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Lesson Plans


Re: What is Art

[ Thread ][ Subject ][ Author ][ Date ]
Sandra Hildreth (shildret)
Tue, 16 Feb 1999 21:30:29 -0500

Vicki wrote...
We just began discussing Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol in my 8th grade
classes. My students decided anything is art if it you will it to be so.

Is this true? I honestly don't know, but the whole philosophy
surrounding Duchamp and his 'Fountain' is a fun and open-ended
discussion with any age group. It was not originally 'art', but is now?
Why, because Duchamp said so? Can we do the same thing? I love Dada, and

the avenues it opened up for all of us - I'm sure I'll get some
disagreement? It is a great thread though....

I don't know how valid this is, but I like to tell my students that I
believe the reason DuChamp got away with the urinal as "art" was not
just because he said it was - but because he was the FIRST artist to do
that. The "art" was not so much the sculpture as it was the "idea" of
taking a urinal and putting it on a pedestal and displaying it. If
somebody did that now in 1999, I don't know if it would get a lot of
attention as "art" because it's been done before - it's no longer unique
and creative. But that's just my opinion.

--
Sandra Hildreth
Home Page: http://www.northnet.org/hildreth
Art 7-12, Madrid-Waddington Central School, Madrid, NY 13660
School Pages: http://www.northnet.org/mwcsart/mwart.htm
Art Methods, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY 13617