
• Interpretation does not have to match the artist's intent.
• All art is in part about the world from which it emerged.
• An artwork can have more than one interpretation. Some interpretations are better than others.
• Interpretations are not right or wrong but convincing and informative.
• Good interpretations have coherence, correspondence, and inclusiveness.
• Good interpretations tell more about the artwork than they do about the interpreter.
• Artworks are meant to be interpreted metaphorically and not literally.
• Interpretations are about artworks, not artists.

Taking the statement “all art is in part about the world from which it emerged,” we have to look into the history around the piece and that brings us back up to one of the main points of DBAE. The whole idea is cyclical, going around and a round building off itself. This way of teaching should help bring home ideas and thoughts more than just facts because every thought builds off each other and comes back around to prove a point. Cool!
    Sometimes we have those lessons that leave your jaw down on the floor. They are just so well put together and inspired, that you question how can I ever top that or even make another that is on par with it. I think my favorite line in this chapter was, “Realistically, not every curriculum unit can be developed to this extent.” (pg 50) Thank you Marilyn G. Stewart and Sydney R. Walker! I feel that there are so many ideals to a unit/lesson plan and we can spend weeks trying to fit it all in and make it perfect, but not every one is going to end up as smooth or flowing as another. Sometimes time dictates what we can and can’t do, or even the politics of the school. Not every lesson can be so flawlessly presented, but I should always put forth the best I’ve got.

    Some more basic notes/excerpts I liked and took from the chapter:

• Criticism-description, analysis, interpretation, and judgment; History-description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation; Artmaking-taught to further technical skill, design knowledge, and personal expression, a means for exploring the world, self, and others; and Aesthetics-philosophical questioning, philosophical dialogue, and aesthetic theory.
• Art is a purposeful human endeavor.
• Art attains value, purpose, and meaning from the personal, social, and cultural dimensions of life.
• Art raises philosophical issues and questions.
• Artworks are objects for interpretation.
• Change is fundamental to art.
• The art teacher in the twenty-first century should possess:
• a knowledge of a canon of important artworks that center art instruction. Canon refers not to a master list of works, but rather is loose and changing including masterworks as well as works of local significance, minor works, and contemporary and traditional works.
• a knowledge of the ideas in this canon of works and the ways they relate to the history of ideas.
• a knowledge of the conditions that surround the works in this canon.
• a knowledge of the ways in which art historians, sociologists of art, and art critics have interpreted the works in this canon.
• The art teacher in the twenty-first century should be able to:
• guide students of different ages and developmental levels to interpret the meanings of the works in this canon for them- selves through the act of criticism.
• guide students with reinterpreting the meanings of the works in this canon through the processes of artistic creation.
• guide students in studying the social, cultural, historical, and individual conditions that surround the creation of this canon of artworks.
• Philosophical questions often emerge from art criticism.
• Art history is about: time, chronology, classification, material objects that have been designated as artworks, aesthetics, style, intellectual ideas, interpretation, analysis, evaluation, iconography, social and cultural context, and change.
• Realistically, not every curriculum unit can be developed to this extent.
• Brice Marden has remarked, "1 think that painting, or the kind of painting I prefer to explore, is about unknowns or looking for questions more than for answers."
• Setting the conditions for artmaking is a commonplace and necessary practice for every artmaking experience, referring to decisions about media, subject matter, formal qualities, style, technique, scale, and context.
• Engage in play, but it is "purposeful play."
• Buildning a knowledge base, finding personal connections, problem finding and solving,setting conditions for artmaking, finding the visual form
• Manipulation and experimentation are purposeful activities to create new conceptual possibilities
• Philosopher and art critic Arthur Danto argues that "an object is an artwork at all only in relation to an interpretation."
• Studying philosophical questions and issues in the context of specific works is highly effective but, as earlier recognized, demands the ability to recognize such opportunities.

Week #2- Teaching/Learning Metaphor

Week #2- Make A Change

Week #1- Conceptual Framework

Week #1-What's Your Story

Obviously I didn't know how to interpret the chart, so this was my best guess.