The mind never shuts down. Even when we are not seeing any effects
from what we think we are teaching, our students are learning things
that we are totally unaware of. What do our students learn without
conscious effort and without knowing that they are learning?
I am curious about ways in which you have used the classroom
atmosphere to teach art in ways the students are probably unaware.
What works? How do we know what works? What is bad to do? How do
we know? These things take no time away from art projects and
assignments, but they may for some students be the most significant
learning from the art class.
SUBLIMINAL LEARNING
Here is a list of things I have tried, seen, or thought of that are
subliminal in nature. These are not directly connected with any
assignment, but they are the sort of things that art class should
teach. Does this list remind you of something you have tried? Do
these ideas remind you of ideas to share with us?
my TOP-TEN subliminal learning list
1. Surprising posters that proclaim sayings by highly creative people
- not just artists. Artist sayings are great, but sometimes
philosophers and little children are better with words.
2. Posters of artwork by artists that are really famous, but very
unfamiliar to this community - especially work that pushes the edges
of what is considered art and never something that could be simply
copied by the class for an assignment. I am looking for those art
posters that would never show up over a living room couch.
2a. In classrooms with a computer with a good Internet connection and
a digital projector, show art by running this web site while they
work. http://www.whitney.org/ Or, prepare a presentation that runs
silently or with music while they work.
3. Audio recordings of artists being interviewed about their work and
why they do what they do in their art. These are played during the
work time when we might otherwise be playing background music. This
can work best during those rare times when students are working on a
somewhat tedious or repetitive task.
4. The classroom as a closet - part of the room is open shelving
filled with stuffed birds, scrap wood, scrap metal, drift wood,
animal bones, pieces of wire, fabrics, a pile of old shoes, wall
paper sample books, costumes, flea markets stuff. I have also seen
all these things stored in plain sight above the closed storage
cabinets.
5. A poster with list of ways that highly creative artists get their
ideas for their art. I laminated this list and placed it on the wall
above the sink.
6. A poster listing the purposes of art in society.
7. A poster listing the ways in which artful living improves our
individual and collective worlds.
8. A poster listing the ways people earn part or all of their living
because they are artists.
9. A poster listing the ways we are daily deceived by art and design
(subliminal learning) used in mass merchandising and politics.
10. This is not in the classroom, but for many years I have made sure
that every class has had a field trip to our house near the end of
the term. If they forget everything else about the class, they never
forget the place where an artist lives and works. Never again do
they see their own life choices exactly the same.
AWARENESS HABITS
A schedule of change. The teacher does something new to the visual
environment of the classroom and the students are asked to write down
what they notice that is new and give their presumed reason that the
teacher changed the classroom. Habits of awareness can be cultivated.
YOUR IDEAS?
Do you have one or two other ideas to share?
Marvin Bartel, Ed.D., Professor of Art Emeritus
Goshen College, 1700 South Main, Goshen IN 46526
studio phone: 574-533-0171
http://www.bartelart.com
"You can't never know how to do it before you never did it before."
... a kindergarten boy working with clay for the first time.
