Gone Fishing
The serenity I long to achieve this vacation... courtesy of shorefishinginformation.blogspot.com
Teaching with Contemporary Art is taking a break this week in order to pull back, take some vacation, and get set for the return to a new school year in just a few short weeks. Please join me in some time to reflect on the past year and allow for some big ideas to begin taking shape for the new one… Enjoy!
The Wheels Are Rolling
Interior shot from our visit to Ursula von Rydingsvard's studio
From July 7th through July 14th Art21 hosted our second annual summer institute, Art21 Educators. Art21 Educators is an intensive, year-long professional development initiative designed to cultivate and support K-12 educators interested in bringing contemporary art, artists, and themes into their classrooms.
What made this year so special, along with the fact that we were joined by artists Ursula von Rydingsvard, Oliver Herring and Allan McCollum, was the fact that we (we, meaning the Education and Public Programs team at Art21) had a year under our belt to reflect on the program and make some changes not only to the institute itself, but also the planning for our year together.
The week started with TASK hosted by Oliver Herring, followed by introductions and our first workshop at New York University. And aside from the fact that our afternoon was punctuated with a fire alarm and having to evacuate the building in the middle of Pecha Kucha introductions, the first day was a success. Participants got to share student work and received Flip cameras to begin documenting their work in and out of the classroom, and the evening was spent at 601 Artspace, allowing Susan Sollins to welcome the group and share a new exhibit she personally curated featuring the work of Tabaimo.
Day two began with a workshop utilizing Art21 education materials. The session, titled “Artists, Form and Content”, allowed participants to view Mary Heilmann’s season 5 segment and practice ways of utilizing film in the classroom. That afternoon, after some wild technical issues and feedback worthy of a Christian Marclay installation, we discussed Olivia Gude’s articles, Postmodern Principles: In Search of 21st Century Art Education and Principles of Possibility: Considerations for a 21st-Century Art and Culture Curriculum. Participants had a wide variety of opinions on both, which made for stimulating conversation. Olivia can do that to you. Personally, I loved it.
The following day included a full morning and afternoon at MoMA to work with utilizing contemporary art and approaches to teaching in a museum. Participants viewed other Art21 segments and shared strategies for working with students in a museum context as we looked closely at Mind and Matter: Alternative Abstractions, 1940’s to Now. Afterward, all participants had the opportunity to work independently in the galleries and take some time to reflect on the institute so far before regrouping for some further discussion and sharing ideas.
During the weekend (Art21’s summer institute is scheduled from mid-week to mid-week, in order to allow participants to mentally “digest” what’s being discussed over the weekend. It also allows everyone the opportunity to see a variety of exhibitions and performances in between workshops) everyone got to attend exhibits and special events including Kiki Smith at the Brooklyn Museum, Julie Mehretu at the Guggenheim, Doug and Mike Starn at the Met, Greater New York at PS1 and a special visit to Dia: Beacon.
On Monday everyone gathered back at NYU for a presentation and special discussion with our Associate Curator, Wesley Miller, who outlined his layered approach to making films for Art21 in order to tell compelling stories about contemporary artists. Afterward each participant met with one of us to discuss planning and ideas for a unit of study that would incorporate contemporary art, essential questions, and some of the strategies learned in future lessons. To round out the day, my colleagues Jessica Hamlin and Marc Mayer presented a workshop introducing the Ning site that participants would use to document progress and share ideas after the institute, as well as the Safari Live technology we use in order to have real-time conversations with participants in the program. If that wasn’t enough, we also boarded a train to Brooklyn that afternoon to visit Ursula von Rydingsvard in her studio for two hours. When we arrived, Ursula was deeply involved in working on a small piece, and after a LONG uncomfortable 60 seconds staring at her back, she turned around and launched into a superb talk about her work and process. The day was absolutely exhilarating!
Dear Oliver
Oliver Herring, "Chris After Hours of Spitting Food Dye Outdoors", 2004 Courtesy Max Protetch Gallery
You know what I like about Oliver Herring? Pretty much everything.
Oliver was generous enough to join us for the 2nd year in a row to jump-start the Art21 Educators summer institute and set in motion (again) his signature TASK project last week. All of the institute participants, along with members of the Art21 staff, came together for TASK at the Chashama Gallery on 44th Street in Manhattan. After over two hours, we not only had a layered and stimulating installation of art works, but also a sensational setting for the start of our summer institute.
But besides Oliver’s work with Art21 and TASK, I truly believe, especially in light of recent student experience with his work, that there is more to talk about than simply celebrate TASK. Oliver is a photographer, sculptor and mixed-media artist who appeals to a variety of students and artists. His approach is one that investigates possibilities through media that best serve his ideas. Students who engage with his collaborative and commemorative work can learn about installation, performance, and work that highlights process as part of what the work is about.
The very first question posed on Oliver Herring’s page in the season 3 educator guide asks, “In art, is the process or the product more important?” Teaching and learning through his art allows us to think long and hard about that very question, because in some works, like TASK, the process is clearly more important. But in other works such as “Chris After Hours of Spitting Food Dye Outdoors” (2004), one could certainly make a case for both. The photo is stunning. The end product seems to be a crowning achievement after longs hours of photographing and working with this stranger as he literally spit into the wind.
As we complete the second half of the Art21 Educators summer institute this week I just want to publicly thank Oliver for his expertise and assistance with this important initiative that now involves thirty teachers in ten cities across the United States. Many thanks also go to Lois Hetland (Project Zero), Olivia Gude (Spiral Workshop), Susan Rotile (Walker Art Center), Lisa Mazzola (MoMA), Ursula von Rydingsvard, and Allan McCollum for their help in the first few days…
More next week!
Shake It Up
Jessica Stockholder, "Photo Cut Up" 2005 Courtesy the artist and Dieu Donné Papermill
For about ten summers now I have enjoyed teaching and traveling in some capacity. It’s become increasingly important over the past decade to broaden my own experience as an artist-educator, whether it has involved working with colleagues at Massachusetts College as an artist-in-residence or participating in TICA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Summer, to me, has become a time to both relax and shake it up a bit.
Last summer Art21 launched Art21 Educators, a six-day summer institute where pairs of teachers from New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles and Chicago came to work with us here in NYC to explore ways of teaching with contemporary art, utilizing big ideas, thematic units and essential questions. The group included art educators at the very start of their careers as well as experienced teachers with many years in the classroom. During our week together we got the opportunity to work with Oliver Herring, Jessica Stockholder and Olivia Gude, and held sessions at New York University, Oliver Herring’s studio, and the Museum of Modern Art. It was an exciting and exhausting time.
What made last year’s institute special, among other things, was a shared vision that my colleagues Jessica Hamlin, Marc Mayer and myself had. We wanted to provide teachers with an experience that was not only meaningful, but one that also lasted into the school year. Let’s face it, there are many institutes out there that allow teachers, artists, teaching artists, etc., to attend workshops in the summertime. Once it’s over, it’s usually, well….. over. The relationship rarely extends between the institution and the participant. We wanted to provide teachers with an exciting week of workshops, discussions and direct experiences with works of art (as well as artists themselves) that kicked off a yearlong relationship- planning units of study, revising curriculum, and using contemporary art to teach students together. Our first year was plenty successful, but like anything brand new there were things we wanted to improve.
Summer Reading
Tim Hawkinson, "Egg", 1997 Ground fingernails and hair, superglue Courtesy Ace Gallery, Los Angeles
Friends close to me know two things- I have a coffee problem and I have a book-buying problem. If I have money in my pocket and am anywhere close to books on sale, especially books about art and artists, I am sure to spend every last cent. And no, I am not into the Kindle thing. Frankly I can’t stand reading for long periods of time from a computer screen, but I love spending summer days drinking coffee that ranges from extremely hot to ice cold and catching up on books that I’ve been wanting to get to, or get back to.
Here are some of the titles I’ll be packing as I move from home to the Art21 Educators summer institute and then onto vacation this summer….
Philip Gefter’s collection of essays, Photography After Frank (2009)
Beryl Graham and Sarah Cook’s Rethinking Curating (2010)
Phaidon’s Press Play: Contemporary Artists in Conversation (2005)
Jennifer New’s Drawing from Life: The Journal as Art (2005)
Richard Brereton’s Sketchbooks: The Hidden Art of Designers, Illustrators and Creatives (2009)
Danny Gregory’s An Illustrated Life (2008)
The last three listed above are all about sketchbooks and approach the topic very similarly by highlighting a range of artists that are quite serious about the work they do- whether preparing for finished works or allowing themselves to work through ideas on the way to something even bigger. All three are worth a look, especially if you are like myself and want good examples of sketchbook possibilities to share with your students this September.
While I wanted to include Terry Smith’s What is Contemporary Art? on my summer reading list, I can’t in good conscience recommend it at this time. Has anyone been able to get past the first 40-50 pages?? The verbal gymnastics make me tired. But maybe I just need another cup of coffee.
Art Beyond Excerpts
My attempt at a decent photo to pair with this week's column.
Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith’s book, “Seen Art?”, starts this way:
It all started when I told my friend Art I would meet him on the corner of 5th and 53rd. I didn’t see him, so I asked a lady walking up the avenue, “Have you seen Art?”
“MoMA?” asked the lady.
“Uh…. no. He’s just a friend.”
“Just down the street in that beautiful new building. You can’t miss it.”…
But I didn’t see Art. I did see an official looking guy with a badge. “You seen Art?” I asked.
“MoMA?” said the guy.
I figured this might be a secret password. “Yes!”
“Your timing is perfect. We’re just opening.” The badge guy opened the door for me. I was in.
It should only be that easy! The boy goes on to discover that Art is more than just his friend’s name. He moves from gallery to gallery looking for Art and instead encountering paintings, sculptures, and things he can’t even recognize. When he finally finds his friend (I don’t want to ruin the ending for you), he is more than eager to share his experience.
The art of today begs to be seen. It begs to be walked into, over, and around (think Doug and Mike Starn). It begs to be examined up close… in person. But the fact of the matter is that students in grade school, college, even grad school, see art far more often in books and on screens than they do in person. As a matter of fact, a large majority of K-12 art educators all over the country take very, very few trips to see art in person with their students. Sometimes this has to do with access, sometimes it has to do with proximity, sometimes it has to do with policy, and sometimes it has to do with laziness. Regardless, it should come as no surprise that students learn a ton more when they experience actual works of art vs. looking at it on a screen. I dare say we can’t actually see (understand) art without being there. There’s a difference between looking and seeing. Seeing implies understanding. Teaching art without ever giving students the experience of seeing works of art in person, besides the ones they create themselves, is like an English teacher teaching only with excerpts and never the whole novel.
While students near big cities often have different opportunities to see art (and even look for their friend Art) in person, students in rural and suburban areas obviously have fewer opportunities to see art in museums, galleries, and public spaces. But in most places, regardless of where we live or teach, there are artists working that love to share their passion with students. We may not have MoMA right down the street, but we have local artists and the friends and colleagues of those local artists who are often are willing to share their expertise and give students firsthand experiences.
I would guess that most teachers, maybe as much as 95% of art educators across the country, take one trip per year with their classes. Many take none at all (again, for various reasons… I’m not trying to lay blame here). But the fact remains that as art educators, we must provide firsthand experiences however we can- either by getting out of the classroom or bringing artists’ works into the classroom for closer examination. Part of our work has become (continues to be?) about how to teach students to see and engage with art in ways that are not possible with a projected image on the screen.
Everything All at Once
Painting by Kimberly Castillo
For many of us, a summer break is right on the doorstep and this is the time when teachers tend to think of everything all at once. We think about how the year went, what went well, what didn’t go well, what we will never (ever) do again, how to handle particular challenges next year, how to make the curriculum better, and on and on… It’s really quite bizarre. We can’t STOP planning in our heads. So in the spirit of thinking about everything all at once, here are just a few questions I’m thinking about going into the summer (and please… feel free to add your own!):
- How can we better balance skill-building and teaching students to create work driven by big ideas?
- When it comes to the specific courses we teach, whether it’s an introductory studio art course, photography, ceramics, graphic design, etc., what’s really worth teaching and learning?
- How can we teach students to care more?
- How can we teach students to deconstruct advertising?
- How can we teach students to interpret history through art, rather than learn a version of “art history”?
- In an age consumed by digital media and the ability to shoot dozens of pictures in an instant, what kinds of things can we continue to learn through teaching black and white darkroom photography?
- How can students use sketchbooks in a variety of ways and truly make discoveries through their use that will impact learning?
- Who are the artists that students can be introduced to in the specific courses we teach, and why do these artists make the most sense?
- How can we continue finding ways to teach students that quality matters?
Jump in, the water’s fine.
Thinking Like an Artist, part 2 (and hold the Saltz)
Janine Antoni, "Tear" courtesy Luhring Augustine Gallery
The Guggenheim Museum’s recent conference, Thinking Like an Artist: Creativity and Problem-Solving in the Classroom, turned out to be both an exciting and frustrating two days of panel-lectures and keynote addresses. As a matter of fact, the rollercoaster ride between inspiring moments and mind-numbing stretches of time almost gave me whiplash.
While Michael Hanchett Hanson and Ellen Lupton both gave keynotes on the first day that had us leaning forward in our seats to hear more about creativity’s developing roles in education and design, as well as seeing design as both a verb and a way of thinking, a series of panels through the late morning and early afternoon had everyone sitting for hours straight doing little but listening. Now I’m no museum-conference-event-organizer, but someone along the line had to have thought, “Hmmm…. I wonder if keeping everyone in their seats listening to people speak for hours on end is a good thing?” With no K-12 educators on any of the panels over the two days, this could have been an easy fix if it was spotted earlier. If audience members were allowed to become participants and actually talk for a few minutes about what was being discussed, I truly believe this conference could have gone a lot further than it did. While Q&A periods for a few minutes after many of the 90-minute panels may have been helpful for the four or five people that got to ask questions each time, it still left a few hundred of us staring at notebooks wanting to say something…. anything…. to make sense of it all. If there is one lesson we stress in the Art21 Educators summer institute and throughout our professional development work it is that learning must be active, not passive. If we were expected to learn about what was being presented, it would have made great sense to get the place involved.
Day two of the conference went a little like the first. Janine Antoni’s wonderful and engaging keynote during the morning session (and I’m really not saying this just because she’s featured on Art21) meticulously described two of her recent works, “Tear” and “Inhabit”, and led everyone through the inspiration and decision-making that produced them. She described being creative as being “limber” and connected her work as a dancer to her definition. And she not only described herself as an artist, but also as a teacher and learner, which scored points with many of us who kept wondering where all the classroom teachers were. After all, the conference title did conclude with “in the Classroom.”
Big questions that the conference raised, even if they weren’t entirely new, included:
- Can creativity be taught?
- What role do mistakes play in creativity?
- How does play influence creativity?
- How do we as teachers talk about ways people get ideas?
- Are there essential skills involved in being creative? If so, what are they?
Perhaps the most unfortunate part of the two days was the embarrassing way it ended. Jerry Saltz is an art critic that I’ve read for many years. I enjoyed his work long before he moved to New York Magazine and was excited to hear his keynote at the conclusion of the conference. Instead of a speech (or even a slideshow) that addressed the theme of the conference, Jerry Saltz shared (performed?) a rambling, incoherent series of remarks that seemed to be put together in the taxicab ride to the museum. It’s a shame that he wasn’t able to pull his socks on earlier and join all of us for Janine Antoni’s keynote, because if he did he would have surely thrown out his plan to make his remarks a public rehearsal for an upcoming reality show venture. He perhaps spent five minutes on the theme of the conference, and in between, well, I can’t really tell you much except for the fact that he tried awfully hard to entertain. But it wasn’t entertaining. I kept wondering if people were laughing with him or at him. By the time he reached for a chair to sit down, over 45 minutes into doing his shtick, I decided it was time to head for the hills. As I made my way to the door, Jerry Saltz, the same Jerry Saltz I was excited to see just an hour earlier, was actually asking if anyone in the audience would like him to speak at future college commencement ceremonies. Seriously, I’m not making this up. The closing address turned out to be a closing mess.
While the Guggenheim gave us the opportunity and pleasure to hear speakers like Matt Williams (KnowledgeWorks Foundation), Yvette Russel (Harlem Children’s Zone) and Sarah Cunningham (NEA) talk about creativity and the future of education, I would certainly welcome a second round of this conference in order to go even further. Next time let’s all talk with one another more in order to make meaning and really think about what things look and sound like in the classroom…. and hold the Saltz.
Thinking Like an Artist, Part 1
Getting ready for this week's column
This Thursday and Friday the Guggenheim Museum hosts Thinking Like an Artist: Creativity and Problem Solving in the Classroom. Educators will arrive by plane, train, automobile, even on foot, to attend the conference. Lois Hetland will be there. Janine Antoni will be there. Jerry Saltz will be there. The lineup of presenters would make Joe Torre happy- a little high profile plus a little nuts and bolts.
Some of the many questions this conference will address include:
- What is creativity?
- What does creativity have to do with education?
- Why design? Asking questions and solving problems.
- Why does creativity matter beyond the arts and beyond the classroom?
- What comes next? Creativity and the future of education.
In advance of the big show I thought I’d take a shot at just a few of the questions to see if my thinking even remotely lines up with anyone else later in the week….
What is creativity? Creativity is the ability to see and craft possibilities, and to give these possibilities form or a venue for expression and understanding.
What does creativity have to do with education? Creativity matters to ALL of education, not just the arts and humanities (See? I did learn something from John Hammond) because it’s the enemy of habitual, automatic behavior. It makes us take a step back and reconsider what we take for granted and what we haven’t really seen yet.
Why does creativity matter beyond the arts and beyond the classroom? First off, we all know that the arts do not have exclusive rights to whole concept of creativity. All disciplines need creative thinkers and participants. If the BP oil catastrophe in the Gulf doesn’t teach us this, I’m not exactly sure what will. Just a few years ago Daniel Pink spoke at the NAEA conference in Chicago and made an excellent case for a future that will be ruled by right-brain thinkers. I tend to agree. The ability to think broadly, to think beyond what’s expected, is a tremendous asset at this point in time- across disciplines and around the world.
Finally, What comes next? How does creativity fit into the future of education? One day, and I hope it’s soon, we will assess students based on how they think and how well they can express what they think and do over time vs. judging them with one-size-fits-your-age testing. Creativity can help return education to thinking seriously about portfolio assessment for students across many disciplines. Instead of looking for the answer, we can start looking for multiple answers together.
More on the conference next week as Teaching with Contemporary Art looks in the rear-view mirror and reflects on some of the panels. See you soon!
Can a successful work of art make you angry?
Illustration by Jon Berlingeri
Can a successful work of art make you angry, uncomfortable, or confused? This is one of the many questions we engage in as art educators and also one of the many questions we tackle in the Art21 Educators summer institute. What is successful when it comes to contemporary art? Is the form as important as the idea behind it? Does design still matter?
I am currently teaching a unit called Driven to Abstraction. In this unit, students are asked to give form to ideas or things that do not have any specific form, such as the sound of music, the smell of a flower, or the sting of cold water in your face. Being able to visually simplify and represent an idea or event, for example, is an approach many contemporary artists work with in their practice. In a recent lesson I asked my classes to warm up to abstraction by trying to picture the music of the Buena Vista Social Club without actually picturing instruments, people, or a specific place. I simply asked them to convey what they were listening to by representing these sounds in color, shape, line and juxtaposing elements of the design. As many, many of us have already learned, abstraction is hard for kids. Thinking past the representation of a horn and actually picturing, literally, the sound of a horn is no easy task. Arthur Dove’s “Foghorns” helped. So did a look into Kandinsky’s painting and watching Arturo Herrera’s video about music.
So far the response to work being created has ranged from joy to surprise to anger to, yes, confusion. Students often embark on beautiful works that are based on big ideas (I’m thinking of one particular student who is working on a piece inspired by, of all things, indecision), but they are not sure if the work is “successful” when it’s not “pretty” or as technically proficient as the “best” artists in class.
These conversations are worth the battle!
I spend a lot of time working with students to see and understand that there needs to be a balance between a good idea and carrying out the work in a way that’s also interesting for the viewer to engage with. A great idea that has no thought behind the form can certainly be confusing or just downright ugly. A beautiful piece that has nothing to share but mastery of a specific technique often feels like there’s no soul to it. But works that are about something and simultaneously well composed are often the most successful because they are exciting to create and engage with.
