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Lesson Plans


Re: Art & Deadlines

[ Thread ][ Subject ][ Author ][ Date ]
Rosa Juliusdottir (rojul)
Fri, 25 Apr 1997 18:10:29 GMT

Ben, me too enjoyed the writings of henri and I really enjoyed reading your
view too even if you thought I would not.
>How I enjoyed the fine reaction of henri (taylorh).
>Here comes my view.
>Rosa (and many others), you will not like it, because in my opinion your
>students are not artists at all.
In my opinion that is the very nice thing about this group, the many
different points of view and all can be valid even if one does not always
agree. As far as children being artists or not or childrenīs artworks
being art or not I do think it is one of these things that could be
discussed on and on and not necessarily ever be answered but people just
having different opinions about it. To me that is fine. I feel that we talk
about children making art or their art-making activities and if we use DBAE
we teach children the four things people do with art; making art (art
production); responding to and making judgments about the properties and
qualities that exist in visual forms (art criticism);
acquiring knowledge about the contributions artists and art make to culture
and society (art history); and understanding the nature, meaning, and
value of art (aesthetics). If we then choose to call the work children
make; art works (child art) and the children; artists that is the way I
like to do it but I respect the opinions of those who donīt. As far as what
is real art and what not, I do think that is one of those questions that
has been asked in many ways by so many for thousands of years and will
still continue to be asked in coming years.
That is all for now. Regards from the far north, Rosa

>Seeing all those wonderful works children make, people often get the idea
>that this is real art.
>Is isn't.
>How pretty, beautiful, fine, esthetical, expressive, technical perfect or
>mature it may look, it is not art.
>At least not in my opinion.
>That asks for explanation.
>It is often said that children yet use the same means and materials which
>artists use, that they picture the same subjects, that they solve the same
>problems and that their work pleases us as the work of artists (sometimes
>even more). This statement however is not correct. It is just the other way
>around. Artists use the same means and materials ...(etc.) which children
>use, which students use at school, which each of us uses, since in daily
>life we use the language of visual images to say what we have to say, to
>show each other what to do, to express our thoughts. The use of visual
>images is very common. We write that language and we read what is written by
>others. Good "art education" is about the use of visual images in the world,
>in cultures, in daily life, in time. This is exactly the best argument for a
>strong place and a continual line for art education at school (although
>there are more arguments).
>Sometimes we call it art what people make, but why? because it meets
>requirements of quality? If that would be the case, would we have an easy
>job? Would it be enough to list those quality arguments and cross them of?
>People tried, but it did not work. Can you tell me what are the qualities of
>a black square? Malevitz painted a black square in 1913 and it is now a
>famous piece of art. However, if you paint a black square it is probably
>not art, unless...
>Unless you are an artist and say that this black square, painted by you, is
>art. Although it is not a very original piece of art, I would agree.
>I propose to call art that what the artist makes and only if he says it is
>art. That solves a lot of problems and saves us so many hours of discussion.
>Does it (in most cases) really matter if a work is art or not? It doesn't.
>What matters is how a visual image affects the mind of the one who sees it.
>In good art education, understanding a visual image (art or not) and
>discussing the influece it has on people are the main goals. The making of
>visual images is to stipulate as a condition for understanding.
>Some children and young people are lucky, they have good art education. It
>is the responsibility of all of us to make this possible for all children.
>
>I agree, there is another point of discussion now: who is an artist?
>The one who makes a profession out of it.
>If you like his work or not.
>
>
>
>Ben Schasfoort
>e-mail: ben.schasfoort
>Tel. and fax: (+31) 597 55 15 03