I learned about Ket Aesthetics from one of Pam Stephens' students
(from their university ning site). This was a new word for me. The
assistant instructor sent me the pdf file and I got permission from
the author to share it with you.
THE KET AESTHETIC: VISUAL CULTURE IN CHILDHOOD
by Christine Marmé Thompson
Opening paragraph:
This paper explores the choices children make among objects and images
supplied by their culture, and the ways that commercial objects and images
are appropriated and reinterpreted in their own art making. Emphasis is
placed on the operation of children's agency and their tendency to define
themselves, as individuals and as members of a distinct culture of childhood,
through choices which may violate adult tastes and persist in spite of adult
prohibitions.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5529588
The essay by Dr. Thompson, "The Ket Aesthetic: The Visual Culture of
Childhood," appears in When We We Were Young, a book edited by art
historian Jonathon Fineberg, published fall 2006 by the University of
California Press.
The pdf File is in the Files for Sharing Folder on Art Education,
ArtsEducators and TAB Choice lists. The file will be available for one
week - so download it. Getty members, I have permission to forward it
to you. I will forward today though Saturday (November 10, 2007) only.
Reply to me OFF LIST if you wish to read the article. I know at one
time it was available on line, but I was not able to find it.
