The Purpose of Art

Here are some of the responses I received from 5th and 8th grade artists this semester, when I asked "what is the purpose of art?" When their quarter in art begins, I ask that students write that question and their answer on one side of an index card. On the other side of  the card I ask students to describe their "Hopes & Dreams" for art this quarter. This is where they can list their plans and ideas, and let me know what I can do to be ready for this crop of artists.
At the end of the quarter I will return the cards and ask: "Have you discovered any additional purposes of art?" And on the flip side I will ask if they accomplished their hopes, dreams and plans - if so - how? If not - what did they do instead?

Reflection is an important artistic behavior, one we practice daily during work sessions, weekly through written self reflections and group share sessions and at the end of each quarter, when we look back and see what worked, what didn't and what's next.

This quarter I have just 5th and 8th grade students, representing the newest and the most senior middle school students at CBMS. It is an interesting juxtaposition to observe those just entering the program,  testing their wings as artists while others are putting together final projects and artistic farewells.

CENTER CLOSING!

color blind?

What happens in a Studio-Classroom when clean up falls short? In our studio, it is understood that if a center doesn’t get cleaned up properly, it closes.

If a center is too difficult for students to maintain, they are showing the teacher that they are not ready for that responsibility, and things are simplified. Instead of 5 center choices, maybe 4 is the right number for a while. Or, maybe instead of three kinds of paint to chose from in the painting center, just one is available for now.

Students earn back center privileges by demonstrating that they can handle and accept responsibility for tools, materials and fixtures in the studio.

Centers rarely close in our studio, because a warning is always issued first, giving students the opportunity to make things right. Often, students will rush from all corners of the room to “save the clay center!” or “keep sculpture open for all!”

Hands to Work

Team TAB (Teaching for Artistic Behavior partnership of teachers) is preparing to debut a bimonthly column for Arts and Activities magazine. The column will be called “Choice-Based Art” and will feature stories and information from art classrooms around the country where student-directed learning is supported. Our first article will appear in the September issue. To help prepare for the column, CBMS students have generously lent a hand – by volunteering as hand models, in order to provide a collage-banner for the column. On any given day, in any given class, it is astonishing to see hands engaged in so many different artistic behaviors! Please enjoy a glimpse of student hands at work as artists in the studio.

Studio of Absurd Joy

Magnetic poetry + middle school students = daily amusement

for the art teacher

 I get endless entertainment from the magnetic poetry set I got at the Portland (Maine) Museum of Art last summer - I stuck these little magnetic words all over the door frame at the entrance of the art studio. They annoy the custodians, but provide a sometimes hilarious dialog between "them" and "us" (adults and kids). I finally had to remove certain words from the "artist set" I purchased - it's AMAZING how suggestive these little gems can be in the hands and minds of 7th and 8th grade students!

The art studio is one place in school where kids construct and alter their physical environment. It's not uncommon for students to create signage for the walls in response to their strong feelings about art or their desire to instruct others.

Dr, George Szekely, art education professor at the University of Kentucky, urges teachers to turn over the privilege of door decoration and bulletin board display to the children -they are the natural-born decorators and designers in school - why do the teachers, he asks,  keep this very important job all to themselves?

Knives, Swords and Implements of Destruction: Weaponry at The Sculpture Center

“You said no weapons!” complains a 6^th grader witnessing an older student who came to retrieve his model of a “potato masher” which is a German WWII bomb. “Did I?” I don’t think I have said that for years. I do know that there is a whole room set aside for weaponry at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Somebody must agree with the kids that weapons can be art!

Later I watched a small clutch of eighth graders building paper rifles – a craze that started when the first boy crafted one that had moving action (what’s that part called that you slide down the barrel and back to reload?) Now three or four others are making variations. I think there is a shot gun, and a futuristic one…made with such attention to detail -  an eye for proportion, moving parts, reinforced areas – things of beauty, if you are a 14 year old boy in Vermont.

I strike up a conversation with these 3D artists: “Some people might ask if it’s ok to make weapons in school…”

“I say,” replies one student without missing a beat, “they are made of paper.”

Students know that these objects pose no threat to anyone. They also know that they are challenging and engaging to make. There is a lot of problem solving going on, and skill development, and envisioning.

I press on: “what about the concern that making weapons might lead to violent thought or violent action, that it might contribute to a culture of violence that glorifies war and killing?”

The conversation that follows goes something like this: “I am a hunter, I use my gun to hunt deer – not people.” “I like to target shoot – I do it with my dad.”

“Again” says the first boy, “they are made of paper!”

 Just what are we afraid of, I wonder?

The rule is: "Think BIG - Work small"

This is to try to honor the bus rule that anything transported on the school bus must "fit into a bag." Now - they didn't say what SIZE the bag is, but even with that, we struggle to follow this rule.

Cameron Stadium is finished at last! By "M," Grade 5

The above amazing, beautifully constructed, lovingly detailed "Cameron Stadium" was built over several weeks by an ambitious, detail oriented 5th grader. It does not fit in a bag. It barely fits out the door.

"What would happen" I plead, wringing my hands, "if everyone decided to build something that big?"

Fortunately, not everyone builds something that big. Not everyone could. Not everyone would want to.

It is the same with the clay. Last quarter a clay artist emerged who shattered all previous records for production:

Partial collection of clayworks by "G," Grade 5

And that's the beauty of a Choice-Based art studio. Instead of having enough clay for every student to make a  project or two, I stock enough clay for everyone who wants to use clay to have some. And it's the same amount of clay, because while most students do try clay and make something during their time here, not everyone is enamored with it, and certainly not everyone specializes in it. That leaves more for "G."

It's the same with cloth in the Fabrics and Fibers Center, or with the wire in the Sculpture Center. I don't need to have 20 brayers in the Printmaking Center, because twenty students would not all choose printmaking at one time. Two sewing machines are (usually) enough because not everyone has the interest or patience to learn to use these, or invent an appropriate project requiring a sewn seam. But some do.

We try to follow the "Think Big- Work Small" rule - it makes sense to us. It is reasonable. But so too is the rule posted on the  Fred Bab poster outside the art studio door: "ART Break the Rules."

Framing Emergent Curriculum

Once the ball is rolling in a studio-classroom, where students pursue their own ideas in the media of their choice,  the role of the teacher begins to shift from instigator to reflector. The teacher in a Choice-Based classroom  watches for opportunity to employ student work in service to the concepts that are important in Art.
My last crop of artists provided a rich array of material for me to draw upon in order to highlight art concepts:

COLOR THEORY

The class pauses for a moment as I hold up "E's" marker drawing. "What do you notice about the colors "E" used? A brief dialog follows about the power of complimentary colors.

Triangles by "E" - Grade 5

LINE AND PATTERN

The painting below has many possibilities - the color wheel is represented and ordered there, including colors that have been mixed by the artist, which could lead to a discussion of shades and tints - and the artist demonstrates a strong use of line and pattern. The idea of linear vs radial design comes to mind also. This painting could be saved for the next time this class comes in, and could be the basis of a "5 minute lesson" about these concepts.

 ART HISTORY
Middle school students are pro-Op Art - if it wasn't for the fact that a group of artists "invented" that style of art over 50 years ago, my middle school students could claim that they  invented it right here in North Central Vermont.

By "R" grade 5

It makes it relevant, therefor, to drag out my tattered Op Art book and show a few examples; "Hey look! Some other artists figured out that using strong contrast like black and white or black and yellow is powerful and can make an artwork almost vibrate!" "These dudes were a big hit in the 50's and 60's for doing the same kind of work that you just invented!" The fact that the above design screams "fallout shelter" could be mentioned, if you want to go there...("this drawing makes me think of something else that happened in the 50's..." )

The idea is, instead of starting with an art concept or examples of famous artists or historical periods, it is profitable to wait and work with what the artists in your classroom initiate. Relating the concepts you want to emphasize to their own original work provides a measure of buy-in and relevance not often gained when starting with a faded art reproduction or Crystal color wheel.