Articles by Joe Fusaro

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Outside Alias

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Outside Alias

On July 13th, after a full week of the Art21 Educators summer institute, I took the opportunity to interview teachers about their experiences attending workshops, meeting Art21 artists, and beginning …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Looking Back on an Inspiring Art21 Educators Institute

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Looking Back on an Inspiring Art21 Educators Institute

From July 6th through the 13th Art21 hosted our third annual Art21 Educators summer institute, which kicks off a year-long professional development initiative between the organization and 16 teachers from …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Art21 Educators in Full Swing

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Art21 Educators in Full Swing

Art21 Educators has been in full swing over the past week with professional development workshops, curriculum planning, artist talks, studio visits, special events, museum programs and lots of soul-searching. Tune …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Art21 Educators: Year 3!

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Art21 Educators: Year 3!

We are very, very excited to be starting up YEAR 3 of Art21 Educators today. Sixteen teachers from a variety of disciplines and from across the country will join us …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Teaching About Poverty and Homelessness

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Teaching About Poverty and Homelessness

This past Saturday, New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow wrote an op-ed piece called Them That’s Not Shall Lose which highlighted, as James Baldwin put it, how expensive it …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

It’s a Wrap: Looking Backward and Thinking Forward

Teaching with Contemporary Art

It’s a Wrap: Looking Backward and Thinking Forward

Atsuko Tanaka (1932-2005), “Round on Sand”, 1968 Right around this time I usually write a post that relates to things we as art educators often think about at the end …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Art21 Extended Play

Using Art21 Video Exclusives

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Art21 Extended Play

Using Art21 Video Exclusives

If you follow the Art21 blog and work with Art21 materials you know full well there are plenty of opportunities to see and share a huge variety of video about …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Art21 William Kentridge: Anything is Possible

Reflecting on Teaching with William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Art21 William Kentridge: Anything is Possible

Reflecting on Teaching with William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible

This past Saturday I sat down with a small group of wonderful teachers at the Jacob Burns Film Center’s Media Arts Lab for the second part of a two-part workshop …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Installation in Installments

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Installation in Installments

Each year the graduates and upperclassmen I work with look forward to their final project as a way of leaving a stamp on the school itself. Students are asked to …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Glenn Ligon, Ai Weiwei and The Art Cops

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Glenn Ligon, Ai Weiwei and The Art Cops

Three things this week… Maika Pollack recently wrote a wonderful review in The New York Observer about the current Glenn Ligon show at the Whitney Museum. As I visited the …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Under the Influence

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Under the Influence

Now if anyone happened to dial up the title of this post hoping to see me (or anyone, for that matter) reach down deep and start talking about making art …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Ending in Catharsis, or A New Original

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Ending in Catharsis, or A New Original

Work by Laura Siragusa, Nyack High School, New York Spring is in the air. The end of the school year is upon us, or for those who bob and weave …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Teaching with Contemporary Art: The First Three Years

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Teaching with Contemporary Art: The First Three Years

This week Teaching with Contemporary Art here on the blog turns 3. Frankly, I can’t believe that I’ve been writing this column for three years. At the same time, it …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Art21 William Kentridge: Anything is Possible

Catching Up

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Art21 William Kentridge: Anything is Possible

Catching Up

This week I’d like to share a quick update on some recent Art21 Education news and highlights …. First of all, we are all set to announce our new group …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Teaching with Rochelle Feinstein

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Teaching with Rochelle Feinstein

This week’s post should really be titled “Rochelle Feinstein Teaching Me” but I’m trying to be consistent… Prior to May 1st, please treat yourself and check out The Estate of …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Rethinking “The Critique”: Possibilities

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Rethinking “The Critique”: Possibilities

As promised in last week’s column I want to share some possibilities when it comes to facilitating in-progress critiques with students. Critiques that take place as an idea is taking …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Rethinking “The Critique”

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Rethinking “The Critique”

Like many art students, I couldn’t stand critiques when I was in high school and especially college. I even had a professor in grad school that would survey the finished …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Wrapping Up Art21 at NAEA 2011

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Wrapping Up Art21 at NAEA 2011

It was suggested that perhaps the TWCA column could provide a a wrap-up of the National Art Education Association’s annual conference in pictures this year, and while I would like …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Lots of Questions and Lots of Coffee: NAEA 2011

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Lots of Questions and Lots of Coffee: NAEA 2011

As I mentioned last week, Art21’s Education and Public Programs team recently took to Seattle for the National Art Education Association’s annual conference. Over 3,000 educators from across the country …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Art21 William Kentridge: Anything is Possible

See You in Seattle

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Art21 William Kentridge: Anything is Possible

See You in Seattle

The Art21 Education and Public Programs team is flying to Seattle this Thursday for the annual National Art Education Association conference March 17-20. We will be bringing season 4 artist …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

What I Learned at the Armory Show

Teaching with Contemporary Art

What I Learned at the Armory Show

A long stroll and purposefully slow visit to the Armory Show last week opened my eyes to quite a bit. In addition to being exposed to new artists (my main …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Absolutely Uncertain

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Absolutely Uncertain

Since you can’t swing a cat without hitting a picture of Charlie Sheen at this point, I thought I’d choose a classic for today’s column. I mean, Art21 shouldn’t be …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Graffiti in the Classroom

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Graffiti in the Classroom

Students often have lots of interest and questions about graffiti, graffiti art and street art. My response usually includes the fact that I love graffiti art and street art, especially …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Blue

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Blue

A few friends and colleagues have suggested that I share some of the stories I tell in class here on the blog. I sometimes forget as I write the column …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Follow-Up (and, To Sir Ken With Love)

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Follow-Up (and, To Sir Ken With Love)

Two comments from the recent When One Day is Not Enough post inspired me to write a little bit more. Plus, I want to pass along a superb video link …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Nancy Spero and Kiki Smith

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Nancy Spero and Kiki Smith

It seems like a good time for Nancy Spero and Kiki Smith. Artists whose work incorporate storytelling, pointed statements and using the female body to do so, Nancy Spero and …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

When One Day Is Not Enough

Teaching with Contemporary Art

When One Day Is Not Enough

With all of the mandatory testing that students must be put through it’s no wonder that most kids, especially in elementary grades, receive classes in visual and performing arts one …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

It Ain’t the Heat, It’s the Stupidity

Teaching with Contemporary Art

It Ain’t the Heat, It’s the Stupidity

As promised last week, let’s talk about the plight Mr. Curtis Acosta finds himself in. As a public school teacher in Arizona, obviously a state with its share of issues …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Working with Violent Images

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Working with Violent Images

Only a few days ago I was all set to write a post that highlighted the plight of Curtis Acosta, an Arizona teacher who finds himself in the position of …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Out of Line

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Out of Line

If you get the opportunity in the next month, take some time to see On Line: Drawing Through the 20th Century at the Museum of Modern Art. And if you …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Ten for ’10

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Ten for ’10

Looking back over the column this past year, I thought it might be worthwhile to pick the top ten questions generated in a year’s worth of posts. Below are some …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Teaching with David Wojnarowicz (and Not Teaching with the Smithsonian)

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Teaching with David Wojnarowicz (and Not Teaching with the Smithsonian)

In light of the recent debacle at the Smithsonian involving the removal of David Wojnarowicz’s A Fire in My Belly, I thought it might make sense to suggest some ways …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Mark Bradford: Painter

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Mark Bradford: Painter

If you live, work, or happen to be traveling through Boston any time soon, make absolutely sure you see Mark Bradford‘s mid-career retrospective at the Institute for Contemporary Art. This …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Need-to-Know (Basics)

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Need-to-Know (Basics)

On a recent visit to one of Lois Hetland’s classes at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Lois and I were engaged in a discussion about what teachers of …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Teaching About a Day Without…

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Teaching About a Day Without…

Today marks the observance of Day Without Art, a day when the arts community takes the time to remember and respond to the AIDS crisis and its impact worldwide. Day …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Thankful

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Thankful

Back on May 7, 2008 I wrote my first column for Art21’s blog. In that initial post I said, “Teaching with Contemporary Art is about the things that happen when …