Maria Scuderi
Survey of Art Ed. 8730
April, 2013
Creating The Ethical Mind Within the Creation of Art
Art education is an area that remains
flexible and open for interpretation. As an art educator I can choose to be lazy
and stick to templates, formulas and conformed mimicry or I can think deeply
and creatively about what teaching methods will best serve my students in
attaining more then just lessons on how to draw.
The other day I received a gift, an offering from my mentor. She had brought it into class with the intention of giving it away, even though it had great personal value to her. It sat on the offering table for someone to claim. When I noticed that no one had chosen it I was happy to claim it for my own. This gift was thin, flat and the size of a piece of paper. It was a light gold color with black print in the center. The print was a quote that was framed with a simple black border. What did it say, you ask? Why was it so valuable? This is what is said:
The other day I received a gift, an offering from my mentor. She had brought it into class with the intention of giving it away, even though it had great personal value to her. It sat on the offering table for someone to claim. When I noticed that no one had chosen it I was happy to claim it for my own. This gift was thin, flat and the size of a piece of paper. It was a light gold color with black print in the center. The print was a quote that was framed with a simple black border. What did it say, you ask? Why was it so valuable? This is what is said:
“You don't have to do great things, but the little things you
are doing in your sphere of influence can be done with great conviction, great
wisdom, great beauty, and great love.” (Ruth Krehbial Jacobs) In my opinion, my
mentor’s personal conviction to do great work and be an exemplary role model used
this quote as, what Howard Gardner calls, her positive “booster shot” a
“periodic inoculation” for the ethical mind. (Gardner, 2008, pg. 135)
In studying to become an art teacher I have persevered while
overcoming obstacles that tried to throw me off tract and temptations that
tried to distract me and weaken my discipline. My faith in my abilities was all
I had to keep me going. I was told at a
younger age that I would not be a good candidate for becoming a teacher and I
let that belief take me in other directions. Those directions always ended in jobs
where I was aiding, coaching, counseling and training others. This is what made
me happy and gave me confidence to forge my way into following my passion. Howard
Gardner, in his book, 5 Minds for the Future, says we all want to live
in a world “characterized by good work, which is ethical, engaging and excellent.”
Within the Ethical Mind chapter he states, “Max Weber describes the religious
foundation of a “vocation” that goes beyond perfunctory performance and
reflects our heartfelt response to divine calling…” (2008, pg. 127) I heard my
calling and I answered it. So here I am a certified art teacher ready to do
good work within the classroom, the school, the community and beyond. I feel
responsible for presenting thought provoking, engaging and meaningful art
processes that will give my students more then just a finished product. I want
to give them meaningful sustenance to thrive off of. While thinking in terms of
how to implement an ethical mind, for myself as a mentor, and for my students,
as creative problem solvers and artistic inventors, I have adopted Gardner’s Four
M’s. These 4 M’s are used as “signposts toward the achievement of good work”.
(2008, pg.148) For me, as a teacher planning lessons, and for my students,
executing them, it is beneficial to have, 1) a Mission/goal. There are many
examples on Gardner’s website for The Good Works Projects that could be
turned into art lessons with ethical minded ideas. The Family Dinner Project,
is one example, see the link below.
For those students that don't have the opportunity to gather
around a family dinner table to “talk about things that matter”, students could
conceptualize a way of creating a virtual or real space dedicated to the
sharing of stories and creating connections over dinner conversation.
This big idea gives students a mission to create something with a purposeful goal that can have positive effects long after they graduate. (Harvard Project Zero, 2012) http://www.commonsensemedia.org/videos/insights-finding-a-voice
This big idea gives students a mission to create something with a purposeful goal that can have positive effects long after they graduate. (Harvard Project Zero, 2012) http://www.commonsensemedia.org/videos/insights-finding-a-voice
Being a good role model is my priority but even I need good
models and this is number two of the 4 M’s. Models are those that are
accessible, they shine a light on good practices, good behaviors and for young
artists good socially conscious art works. For teachers and students in the 21st
century it is imperative that we realize what it means to be a global citizen.
Helping students become aware of how their actions or non-actions have an
affect is just as important, and I would argue, even more, than teaching them two-point
perspective. Showing students contemporary art by young artists that have had a
positive impact on more then just a letter grade can ignite new curiosities and
inspirations beyond a solo art piece. A new favorite artists JR, a French
street artist, uses his camera to “show the world its true face”. Students
would be able to relate to the fact that he started out doing graffiti and most
likely be fascinated by his story and how he wants to use art to, “turn the
world inside out”. (Ted Talks, 2011) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PAy1zBtTbw
Another good example for younger students is the Classes4Classes-Kids Pay it 4ward project. Founder
Kaitlin Roig is a teacher that survived the Sandy Hook shootings in December
2012
“By creating an environment where students learn to care for
others not by talking but by doing, we cultivate a message that our lives are
not separate, but in fact completely connected. When we teach kindness, compassion,
love and empathy, there is no room for hate.” (Roig, 2013)
The last two M’s are, 3) Mirror test –individual version and 4) Mirror test-professional responsibility. Both have to do with metaphorically
looking into the mirror and asking, “Am I being a good worker-and, if not, what
can I do to become one?” or is my coworker or friend being
professional/appropriate and attending to necessary work and, if not, am I responsible
for turning a blind eye? “With the assumption of authority and maturity comes
the obligation to monitor what our peers are doing and, when necessary, to call
them to account.” (Gardner, 2008, pg. 149) In my opinion, developing an ethical
mind capacity through art education is important for more then just the
individual student but for society at large. However Gardner claims that
developing an ethical mind, which is more of an abstract way of thinking,
should come during the secondary years. I understand that preschoolers may not
be able to cognitively grasp the idea yet, in the ethical mind chapter, he
gives great examples of how children, preschool age, are being taught these
kind of behaviors and practices by ways of observing, the good works of their
parents and teachers in the Reggio Emilia schools in Italy. Preschool students
may not be able to understand how to use ethics in making decisions but they
can be taught the golden rule in many different ways. The rest of Gardner’s
minds are; the respectful mind, the disciplined mind, the synthesizing mind,
and the creating mind. I feel like the ethical mind is married to the
respectful mind and should follow each other or go hand in hand. For myself, I
did not spend years of my middle age and tons of money just to get the
opportunity to play and make art with my students all day. Not that both will
most definitely take place, but my internal motivation stems from a personal
mission to take up the slack in more then just fostering imaginative thinking but
to attend to awakening the hearts along with the ethical minds of my students.
I am in charge of nurturing and allowing my caterpillars the freedom to explore
and follow their instinctive flow. But it is also my duty to guide and present
nutritional seeds, during their chrysalis phase. Through contemplation with the
Mirror-test and some impressive examples I expect metamorphosis to do its magic
and produce inventive, visionary butterflies. Don't get me wrong, I’m certain
it wont be as easy as putting my students into a creative cocoon. Each of
Gardner’s minds are all elements with their unique principals, that weave
together a strong tapestry and beautiful multifaceted mind. The disciplined
mind develops through the evolution of any dedicated, internally motivated
artist after years of trial and error and steady refinements in craft. The
respectful mind can be cultivated through VTS practice, constructive criticism
both given and received, and in the detection of differences through deep
noticing and the sensitivity to details which opens ones eyes literally and
figuratively. Finally the synthesizing mind is a natural progression of all
artists. The right brain is usually dominant when conceiving and then
implementing imagined possibilities. Synthesizing occurs as the artist sees the
big picture, begins to configure and piece together different elements while identifying
patterns, creating relationships and drawing conclusions. Daniel Pink, author
of A Whole New Mind, Why
Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future, contends that we are transitioning
from an information age built on logical, linear, L-directed, or left brain,
thinking to a R-directed, right brain, creative thinking that handles
synthesis, emotional expression and conceptual thinking. (Pink, 2006)
The good news is that, as an art educator, I have a slight
advantage in fertilizing and producing agents of revolutionary change.
“Building on
discipline and synthesis, the creating mind breaks new ground. It puts forth
new ideas, poses unfamiliar questions, conjures up fresh ways of thinking, and
arrives at unexpected answers. Ultimately, these creations must find acceptance
among knowledgeable consumers. By virtue of its anchoring in territory that is
not yet rule-governed, the creating mind seeks to remain at least one step
ahead of even the most sophisticated computers and robots.”
(Gardner, 2008, pg. 3)
In the preface of Gardner’s book he says he was not aware of
Pinks book and that Pink never mentions him in return. I don't think this is
unusual since I don't think these ideas are new. Just as most art is built off
of preexisting art, these men are presenting the similar ideas and sentiments
as the author Mathew Fox in his 2002 book, Creativity, Where the Divine and the Human Meet. And Paul Duncan describes
this as “Intersexuality” in his 2010 article titled, Seven Principles for
Visual Culture Education. This is the basic idea of the interrelationship
between texts, usually in works of literature but is also used in reference to
visual texts.
“Creativity is in all of us. If education means to “lead out
of” (from the Latin educere), then it is the primary task of school to lead creativity
out of every child…to instill the confidence, trust, and ultimately the courage
it will take every human to live with chaos and transform it, to live with
creativity and honor it. If education fails at this, it fails at its most
important task.” (Matthew Fox, 2002)
British scientist Peter Russell
comments on how profoundly human culture is overwhelming biological evolution.
What now most affects our development is no longer “our genes but our ideas”
The human mind has become the dominant creative force on the planet. “If this
is true, then it is more important than ever to examine our powers of
creativity and learn to discipline them”. (Fox, 2002) Fox uses Lily Yeh as an
example of a creative mentor and community role model. Lily started the Village
of Arts and Humanities in Philadelphia. Drug addicts have been turned
around and taken leadership roles; all ages come together to learn and create
beauty where once there was garbage. Ester Wideman, former village board member
said, “There are now safe places to sit. There is color and beauty and
brightness where there used to be trash. If you walk through trash you feel
like trash; if you walk through beauty, you feel beautiful.” http://villagearts.org/
Psychologist Abraham Maslow believed that centering education
around creativity was the way to go. “Creative art education may be especially
important, not so much for turning out artists or art products, as for turning
out better people…we hope for our children that they will become full human
beings, and that they will move toward actualizing the potentialities that they
have, then the only kind of education that has…such goals is art education.”
(Fox, 2002, Pg. 210)
To sum up why it is necessary to forester more then just good
art practices but Ethical Mind art practice in conjunction with the 5 minds for
the future, I leave you with a quote from art critic and artist Suzi Gablik.
She speaks on how necessary it is for artists, and I will add art teachers, to
grow from a modern to a postmodern era…”Transformation cannot happen from
ever-more manic reproduction and consumption in the marketplace; it is more
likely to come from some new sense of service to the whole-from a new intensity
in personal commitment…The great collective project has, in fact, presented
itself. It is that of saving the earth.”(Fox, 2002, pg. 85) And I believe it is for saving our sense of
human community and interconnectedness.
