Read and React: Chapter 3

 

            Chapter 3 is a brief look at the importance of building a conceptual knowledge base in student instruction before beginning the actual artmaking process. Walker says early on, “students often fail to make the necessary connections between what they know and the artmaking task at hand because their knowledge is dormant or inert” (39). Accessing that knowledge with simple classroom exercises—listing, writing, etc.—can help students to deepen their insights regarding the artistic task.

Walker then discusses the involved process of research and discovery that Robert Motherwell undertook before even beginning making his Elegies series, and then paralleled that process with a classroom unit that explored his Elegies series. Using their understanding of the process of building knowledge, students were able to create deeper and richer works of their own, with more insightful reactions to the work they viewed. They also explored how working in a series using the same subject matter repeatedly also influenced their creativity. Walker closes the chapter by suggesting that students who are led to probe more deeply into subjects are able to sustain attention longer in the artmaking process.

As I gain experience working with students of all ages, I believe more and more that discussion, questioning, and reflection are under-utilized in the typical classroom experience, which is unfortunate because I think that using those tools can produce some excellent student responses. Although I know I’m inexperienced, I have made sure to include all three of those experiences in the lessons I write and implement with the Columbia Art League as well as with my TA course, and so far they have greatly enhanced my students’ responses and the quality of my lessons. I think that building an artmaking knowledge base—both technical and conceptual—is also important for the structure and organization of a class. Sometimes it is necessary to break up time or intervene occasionally in order to redirect or refocus the attention of the students, especially during long periods of independent work time.

I was a little disappointed, however, that this chapter almost totally disregarded the importance of building up technical artmaking skills as well as conceptual. I understand that the stance is that there is “too much focus” on technical practice, however I think it is a mistake to put it aside totally instead of strategically combining technical with conceptual development. In my experiences, I have found that the frustration with one’s lack of technical skill can also lead to a dead end: giving up, shutting down, not even starting, starting over and over again, etc. I think you have to let the conceptual knowledge and the technical knowledge support each other, kind of let them feed each other’s knowledge.

I did however agree completely with the idea that researching the artistic process is a very important part of building an understanding of an artist’s conceptual idea. For example, I took my TA class (Art Appreciation) to the museum recently and introduced them to the Modern and Contemporary Art Gallery. Most of the students are business or engineering majors, so I figured it would be an interesting experience to show them works that they could not immediately understand or relate to—i.e. works that were not representational.  After I discussed the reactionary history of abstract art I began to explain that much of the conceptual backing behind abstract art concerns the process that artist took to make it. Andy Warhol did not want the artist’s hand to be present and literally manufactured his work, while Jackson Pollock literally walked about his work flinging blood, sweat, and tears into it. Although still somewhat a surface level understanding, I think that this helped to build some appreciation of what was otherwise a total disconnect.