Judith Carroll How do critical thinking and learning function in the artist to artist/teacher relation
Summary
It is widely believed that art teachers convey strategies, such as critical thinking, to their students on the basis of artists’ practices. Therefore, the art school curriculum is formed on the basis of questions, such as ‘what it is like,’ ‘knowing what it is’, and ‘what to do or think about in doing.’ However, it is arguable whether art is teachable and in which way it should be taught. As a result, the art discipline is not related to the art practice in reality has been the discourse of the art curriculum. The investigation of what artists do needs to relate to both philosophy and history, and the result uncovered that the pedagogical recourses are rarely shown and applied in teaching. Although it is still widely believed that artists’ styles can be seen in the works of their students, the art educational convention can strongly motivate the instructional relations between students and teachers.
Art teachers always refer to their own university training and their previous experience at art schools, in terms of the pedagogical representation of their practice. However, how students cultivate the development of creativity is still unknown. James Elkins believes that art cannot be taught, while Howard Singerman argues that art practice can be taught through demonstrating the practice of professional artists in the real world. Dormers also acknowledges that the role of the artist’s self lies at the heart of an artwork; however, he questions that the concept of individualism has been likely to obey the individualism, in terms of supervising and assessing students’ works. Moreover, the contents that should be part of an art school curriculum are still questionable. Both Robert Hughes and Howard Singerman mentioned that students today have been trained to live like artists with the lack of skill training. However, many art teachers have been driven by the ‘external art world and educational agendas’ rather than their own artistic intentions and practices. Furthermore, well-established artists have become marketing devices for many universities; however, they either teach students the education that will not be the practice for making art, or they are not capable to have to an effective communication with their students to teach them basic knowledge and skills.
In the tutorial, we discussed about whether the art could be taught, and whether art teachers needed to be practical artists. Most peers believed that art was teachable; this was the reason why we were trained to be art teachers. Some argued that even though art teachers did not have to be professional artists and make money from their artworks, being able to pass our artistic skills to our students was extremely important, due to the crafty nature of this subject. It was agreed that the balance between the conceptual and technical aspects needed to be carefully considered in the art education. Personally, I think as the conceptual thinking and critical thinking have been integral parts of the contemporary art practice, art education today is not only about offering students our crafty and aesthetic skills, but also about teaching our own philosophies and perspectives to them. I believe that the art teachers do not have to be practical artist, but they should also have the knowledge of professional practices, such as exhibition application, proposal writing and professional presentation. As the contemporary art world and visual culture keep evolving, the teachers should be the leaners themselves so that they can bring the updated knowledge to their students.
yanxinart 