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Postmo 3-
BY OLIVIA GUDE N 0-
If one consultsa numberof classic chic, the studentexamplesin these works ophyof elementsandprinciplesprivileges
modernisttexts aboutteachingartand differgreatlyfromthe listless lines and formalistWesternconceptionsover other
design,such as ArthurWesleyDow's uninterestingcolor schemes resulting ways to valueandunderstandart.For
Composition:A Series of Exercisesin fromcontemporarytextbookart example,in the introductionto his classic
ArtStructureforthe Useof Studentsand exercises. workComposition,Dow (1920/1997)
Teachers(1920),JohannesItten'sDesign makesslightingremarksaboutartthatis
Manyof these modernisttexts also
and Form:theBasic Courseat the differsharplyfromtheirderacinated "onlystorytelling"(p. 64). The well-
Bauhaus (1964),or Mauricede
contemporarycousinsin thatthey meaningteacherwho uses artfrom
Sausmarez'sBasic Design: TheDynamics contain diverseculturesto illustrate7 + 7
culturallyspecificaestheticrefer-
of VisualForm (1971),the now familiar ences, such as Dow'spromotionof notan concepts sincerelyattemptsto infuse
7 + 7 arenot found.Thereis no single, multiculturalism into a mono-cultural
(a Japaneseworddenotingthe balance
agreed-uponset of termsor constituent betweenflatplanesof lightanddark)or curriculumstructure.Unfortunately, this
elementsof the visualin these books. Itten'sreferencesto the philosophyof only succeeds in modeling for students
Instead,variousstructuresof organiza- traditionalChinesepainting(Dow,1920; thatthe artof otherculturescanbe
tion areproposedwith different Green&Poesch, 1999;Itten,1964).In ahistoricallyappropriatedfor current
emphases,principles,andsuggested uses of Western,ostensiblyneutral,
manycontemporaryarteducation
areasfor investigation. educationalandaestheticsystems.
textbooks,the artof "others"is often
Thereis some degreeof overlap utilizedto illustratevariouselementsand TheOxfordEnglishDictionary (1971)
amongthese lists as they all attemptto principles.Theartworksareviewed and definesprinciple as "fundamental truth,
systematicallyrecordvisualconcepts understoodusingthe streamlined7 + 7 law,or motiveforce."Fromthe perspec-
usefulto artists,teachers,andcritics Euro-American systemof describing tive of 21st centuryaesthetictheory,the
when drawingattentionto andanalyzing form,thereforestudentsoften do not notionof ascribingfundamentaltruth
variousformalfeaturesof a workof art learnthe aestheticcontext of makingand to anyvisualformseems naiveand
or design.Eachauthorpresentshis own valuinginherentto the artistsandcommu- uninformed(Wallis,1984).Early20th-
vision of contemporaryartteachingand nities who actuallycreatedthe works. centuryartcriticallanguagedescribed
the visualexamplesaccompanyingthese Thisungroundedandhighlyproblem- authenticmeaningas arisingfromthe
texts are often quitebeautifulandunique. atic use of the artof "others"is almost purelyformalaspects of artmaking
Whetherembodyingthe gracefuldignity inevitablein classroomsthatuse 7 + 7 (Harrison&Wood,1992).Today
of an Artsand Craftssensibility,idiosyn- discussionsof the meaningof art,
concepts as a foundationalcurriculum
craticearlymodernism,or hip sixties structurebecausethe modernistphilos- includingmoder andcontemporary
a 21st CenturyArt
Education
JANUARY 2004 / ART EDUCATION
abstractart,aremorelikelyto centeron Founding Principles In 2000,I was appointeda GreatCities
the contextwithinwhichthe artwas In 1995,I plannedthe firstSpiral FacultyScholarat the Universityof
madeandseen andthe culturalcodes the Illinoisat Chicago.TheGreatCities
Workshop,the Universityof Illinoisat
artistchooses to referenceandmanipu- Institute'smissionis to improvethe
Chicago'sSaturdayartclasses for teens.
late (Riemschneider&Grosenick,1999). I lookedfor ways to articulateto the qualityof life in metropolitanChicagoand
Thenotionof hermeticartistic otherurbanareas.I was pleasedthatmy
preserviceteacherswho wouldbecome
experiencesin whichmeaningis created the workshopfaculty,some guiding colleaguesfromurbanplanningandthe
in directformalcommunicationbetween social sciences sharedmyvision of the
principlesfor developingourcurriculum.
artistandaudienceis no longerconsid- I didnot considerusingthe elementsand importanceof arteducationto a
ereda credibleexplanationof how democraticsociety.Myprojectfor the
principlesof designbecauseI wantedthe
meaningin visualartis generatedand youngteachersto experiencethe thrillof yearwas the ContemporaryCommunity
communicated. Curriculum Initiative(CCCI).TheCCCI
teachingyouthin a way thatwould
Form-basedteaching,originatingwith inspireimpassionedartmaking.I knew introducedinserviceteachersto the
traditionssuch as the GermanBauhaus thata curriculumbased on the blandand SpiralWorkshopphilosophyandcreated
andmodernistAmericanarteducators formal7 + 7 wouldnot engenderin teen workingpartnershipsbetweenart
such as Dow,was not originallyconceived artiststhe commitmentto get out of bed teachersandcontemporaryartists.The
of as preliminaryto in-depthartisticinves- on chillySaturdaymornings.I wantedan projectsdevelopedby these groupswere
tigations.WhenPaulKleeaskedstudents artcurriculumthatcouldsurvivewithout taughtin areaschools andthe resulting
to do a line exercise,it was not becausehe a compulsoryattendancepolicyto back curriculumwas showcasedat a student
felt they shouldlearnmarkmakingbefore it up. artandcurriculumshow at the university
doingmoremeaningfulart.Rather,it was gallery.4
Inspiredby the spiritthoughnot the
because Kleewas excited aboutthe contentof modem arteducation,I wanted Recently,as I prepareda lecture
meaningof line.Inthe spiritof those the SpiralWorkshopcurriculumto give summarizingmy GreatCitiesresearch,
times,studentswere askedto makethe studentsa sense of participatingin the I surveyed5 yearsof SpiralWorkshop
radicalmoveto eschew whatwas then curriculumas well as the 25 projects
unfoldingof contemporaryculture.3
seen as extra-visualelementssuch as Studentsin a qualityarteducation createdby the CCCIparticipantteachers.
narrativeandinsteadexplorethe deep I hadoriginallystructuredmytalkto
programgainthe capacityto reflecton
spiritualandsocial energyreleasedby culturalissues relatedto self andsociety. focus on the social themesthatemerged
abstractart. in the youths'artworkwhen I noticed
Throughstudyingandmakingart,
Dow advocateda new systemof art studentsbecome attunedto nuanceand othercommonalitieslinkingthe projects.
educationhe believedwouldbringto the complexity.Theylearnto recognizethe A commonvocabularycouldbe used to
student"anincreaseof creativepower" culturalchoices thatunderlieeventhe describevariousvisualandconceptual
(1920/1997,p. 65). But 75 yearshave most mundanemomentsandactionsof strategiesin the students'artworksandin
passed since he wrotethose words.We everydaylife andconsiderwhetherthese the contemporaryprofessionalartworks
owe it to ourfield andourstudentsto arethe choices they themselveswish to on whichtheywere modeled.I also
studythe artof ourtimes andto begin,as make. noticedthatthe traditional7 + 7 elements
Dow did,withprobingquestionsandfar- andprinciplesvocabularycouldnot
SpiralWorkshopevolvedthreecriteria adequatelydescribethese artworks.
reachinggoals.Whatdo ourstudents for ourcurriculum:
need to knowto understandthe artof * curriculum based on generative Originally,I identified15categoriesor
manycultures,fromthe past andthe 21st themes thatrelateto the lives of principles that describedthe students'
century?Today,what knowledgedo studentsandtheircommunities; artworkandrelatedcontemporaryart
studentsneed to stimulateandincrease practices.Noticingthe criss-crossingand
* studio art projects based on diverse
theircreativepowers? overlappingsimilaritiesof some of the
practices of contemporaryartmaking
andrelatedtraditionalarts; categories,I havesince editedand consol-
idatedthe list to highlighteightimportant
* art as investigation-understanding
I knew tht a curriculum postmodernartmakingpractices.These
the artof othersandseeingtheirown
"newlydiscovered"postmodemprinci-
based on the bland and artmaking,not as exercises,but as ples are oftenthe fusionof a visualform
researchthatproducesnew visualand anda conceptualartmakingstrategy.
formal 7 + 7 would not conceptualinsights. Theyarehybridsof the visualandthe
conceptual.Thishybridizationis itself a
engender in teen artiststhe hallmarkof manypostmoderncultural
commitmentto get out of bed productions,eschewingthe boundaries
imposedby outmodeddiscipline-based
on chillySaturdaymornings. structures.
7-' -C IJ l-
IV
1*
6K>
L- -
A JUXTAPOSITION:
contemporary
Students
choiceof materials
explored
createsmeaning
artbyimagining
of non-art
juxtaposition
the
materials.
how
in
Herea
teenartistcreateda psychological
self-
1r
11t Marshmallows
portrait, andFire,atthe
-
SpiralWorkshop 1996.
2004 / ARTEDUCATION
JANUARY
(Emerson,1999,p. 127).Thetext does not
describethe work,nordoes the image
illustratethe text. The interplaybetween
the two elementsgeneratesrichand
ironicassociationsaboutgender,social
possibilities,andcleanliness.Students
who makeandvalueartin the 21st
centurymustlearnnot to demanda literal
matchof verbalandvisualsignifiers,but
ratherto exploredisjuncturebetween
these modes as a source of meaningand
pleasure.
Hybridity
Manycontemporaryartistsincorpo-
ratevariousmediainto theirpieces, using
whateveris requiredto fullyinvestigate
the subject.Contemporary artists
routinelycreatesculpturalinstallations
utilizingnew mediasuch as large-scale
projectionsof video,soundpieces, digital
photography,andcomputeranimation.
Indeed,multi-mediaworksof artarenow
encounteredin contemporarymuseums
andgalleriesmorefrequentlythan
traditionalsculptedor paintedobjects.
Theconceptof hybridityalso
describesthe culturalblendingevidentin
LAYERING: Students exploredtheirfears manyworks.New YorkandTokyo-based
andhopesafterthetragedy of September Layering Mariko Moridrawson costuming,make-
11 bymutingandlayering As images become cheap andplentiful, up, popular culture,andtraditional
imagesandtext areno longertreatedas precious,but Buddhistbeliefs to createcomplexphoto-
ontotheheadline newspaperpages of those they
terrible insteadareoften literallypiledon top of graphicandvideo installations.Herwork
days.AreYouThereYet?byhigh
schoolstudentKristy Purituncreatedat each other.Layeredimageryevokingthe exploresboundariesbetweenspirituality
SpiralWorkshop 2001.Photocourtesyof complexityof the unconsciousmindis a andcyberculture,betweenthe humanand
of Illinois
University at Chicago. familiarstrategyin Surrealistartandof the re-creationof the humanthrough
earlyexperimentalapproachesto photog- technology(Fineberg,2000).
raphy.Inpostmoder worksby artists
such as DavidSalle,SigmarPolke,and Gazing
AdrianPiper,the strategyevokes the In BetyeSaar's77e Liber'ationofAunt
layeredcomplexityof contemporary Jemima, the traditionalmeaningof the
Thoughdeconstructionhas a more culturallife (Fox, 1987;Grosenick,2001). saccharineimageis challengedwhenit is
specific meaningin the theoryof Jacques Multiplelayersof varyingtransparency presentedwith an even morestereotyp-
Derrida(Glusberg,1991),in everydayart will increasinglybe a readilyavailable ical depictionof a wide-eyed,red-lipped
worldparlance,recontextualizationand strategyto studentsbecause it is a African-American womanholdinga
deconstructioncan often function commonfeatureof most digitalimaging broomin one handanda riflein the other,
synonymously.The magazineAdbuste's programssuch as AdobePhotoshop? juxtposedwith a life-sizeBlackPower
has manyexamplesof deconstructing (Freeman,2001). clenchedfist (Broude&Garrard,1994).
contemporaryadvertisementsby pairing By shiftingthe context withinwhicha
the originalads with fragmentsof other Interaction of Text & Image fanmiliaradvertisingimageis seen,
imagesandtexts thatcontextualizethe Ina 1990montage,artistBarbara studentsspontaneouslyquestionwho
consumerfantasieswithinenvironmental Krugerpaireda photographof a woman, createsandcontrolsimageryandhow this
andglobaljustice discourses.' peeringthrougha magnifyingglass, witha imageryaffects ourunderstandingsof
greatlyenlargedeye, with the text "It'sa reality-an importantactivityof visual
smallworldbut not if you haveto clean it" culturearteducation.
i HYBRIDITY: ArtteacherMathiasSchergen
led studentsof JennerElementary School
in makingthe 2000 multi-media installation,
"MemoryMuseum,"as a tributeto the
closingof the old school andthe changein
the communityas gentrificationdisplaced
publichousing.Theinstallationincluded
arrangedfoundobjectsandstudentartand
writingas wellas videointerviewsof school
andcommunityresidents.Photocourtesyof
the Contemporary Community Curriculum
Initiative.
GAZING: Inspiredby the riskyandsometimescontroversialworkof contemporary artists,the SpiralWorkshopteens andteachersin the Chiaroscuro
groupmadethe installation,"WhenI Lookat YouI See"in 1998. Thetextaccompanyingeach portraitdescribedthe messages thatthese urbanteens
saw reflectedin the gaze of adultswho lookat themand makestereotypicaljudgmentsaboutthem.Photocourtesyof Universityof Illinoisat Chicago.
The term g(zc(,is frequently used in For examl)le, consider the stantlar(l alt Wojnarowicz groundedlhis art in his
(ontemporary discourses to recognize historical (liscussion of Gaughin's experiences as a young, gay man in New
that when talking about the act of looking, lelict ion of Tahitian women in which his Yorkduring the emerging AIDS crisis
it is important to consider who is being (rientalist theories and Iprojectionsof (Scholder, 1999). Tracey Emin makes
looked at and who is (loing the looking sl)irituality, timelessness, and sensuous- fuiky mixed media paintings and objects
(Olin, 1996). Gazing, asso(iated with ness (letermine outrplercel)tion of the that investigate all aspects of her life,
issues of knowledge and I)leasure, is woImen(Janson, 1968). including crummy jobs, alcohol abuse,
also a form of power and of cont rolling and sexuality (Riemschneider &
lerceptions of what is "real"and Representin' Grosenick, 1999). Shirin Neshat creates
"natural."Much critical theory in alt lU.S.urban street slang for proclaiming video installations andlphoto text works
histloy and film studlies makes use of the one's ildentity and( affiliations, )represeti)lli/' that explore the psychological conditions
term to investigate how our notions of (lescribes the strategy of locating one's of womenl in Islamic societies (Grosenick,
"others" are con'structted(through prol)ri- artistic voice within one's own lpersonal 2001). It is important that alt classes
etary acts of looking and representing. history and(culture of origin. David p)rovidest udenltswith opportunities for
REPRESENTIN':
Makingautobiographical comics meaningful self-expression in which they artists are far more likely to be cited as
createscomfortable opportunities become 7representin',self-creating beings. influential to today's artworld.
for studentsto represent These opportunities should allow The list of postmoder principles
themselvessituatedwithintheir students to see examples of contempo- described in this article is not meant to be
familiesandcommunities.Ina rary artists using artmakingto explore the exhaustive. The principles were empiri
MixedMediaclass at Whitney potentials and problems inherent in their cally derived from curriculumprojects
YoungHighSchoolin Chicago, own cultural and political settings (Gude, based on contemporary art, developed by
HaibinhHguyencreateda haunting 2003). a nexus of Chicago area teachers and
storyabout
story abouthow
howimmigration
immigration v *.a nexus of Chicago areateachers and
affectsfamilyrelationships.
Photo A Principled Position on the artists. Further curriculum research
courtesyof artteacher,LisaWax. Future of Art Education wil no doubt identy other imporant
postmodern concepts and practices that
The elements and principles of design
ought to be considered for inclusion in
were never the universal and timeless
contemporary art education curricula.
descriptors they were claimed to be.
... artexamplesandprojectsin Indeed, they are not even sufficient to
In true postmoder fashion, these
introduce students to most moder art principles are not a set of discrete
schoolartcurricula
shouldnot because modernism has always been a entities, but are rhizomatic. Because
tradition with two sharply different these principles overlap and crisscross,
bereductiverepresentations manifestations, the "coolly formal"and
the illustrations of professional art and
the often "enragedengaged." student work provided above often
oftheoretical but
principles, Much art education has been associ-
exemplify more than one principle. That's
okay; art examples and projects in school
shouldreflectthecomplexity ated with what critic Clement Greenberg
referred to as "cold modernism" (1971),
art curricula should not be reductive
representations of theoretical principles,
ofactualart. focused on artists such as Manet, Seurat, but should reflect the complexity of
Cezanne, Matisse, and Picasso. "Hot actual art.
modernism,"characterized by artists such
as Duchamp and the Dadaists, has not It can be frustratingand disconcerting
been adequately represented in K-12art to lose the certainty of an earlier time,
discourses despite the fact that such but I do not think that it is wise to