Shooting in Broad Daylight
Many teachers I met over the summer had some connection to teaching photography or working with a variety of students who are photographers (for example, in an AP Studio Art class). During a few conversations the subject of Art21’s developing collection of featured photographers came up, so the purpose of this week’s TWCA column is to highlight various Art21 artists that allow students both traditional and non-traditional approaches to taking pictures.
Some photographers, like Robert Adams and Gabriel Orozco walking with his camera, give students the chance to see photographers who inform their work through discovery and re-discovery of the landscape, be it beautiful, surprising or desolate. Others like Laurie Simmons (who clearly says she is an artist who uses the camera simply as a tool) and Eleanor Antin meticulously set up their photographs, arranging the compositions and designing the space in particular ways with models, props and even stagehands. Then there are portrait photographers, to use the term loosely, such as Oliver Herring and Sally Mann, who create more than a representation of the person photographed through particular interaction with the model(s).
Juxtaposing these pairings, or across these pairings, can give student photographers a chance to look into how a camera in the hands of an artist with a patient and experimental eye can stretch common themes and subject matter- making viewers look again.
Have any of these artists, or other Art21 artists who use photography in their art, influenced your work or the work of your students? Please share with us by posting a comment and even links to images…
Have a good start to the new school year!
Contemporary Art Start: Art Tools for High Schools at MoCA, Los Angeles
Two weeks ago, from August 11-15, I had the pleasure of spending a week working with a number of outstanding art teachers at the MoCA, Los Angeles summer institute, Contemporary Art Start: Art Tools for High Schools. Organized by Jeanne Hoel and Denise Gray in MoCA’s Education Department, the institute brought together two dozen L.A. teachers from a variety of districts to learn more about bringing contemporary art into the classroom, as well as giving teachers the chance to create some of their own work inspired by Marlene Dumas (currently on view at the museum) and by Season 4 Art21 artists.
Over the course of one week, teachers created three separate works of art (one being a site-specific work on the 7th floor of the museum itself) and critically viewed eight different Season 4 artist segments including Allora & Calzadilla, Mark Bradford, Jenny Holzer, Lari Pittman, and Ursula von Rydingsvard. They also had the opportunity to learn ways of incorporating Art21 and contemporary art in their curriculum, options for encouraging active participation while watching film with students, ways of organizing a variety of critiques, and considerations before giving praise in the classroom. This was a packed week that featured a lot of hard work all around and it was an honor to be in Los Angeles as this institute kicked off its first year.
Please feel free to share some of your summer work and experiences as we prepare for a new school year. Exhibits that were particularly influential? Destinations that inspired new ideas for the classroom?
Celebrating Four Months…
Looking back, the Teaching With Contemporary Art column is off to an exciting beginning in our first four months. Since early May, we have had the opportunity to feature writing that focuses on topics such as:
- - Bringing Season 4 artists meaningfully into the classroom.
- - The difference between teaching students about making art vs. engaging with and discussing contemporary art.
- - Allora and Calzadilla in the classroom.
- - Mark Dion in the classroom.
- - Robert Ryman in the classroom.
- - Laurie Simmons in the classroom.
- - The Billy Joels of art education (although one passionate Billy Joel fan took issue with my analogy…).
- - Summer exhibits and best bets to check out, including Henry Moore at the New York Botanical Garden, Louise Bourgeois at the Guggenheim, SITE Santa Fe’s Biennial, Jeff Koons at the Chicago MCA, Martin Puryear in Washington DC and The Cinema Effect Part II at the Hirshhorn Museum.
- - Ways to slow down and recharge for the upcoming school year.
If you’re just returning from summer vacation… welcome back! We have arranged for gas prices to be reduced by a few cents. To celebrate and begin getting ready for the school year, reach back and check out some of the posts in our first four months. Write a comment for some of the posts you find interesting.
Next week: a report on Art Tools for High Schools, the week-long institute for high school teachers at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, where Art21 presented workshops that focused on using our educational materials in the classroom.
Starting Friday: Guest TWCA Writer Julie Thomson
Starting tomorrow and for the next two weeks, Julie Thomson will be guest writing for the Teaching With Contemporary Art column. Julie is the Associate Curator of Education at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University where she develops materials for docents and teachers to use with K-12 audiences. She has an M.A. in Art History and has worked at a number of museums including the National Gallery of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, Kresge Art Museum at Michigan State University and the Smith College Museum of Art.
We welcome her perspectives on recent exhibits in the Washington D.C. area and look forward to the next two columns, starting with a review and commentary on Art21, Season 2 artist Martin Puryear’s show at the National Gallery on Friday.
Slowing Down and Visualizing Approaches, Part 2
Following up on last week’s column, I was thinking about ways to slow down during the summer months and properly recharge for the upcoming school year. I also got to thinking about ways to inject new artists, media and themes into my teaching while preparing during the summer. Three ways I wanted to share include…..
Vacationing with a sketchbook and at least one way to make art:
New ideas come on suddenly. Without a way to take notes and perhaps create an example of the idea itself, some of the best stuff gets lost.
Getting together with other teachers to rethink and update curriculum maps:
I happen to be blessed in this area because I work with a tremendous team of teachers in Nyack who are willing to visualize new approaches to make the classes we offer more interesting for students AND teachers. We spent a full day together early in July to update and revise one of our core foundations courses and now each of us have the remainder of the summer to work off of that session in order to revise and update other advanced electives we teach.
Exploring exhibitions in person and online:
While we can’t possibly get to everything we want to see over the summer, many galleries and museums offer fantastic slideshows and background information on their exhibits. If you can’t get to the exhibit you want to see, check it out online and take note of where the show may be traveling. You might be able to see it in another city or at another time.
Teachers who incorporate contemporary art into their classes are constantly involved in a process of choosing who and what to share with students. What are some ways you make these decisions during the summer months?
Slowing Down and Visualizing Approaches
While vacationing locally this summer (since that’s all anyone has gas money for) and taking the necessary steps to slow down in order to feed your imagination and even your own art making, make sure to visit some beautiful and engaging exhibitions on view through the dog days of August. Two of these exhibits—Henry Moore’s Moore in America: Monumental Sculpture at the New York Botanical Garden and Louise Bourgeois at the Guggenheim Museum—are outstanding places for educators to revisit both of these artists, make important connections and visualize multiple approaches to working with our students.
When visiting the New York Botanical Garden for the Henry Moore show, plan to walk a few miles in order to see all of the sculptures. Allow for plenty of time with your sketchbook and/or camera. Most importantly, give the works attention and time; allow yourself to consider how you have approached the figure, sculpture, or figurative sculpture in your own classes while walking around the pieces. Take things slow and not only enjoy the grounds but also consider how we may teach more about context and the place a work is viewed in order to see it and engage with it.
At the Guggenheim Museum, Louise Bourgeois’ exhibit will not require nearly as much walking or a camera, but the possibilities for teaching about a wide range of sculptural materials, autobiographical themes, and depictions of the figure in a variety of roles will require a step or two backward, reflection, and a comfy sketchbook once again.
Other shows of interest for educators this summer include:
- Artist as Publisher at The Center for Book Arts in New York
- Lucky Number Seven, SITE Santa Fe’s 7th international biennial
- Jeff Koons at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art
At the end of August, after spending some time with Marlene Dumas’ Measuring Your Own Grave at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, I look forward to sharing an artist-educator’s take on the exhibit as well as possibilities for teaching with Dumas’ work.
Do you have some “best bets” to check out this summer? If so, please share them! If you have visited one of the exhibits above, please share your comments and thoughts.
The Billy Joels of Art Education
This past Sunday, the New York Times ran an article about Billy Joel. The article focused on the fact that, despite not making a new recording in 15 years, Billy Joel still manages to sell out Shea Stadium—twice—in less than two hours. It got me thinking about the Billy Joels of art education. You know, the artists that we may admire and respect in one way or another, but have gotten tired of teaching about over and over. Think “Uptown Girl.” A fun song when it came out, but a song that’s been beaten into submission by its radio-friendliness. It got me thinking about the “Stairway to Heavens”of the art classroom and immediately I came up with three: Monet, Dali, and Warhol. These artists now have the unfortunate distinction of often having their names linked with the word “project”. For example, “Oh you tried a Warhol-project with your class.”
I started to think about artists that might offer very different takes on what Monet, Dali and Warhol often help us teach. Here’s are some initial ideas:
- Juxtapose the work of Andy Warhol with Alfredo Jaar. Have students compare how both of these artists explore the idea of becoming desensitized to certain images. Students can create, juxtapose or layer contemporary images and symbols that, from their perspective, the public has become desensitized to.
- Compare the works of Salvador Dali and An-My Lê. How do both artists deal with the the theme of violence in ways that are similar and very different? Students can create a variety of work that explores violence in our society. One approach might ask students to create a surreal illustration or staged photograph based on world news images.
- View and discuss the work of Claude Monet and Robert Adams side by side. How do the landscapes painted by Monet compare with the photo landscapes by Robert Adams? What kinds of things does each artist want the viewer to think about? Students can then create a painting or series of photographs that explore landscapes (both literal and figurative) of personal importance.
Who are the Billy Joels of your own classroom? How can we use and incorporate contemporary art to give these artists a different, and perhaps more meaningful, place in our teaching?
Let’s See It Again!
I had a great experience recently sitting with my son, Paul, and doing a little preparation for this column. Since he’s an inquisitive, very verbal, curly-haired three year old, I thought he might enjoy checking out the Laurie Simmons segment with me, since so many students had positive reactions to her work when we included her in our preview screenings this year. I didn’t expect the reaction I got, though.
Whether it was the puppets coming to life on screen or the dancing camera and clock, he kept asking me to back up and show him again.
So we watched Laurie Simmons’ segment four times together.
Each time, Paul would zoom in and ask questions such as, “She is an artist??? But she is a dancer!” or “How many people help her make pictures, Dad?”
Laurie Simmons makes an important point in her Art:21 segment by stating that she’s an artist that uses photography and the camera as a tool, just as other artists use brushes as a tool. Simmons, along with so many of the Art21 artists, especially in Season 4, remind us that a singular style or way of making art is becoming harder and harder to find in contemporary art practice. While Robert Ryman, our featured artist in last week’s column, certainly falls into the signature style category, many artists like Simmons have a range of interests and abilities.
As I viewed her segment a fifth time (Paul had left the room to find a way to dress up as a dancing house) I thought about the interdisciplinary connections with Social Studies, Drama, and Language Arts that a segment like this can provide. If you have used Laurie Simmons in your classroom, or plan to use her segment next year, please share how. I will check in during the week and share some ways I plan to incorporate her work in 2008-2009….
For now, I am going to try constructing a house costume for Paul that’s loose enough for him to dance….
Seeing More…
Teaching students is one thing but having the opportunity, like we do in the summer, to teach and share perspectives with colleagues, friends, family, even strangers, can be an equally fulfilling experience. So if you have the chance, especially if you have the chance with someone who is a lover of representational painting, share the Robert Ryman segment from Season 4 with them.
Robert Ryman teaches viewers young and old to slow down and take in what seems extremely simple on the surface. It can teach those who look into his work to see the nuances that physically bring the viewer closer without even realizing it.
Even more important, Robert Ryman’s work will challenge those looking for something to label. What’s it a picture of? Well… white. It’s a picture of white over white over gray.
While there are many, many artists that ask the viewer to realize that the paint is in fact the subject, Robert Ryman does it with white. Everything is stripped down to brush stroke, the act of painting, the marks made by the brush.
What kinds of challenges do we face as teachers when we share works like these? Why share artists like Robert Ryman with our students? While it certainly can get students involved in a dialogue about what constitutes a painting, what else can his work teach?
Giving Life
As we continue gearing up for summer and prepare for ways to fuel our work as artists and educators I wanted to take the next few columns and point out some Season 4 artists who have been particularly inspiring over the past months. Catching some of these segments over the summer can have an interesting effect on planning and preparation for the fall!
In my column on June 11th, I wrote about the segment featuring Allora & Calzadilla. This month I would like to strongly recommend taking a close look at Mark Dion. The reason I think art educators want to take notice of Mr. Dion is similar to why I choose many Art21 artists to for my own classroom. He helps redefine and change our perspective on what contemporary art can be, what installation can be, and even what sculpture can be. His work giving a tree new life (a second life!) in Neukom Vivarium (pictured above) demonstrates more of what was discussed with Allora & Calzadilla, including the fact that more and more artists are relying on others, sometimes teams of people, to realize works of art. He allows us to consider sculpture and installation that doesn’t just change over time, but grows. He raises interesting interdisciplinary connections between science and art, and the opening minutes featuring rats painted with tar will challenge viewers to talk about the things considered visual art today.
If you have seen the Mark Dion or Allora & Calzadilla segments in Season 4, I would love to hear what you think. What are your ideas about bringing these artists into the classroom? Are there other Season 4 artists you are considering?
