Semester II Project

This project was meant to be a practical application of some of the educational practices I learned about during my research the first half of the year. I ended up working at ARTech School of Arts and Technology with a few high school students, and also creating an exhibit of my work and theirs in the Kelsey Theater gallery. I will include my presentation below, which gives a detailed description of the major, my research paper and the second semester project. I will also put in a few visuals that show what was included in the gallery space.

 

Introduction
Good evening everyone, thank you so much for coming tonight, and welcome to my senior CIS major project presentation!

Tonight I will be sharing with you some general information about my individual major, “Children, Art and Society,” and the process I have been through in order to make this a complete major. Later on, I will outline the main topics of my first semester research paper, and I will explain the process and end results of my second semester project that you see here.

CIS major
So, first of all, My CIS major is titled, “Children, Art, and Society.”  I knew almost immediately upon arriving at St Olaf that I wanted to create my own major, even though I didn’t know it would be about.  I nearly drove myself mad trying to narrow down my interests and chose a topic, and I definitely spent several hours in conversation with both Mary and Susan, the program advisers, trying to decide what would be best for me.

I finally realized that, for the majority of my life, I have been very interested in children and the nature of childhood.  As I continued my studies, I became more interested in and concerned for their success in school and the community.  I then realized that my own success in school really evolved as I became more involved in the arts, both in school and in through community arts programs.

Even though I have always felt that I am an artistic person, at least in a creative and imaginative sense, I felt a particular growth in character and self-confidence as I became more artistic in middle school and high school.  That is something that I would like all children and teenagers to be able to experience as well.

Furthermore, I believe that society is intrinsically linked to art, artists often create their works based upon people’s relationships to culture and society (whether or not we admit they exist) and upon issues we deal with in everyday life that others in society may likely relate to or understand. 

As I began to outline my major during sophomore year and decide which courses I was going to take over the next two years, I became increasingly more excited about the possible courses that would fit into my criteria.  Basically any course that could supplement my knowledge of children, education, art, or society would fit nicely into the major.  I ended up taking classes in psychology, art, dance, music, education, political science, sociology, environmental studies and art history.

The wonderful thing about having so many classes in so many different subject areas was that each class offered new information that related to my major and also inspired my interest in diverse directions.  Each class gave me a slightly different perspective on the topics that I was interested in, and I really appreciate the broad knowledge base that I ended up with.

For example, “Educational psychology” was one class that ended up being particularly helpful because I wrote a research paper on arts advocacy, which really fueled my curiosity in that direction. 

“Choreography and Improvisation,” a dance class that I took during my sophomore year, helped me realize the importance of dance and movement as  a motivational tool and an excellent way to develop critical creative thinking skills.

The political science class I took on Human Rights allowed me to do research on the effects of art and creative projects with the children of war-ridden states, and in particular on the child soldiers of Sierra Leone in rehabilitation camps.  This process was helpful in my exploration of art therapy and other alternative therapeutic practices.

As most of you know, I am also a Spanish major, and I spent last spring studying abroad in southern Spain.  While I was there, I was able to take an Art History course on influential Spanish painters, and a Sociology course on Islamic Art and Culture.  Both courses really gave me new insight into the way art has affected and been influenced by the Spanish and Moorish cultures over the past few centuries.  I became much more interested in the relationship between cultures and their art forms, and I was able to use some the knowledge I gained in my research paper that was my first semester senior project this year.

Finally, during this semester, I have had a particularly exciting opportunity to work with Professor Rohn of the art history department on an independent study.  I approached him at the beginning of the semester with a few ideas for what I should study relating to children and art, and he was very helpful.  The title of the course is “Children Imagery and Play.”  We decided to focus on the effects of creative play and environmental experiences on young children.  I have had some wonderful opportunities to study the positive affects of nature and unstructured play in youth, and I am incorporating an artistic element into the final project.  I have decided to create an “Art Book” incorporating people’s memories of unstructured play during childhood and how these experiences have positive social and cognitive benefits on the development of the child.  The book will be a compilation of these memories, a few works of art or photographs, and some short analyses of the importance of unstructured play in childhood and education.  The entire course has been very helpful because it has allowed me to explore the importance of childhood experiences as fundamental stepping-stones to a brighter future.

Senior Project I
Okay, now I will share with you some information about my senior project this year.

For my senior project during the fall semester I knew that I needed to do some research and study into the area of arts education, as well as arts advocacy and some media education.  I wanted to include plenty of up-to-date research, but I as soon as Googled “Arts education advocacy” I knew I would be in way over my head.  I had to narrow things down a bit, and I started talking to people in the art world, asking for their opinions and ideas for resources.  This ended up being very beneficial for me, because, along with my research in the library and online reading scholarly articles, I spoke with plenty of people involved in education for their advice and insight.  I learned a lot from Maria Kelly, an education professor here at St Olaf, Sarah Hale, the art teacher at ARTech in Northfield, and several faculty at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts.  The interviews I conducted gave me much more insight into the possible areas of study I could pursue, and also gave me several opportunities to consider future careers for myself.

In the end I found myself primarily focusing on the cognitive and social benefits of art in the educational system.  I spent most of last fall writing it, but I have added more information this semester and done a considerable amount of editing.  The chapters of the paper are as follows:

• the relationship that art has with society
• the development of arts within educational systems of the United Sates of America
• the current trends of art education in our society (regarding specifically the effects of the No Child Left Behind act)
• scientific and psychological evidence regarding the art’s positive cognitive affects in youth
• social and communication benefits related to art education, particularly regarding the influence of media and technology
• a few action items concerning various ways of implementing the arts into education, particularly community arts action and imaginative play

Should you be interested to learn more, the whole paper will be online as a part of my CIS major web site by May 5th.

Internship during Interim
Given that the final section of my paper was focused on ways to actually implement the arts in the educational system, particularly through community programs, I was very excited to be given a wonderful opportunity to be an intern at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in their education program.  The internship primarily took place during January, though I have been invited to participate in the international children’s art festival the end of May.  My role as intern during the month was to be a part of the evaluation team for analyzing the effectiveness of the Ordway’s the educational program.  The education program at the Ordway essentially provides opportunities for schools to send classes to shows during the day at a reduced price and with free bus transportation.  The shows are age-appropriate and often include workshops or learning material to supplement the performances.  The Ordway provides the teachers of the classrooms with educational material and background information on the show and its performers, in order to adequately prepare the students for what they are about to see.  They often include follow up questions and activities to continue the learning process after the show.

My role as intern, as I said, was to help with an evaluation of the program.  The other intern, Megan, and I worked with a professional evaluator to develop key questions that we would be asking school-age students and their teachers during interviews about the shows that they had recently seen.  The purpose was to discern whether or not the students are enjoying the time they spend at the Ordway, and whether or not they are learning what the Ordway is hoping they will learn from their experiences.  The interviews with the teachers were similar, but we also asked questions about whether or not they used the supplemental material the Ordway provides.  We were also curious to know whether or not the shows available to the students provide a sufficient variety of cross-cultural and multi-disciplinary subject matters.

My experience working with the Ordway was very beneficial.  I learned about the process and benefits of evaluation.  I learned about the variety of schools in the Twin Cities area, since we had to travel to each school that had classrooms in which we were interviewing.  Also, I learned about the intricacies of arts programming with a community arts company.  This in itself really sparked an interest in arts administration and educational planning for the arts.

The internship as a whole gave me the inspiration I needed to start working one-on-one with students in my second semester project.

Here is a link to the Ordway education program web site if you would like to learn more information: Ordway Education

Senior Project II
This potion of my senior project was a little more difficult for me to plan.  I knew I wanted to do some experiential work in a school, at the very least observing and interviewing people who work in the arts.  But I also knew I wanted to produce some sort of artistic product myself, since I felt that if I didn’t I would be slightly hypocritical.  I also really longed for an opportunity to bring some creativity of my own into the process. 

The results of the project are here in this gallery and I will explain them in this order: First, down at this end we have the results of three different art projects produced for me by several high school students.  This has been a major part of my research and learning experience during this semester. Second, hanging from the ceiling we have my art project based on the meaning of art to these same students and several of my close friends; and thirdly on the wall behind me is a series of my own photographs based on the relationship people have with an art of some form.

So, I will first explain the experience I had working with students this semester, and the three sets of artwork they produced.

As I began my search for an opportunity to work with students in an art education setting, I began to worry that my status as a CIS major would not be enough to secure a position working one-on-one with students and their art.

Luckily, the faculty at ARTech, the school of arts and technology here in Northfield, gave me an amazing opportunity to carry out a project with a few of their high school students.  I had visited the school during the fall for a few interviews to learn about their thoughts on arts education and integration, and I was very much attracted to their teaching pedagogy and the layout of their school.  I was very excited to work with a few high school students and try to learn more about their world.  I also knew I would get a good taste of my own abilities as a potential teacher, since that is something that I have more recently considered.

My first few ideas for a project mostly dealt with the relationship between these students and their views on society.  I wanted to see how they could artistically respond to a few key words that often have dual meanings.  After a few conversations with faculty at St Olaf, in particular with Professor Susan Bauer and Sarah Hale, the art teacher at ARTech, I narrowed down my ideas and decided to present a few projects with a more concise idea.  My goal was to present an art project to the students each week with a focused theme, usually based on societal issues, and allow the students to produce a work based on our brainstorming sessions and their personal opinions on the subject matter.  I wanted to give the students new ways to think about the purpose of art, particularly “protest art” since it is so intrinsically connected to the views and opinions of our society: politically, culturally, etc.  I would allow them free rein as far as medium and materials to use, but I provided a single sheet of paper for each project.  We ended up completing three separate lessons, all somewhat based on the ideas of protest art, and I will describe them below.

Our first activity that we did was to brainstorm current social issues that they were concerned about and wanted to address in a work of art.  Among their ideas, we concluded that “globalization” was a fairly popular theme.  We discussed possible images to covey an opinion in one direction or the other, and the likely colors or compositional qualities that a strong work would have.  After discussing in particular the qualities of “protest art” I sent them off with a piece of drawing paper and their imaginations to see what they would produce.  The results are those four larger works on the panels just before the photographs.  All of the students were of the opinion that globalization is a negative process, and is basically a way for America to spread its culture and ideals to other “less fortunate” countries.  You can see from their works that they believe America has stronghold on other countries and is influencing them with negative ideals.

I’ll just explain two of these for you now, and if you have more questions for me later, please feel free to ask.

This first work here was done by a student who wanted to express concern for the children who work in blue jean factories.  The “monstrous corporations” are closing in on the little girl who is clearly quite frightened.  The student used orange, yellow and red to add some chaos of split complimentary colors to the piece.

This fourth piece is a parody of modern press, and its negative influence on societies across the globe.  The student wanted to show that the spread of media around the world is also spreading negative messages of body image and perfection.

The second and third lesson plans at the school were done on smaller “trading card” sized pieces of paper.  I realized that the larger pages could be overwhelming, especially when the students were considering a theme that was already quite broad.  In displaying these two projects I chose to represent them aesthetically rather than by theme, so keep that in mind while examining them.

During the second lesson we brainstormed situations in society when we are troubled either by an excess of freedom, or by an excess of security.  That was an interesting duality to confront, but I think it worked well.  We discussed many current and historical political situations, as well as freedom of speech and artistic expression which many of these students feel can be a troublesome issue.  Two students drew works commenting on the excess of censorship, either by parents or other authorities, including governmental policies. These two here represent the suppression of freedom of speech in art and media.

The third lesson, also done on small note cards was slightly different, and was motivated by my interest in their relationship to music as a form of media.  The premise was to create an album cover design for the “soundtrack to your life” based on a few songs that they identify with.  I thought that would be an interesting way to approach how media and society affect (or may not affect) the students and their ideas of art.  I had each student brainstorm a few of the songs that have been most impactful in their lives, and then decide why this was so.  I wanted them to use these songs as a basis for a work that shows how they are affected by media and society. 

It was interesting to learn that many of these students did not feel particularly affected by the media, at least not by popular music.  This was obvious in the sense that most chose obscure songs that gave them confidence and excitement in their individuality.  I think this proves that these students in particular have a strong school environment that promotes individuality and unique opinions.  The works they created based on the influential music in lives are each different, and it is difficult to discern exactly how the music has affected them.  However, I do know that they focused on music that really made them feel something stirring in their souls, and that is what I hoped they would reflect on to make these pieces.

My whole experience with ARTech really solidified my opinion that schools with arts integration help students discover more about themselves as individuals and also how they fit into a larger community, which is so important for knowledge, growth and understanding.

Collaborative Work
I will now discuss the second element of the installation, which is the collaborative work including the hanging note cards here in the middle and the three transparent pieces on this back wall.

The reason I described this as a collaborative work is because I had help from the ARTech students and several of my friends for part of the process. On my last day at ARTech I asked each student to write me a few statements based on what art means to them.  This activity stemmed from my interest to learn how art affects people every day, and how people often feel a deep personal relationship with artwork of any form.

Along with gathering definitions from the students, I posted a note on Facebook asking my friends to reply with a few words or descriptions of what art means to them. I then created a few small pieces based on the word or phrase given, usually with a few colors or symbolic images.  I have never quite found a definition of art that satisfies me personally, but some of the words and phrases I chose for this project come quite close.  The purpose of hanging the cards was to create a sense of movement and remind us that art is constantly changing and evolving. Each note card gives a definition or word provided by a different person; I decided to group them on the ribbons in order to juxtapose particularly similar or conflicting descriptions.  The two outside pieces on this wall were longer descriptions that I felt needed a more abstract and complex image to support them.  I hope you take a few minutes to read them and try to discover for yourself what art means to you.  I realize that my own artistic interpretation of the words and phrases may be different than what was originally intended by the people who are represented in the meanings, but I hope it gives an interesting perspective nevertheless.

My Series of Photographs
My portion of the gallery is a series of photographs of people and their artwork.  I wanted to capture the emotion and intensity with which people are committed to their artwork, or at least inspired by an art of some form.  I have many friends and family members that are very involved in the arts, and I wanted to credit them for their dedication. I also wanted to explore a few instances in which young children participate in art, and how people in a community use music and dancing in particular to stay connected.

I could have continued with this project for much more time than I gave myself, and I was definitely inspired greatly by the children in particular that I photographed.  I chose to do a series of photographs because I feel that it really conveys tangible emotional relationships and provides a realistic statement on my opinion of the importance of art in the lives of all people.  Though I could have produced a few drawings or painting in order to contrast or perhaps support the views on society that the ARTech students have, I myself am not a particularly accomplished painter or drawer and I thought I should stick to something I am more comfortable with in order to find a deeper meaning.

This panel captures my goddaughter lost in her own world of dance and coloring.  I have always been fascinated by her abilities to completely immerse herself in the music and movement of dance, and she obviously has found a wonderful way to keep herself occupied in this bottom picture.

This dance picture up at the top of this panel was actually taken in Spain, and I think is a great representation of dance and music as cultural expression.  These people are dancing the sardanas, a traditional Basque dance, which they do every Sunday in the square in front of the cathedral in Barcelona.

The two other pictures I took in Spain, over here, also show that these people have a true cultural connection to live music and dancing as part of their celebrations and everyday lives.

In this panel, two ARTech students are completely immersed in their drawing and painting projects.  I felt that these pictures show the deep connection these students have with their artwork, and the dedication they have for the creative and technical process.

This ARTech student I found in the cafeteria section of the school, playing the piano with such emotion and fervor that I didn’t dare interrupt him to tell him he should be working on his project.  Instead, I asked if I could take a few pictures, and he nodded and then continued to ignore me, creating a beautiful piece while I snapped a few photos.

Overall, I am pleased with the results of the artwork produced for me by the students at ARTech, and I am very thankful that they were so patient and willing to work with me, as I am neither an art student nor a teacher.  I am also very happy that I had a chance to take some photographs of my friends and other artists doing the things that they love most.

Well, that just about wraps up my portion of the show, please make sure, if you haven’t already, to take a few moments to look around, read my artist’s statement, and the hanging note cards. 

Does anyone have any questions for me regarding my major, my research paper, my work with ARTech or the artwork shown here?

 

Thank you.