Art Education

ISSN: 0004-3125 (Print) 2325-5161 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uare20

Teaching Art, Teaching Artists, Teaching Art

Teachers

Robert Sweeny

To cite this article: Robert Sweeny (2013) Teaching Art, Teaching Artists, Teaching Art Teachers,
Art Education, 66:3, 6-7

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 E ditorial

Teaching Art, Teaching Artists,

Teaching as a self-referential
T
eaching is complicated, and it is also complex:
Complex in the sense that small, localized actions
communicative process is made can contribute to large-scale shifts in the system
as a whole. Teachers of art have the capacity to help to make
possible by the continuous testing these shifts visible in a way that everyone involved might better
understand the relationship between the parts and the whole.
on the part of the parties involved in Teaching teachers of art requires a continual testing, as the
quote above states. Teachers of teachers must constantly shift
the communication of whether the between what is taught—content—and the form that allows this
content to be communicated. This relationship between form
previous communication has been and content is not a new conversation to many artist-educators.
understood. (Rasmussen, 2006, p. 218) What may be new is the language of complexity theory, which
has introduced a range of powerful descriptive language in the
sciences and humanities. In the language of complexity theory,
this self-referential interplay would be called feedback.
Complex systems are able to adapt to changing conditions
through feedback loops. Even in simple situations, such as home
heating and cooling systems, larger conditions are determined
through small-scale changes. The thermostat monitors the
temperature of the room, and when the room cools down or
heats up beyond the preset level, the systems turns on and
regulates the area. The systems are kept in a state of balance,
known as homeostasis, through continuous interplay between
individual elements.
How do we monitor the large-scale attributes of the complex
systems that make up Art Education? What is the current
temperature of the field? Teacher education programs are one of
the ways that small-scale educational actions register within the
larger whole of what constitutes art educational practice. Each
Letters to the Editor methods class, each student teaching experience, each coop-
(page 53) erating teacher changes the whole of the field, ever so slightly.
When I am teaching my methods classes, for example, I am
relying upon my experiences as a Middle Level and High School
Art Educator, as well as the research that I have conducted at
the University level. Along with this, I am also referring to my
Call for Papers for special issue of own experiences as an art student, thinking back to my pK-12
Art Education on Violence and Art art studies, as well as my own self-directed productions. I am
Education (page 46) thinking about my studies conducted in pursuit of my Master's
of Fine Art degree.
All of these experiences fold into the content of my methods
course. Inevitably, the content of the course is also influenced
Robert Sweeny is Associate Professor by the course itself. This reflexive, dynamic structure makes
of Art and Art Education at Indiana the teaching of future teachers a complex affair. The content—
University of Pennsylvania. Teaching Art—is always caught in a self-reflexive relationship
with the process of teaching. I am teaching about teaching
E-mail: [email protected]
through teaching. As the title of this issue indicates, teacher
educators are often teaching content that is threefold in nature.

6 Art Education / May 2013

Teaching Art Teachers
1. We are teaching about art , 3. We are teaching about how to be an art
in its many forms and varieties. teacher , or perhaps artist-teacher. How
Many preservice art educators that I have taught have little or one can transform artistic knowledge into
no knowledge of contemporary art. Even more surprising is the
the creation of an environment where art is
general lack of knowledge of art that is made within the commu-
nities where the students originate and reside. My first goal as an appreciated, created, and understood.
art teacher educator is to help to familiarize future art teachers Part of the creation of this environment is the physical space
with a wide range of modes and models of artistic production, where art is taught. In “A Case Study in Classroom Management
particularly those that are within their own communities. This and School Involvement: Designing an Art Room for Effective
is reflected in “Hands-On Teaching in a Campus Museum: Learning,” Jeffrey L. Broome provides the reader with many
Linking Theory and Practice,” by Denise L. Stone. This article important insights dealing with classroom management as
outlines a course for preservice art educators that utilizes the related to the physical classroom space. He suggests that involve-
campus museum as site for pedagogy that is dramatically ment and investment in the school can allow art educators to be
different from the art classroom. In a similar manner, Timothy more central in planning issues that ultimately result in more
J. Frawley provides the reader with an example of a fine arts visibility and more respect. Another issue that is important in
curriculum that engages students in explorations of art, music, establishing one as a professional artist-educator is the ability
and dance with the arts institutions found in their communities. to communicate with colleagues, parents, administrators, and
His article, “Aesthetic Education: Its Place in Teacher Training,” the community at large. In “Preservice Teachers and Blogs: An
suggests that preservice art educators can begin to value the arts Invitation to Extended Reflection and Conversation,” Wendy
in their communities through coursework that allows them to Miller and Rachel Marie-Crane Williams suggest that digital
engage with these experiences. communications can establish connections between and among
art educators. These are connections that can be quite beneficial
2. We are teaching about how to be to first-year art teachers, as well as seasoned art educators who
an artist ; how students can take the have yet to make the jump into social media.

information on art that is taught and This issue of Art Education is dedicated to the notion
that small-scale shifts can result in large-scale change. This
transform it into actions that indicate that takes place through the “continuous testing” referred to in
this individual is an artist. the opening quote, though I believe that it is shortsighted to
Teaching art is different from teaching one how to be an think about this process in the form of standardized testing.
artist. As many of us have experienced, art students will choose Continuous testing that establishes a balance in the spaces of art
numerous paths as they experience the process of schooling. education come in many forms: It can be seen in the testing of
Few will go on to be involved with art professionally, though boundaries, where the sociocultural assumptions of the teacher
many may continue to make art, in numerous ways and for a and student are challenged; it can be seen in the testing of skills,
multitude of reasons. Nan E. Hathaway discusses the possibili- where teacher and student are pushed to know and do more
ties that can occur when art educators rethink the modes of than has been previously achievable; it can be seen in the testing
presentation that take place within the traditional classroom of personal limits, where the individual confronts what can be
in “Smoke and Mirrors: Art Teacher as Magician.” Hathaway known through the process of making art. It is increasingly
argues that much of traditional art education is based in a important for art educators to maintain a level of self-reference,
model of mimicry that only simulates the exploration that continually testing one’s self in an era when teacher certification
artists undertake in actual practice. In this issue’s Instructional is under increased scrutiny by lawmakers, as well as consultants
Resource, Bárbara C. Cruz and Noel Smith discuss the work and corporations eager to profit from the business of standard-
of Mark Dion, a contemporary American artist who utilizes ized teacher licensure. We must make sure what we teach is
numerous modes of working and making. This insightful clear, is challenging to all stakeholders, is culturally and socially
overview describes for art educators a set of practices that can relevant, and is understood at numerous levels. We must be able
lead to interdisciplinary forms of inquiry, as well as self-reflec- to have a sense of the educational as well as the artistic climate:
tive questions that challenge traditional notions of what it means when to let things cool or turn up the heat.
to be an artist. Robert Sweeny, Editor

REFERENCE
Rasmussen, J. (2006). Learning, teaching, and complexity. In D. Trueit, J. St.
Julien, W. Doll & M. J. Fleener (Eds.), Chaos, complexity, curriculum, and
culture (pp. 209-234). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

May 2013 / Art Education 7