El Anatsui, "Group Photo", 1987. Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
On Sunday, the National Art Education Association wrapped up their 52nd annual conference here in New York City and more than ever I am encouraged by the state of affairs at NAEA. In just the past four years, as Art21 has brought contemporary artists such as Mark Bradford, Carrie Mae Weems, Mark Dion and most recently, Janine Antoni and Oliver Herring, the change is noticeable.
This year, as I looked through the 1,000 workshops and presentations offered in the conference catalogue (?!), I noticed a deliberate shift from talking about an art education that’s driven by techniques or “the” elements and principles of design, to discussions and presentations driven by big ideas and questions about the nature of art education itself. Like a gift from the heavens there seemed to be far less offerings that proclaimed to save our school day through the creation of unicorns made from pipe cleaners (chenille stems!) or the merits of step-by step Peter Max paintings (and how many exactly thought his keynote bombed? The feedback was horrible. I wasn’t there but perhaps it’s better that way).
Quite a few teachers I spoke with continued the dialogue around striking a balance between teaching basic skills with teaching about ideas and allowing these ideas to drive works of art on all levels, including elementary school. And being careful not to throw out the baby with the bottled water is something I feel strongly about. While I can’t in good conscience ignore teaching fundamental skills, such as how to represent forms on paper or how to mix colors to achieve desired effects, the days of asking students to do “the Andy Warhol project” or “the Georgia O’Keeffe project”, where mimicry of a style or way of making is the sole focus of the assignment, seems to very slowly be coming to a close.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is reason to celebrate.
Other popular topics that kept surfacing during the packed four days included:
- How can teachers leave more room for process and place less emphasis on finished products?
- How will art educators be evaluated under new assessment models?
- Where do contemporary artists get ideas? How can students get ideas from very different sources (and not just Google)?
- How can art education play a larger role in teaching students to be critical viewers?
- Where are the opportunities in our curricula to slow students down, as well as ourselves, and get them to make more informed decisions about the important steps that lead to finished work?
Yes, it’s safe to say NAEA is making a slow turn. If you were there this past week, feel free to weigh in! What sparked your interest? What questions and ideas came up?