The Subject of Art - Essay Example

Each genre is associated with different content doggies and evaluation practices. Each is based on a separate set of ideologies and goals, related to different underlying assumptions about the nature of arts and arts learning.  (1) Those assumptions are incompatible with each other on both the ontological level (what constitutes art) and the pedagogical level (how to teach it).

In the first part of the article, I examine the day-to-day "operational curricula"(2) of the three art worlds in the subjects of dance and drama (which, when taught by specialists in the schools in which my colleagues and I observed, were taught as one subject), music, and visual arts. There are fundamental differences among these genres--in their out-of-school manifestations as well as in their ideal curricula--but, I argue, the genres are being diluted and their distinctions blurred, and they are sacrificing their potential contributions to one another. (3) In the second part of the article, I focus on the contexts in which the genres operate. Specifically, I examine the contexts of time and space for arts instruction, as well as the communities of practice in which school art functions. I show that each of the components plays a different, though interrelated, role in the dilution of the three genres of school art. In the third part, I suggest that the three genres may be strengthened by policies addressing the aforementioned contexts. I argue that similar genres and analogous dilution exist in other school subjects, from language arts to math and science, and that dilution is shaped by the same contexts that shape school arts. That commonality in structures, problems, and causes call for coordinated action. Accordingly, the development of policies should involve policymakers, teachers, and specialists in each of the genres (e.g., in the subjects of art, science, and math) so that efforts and deliberations may be aligned, informing and supporting each other.

School Arts

This article is based on two research studies, which examined arts education in elementary schools using qualitative methods. The first, a three-year project, was conducted under the auspices of the National Endowment for the Arts (4) The second, a four-year project, was sponsored by the Bureau of Educational Research and the research board at the University of Illinois. (5)

Observations revealed three genres of arts used in the schools: (1) "child art," meaning original compositions created by children in dance, drama, visual art, and music; (2) "fine art," meaning classical works in the different arteria created by established artists; and (3) "art for children," meaning art created by adults specifically for children, often for didactic purposes. Child art became a legitimate subject of scholarly discussion during the child study movement of e than a century ago. Its philosophical foundations can be traced to a Rousseau Ian notion. Fine art, grounded in humanistic goals, highlights a pursuit of excellence; the acquisition of cultural knowledge; and cognitive, factual, and critical approaches. In the schools, it draws on the disciplines of arts history, arts criticism, and less frequently, on the discipline of aesthetics. Art for children claims no scholarly framework. It does not, like child art, espouse self-expression, nor does it claim, like fine art, to be "the best of the culture." Rather, it serves practical needs in providing materials that are meant to be developmentally appropriate, accessible, and relevant to children's lives. In the following sections, I describe each of these genres as it is manifested in the operational curricula of elementary schools.

Child Art

In my studies of U.S. schools, child art was prevalent in the subjects of visual arts, and when it was taught, in dance/ drama, but it was nonexistent in music instruction. (6)

Arts instruction came in two forms: one taught by arts specialists, the other by general classroom teachers. When taught by arts specialists, content often focused on elements of art (color, shapes, lines, level, plot). When taught by classroom teachers, content revolved around themes of holidays, seasons, and special events (Easter bunnies, winter penguins, Valentine cards).