National Art Education Association

Art Education at Home and Around the WorldAuthor(s): Paul E. BolinSource: Art Education, Vol. 53, No. 1, Art Education at Home and Around the World (Jan.,2000), pp. 4-5Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3193854 .

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Art Education at Home andll the WO

o the best of my memory, I first noticed this change about 3 years ago. The box of new checks from my bank arrived in the mail, and when I unsealed the container I quickly recognized a small yet significant

difference in the way my checks were printed. Since the day I opened my checking account quite a number of years ago, until now, all my checks had been printed in the upper right corer with a 19_. The bank did this as a convenience, so when writing a check all I had to do was to fill in the month, day, and the last two digits of that particular year. When I examined my new checks, however, something was altered. The familiar 19_ was no longer present. In its place rested a continuous blank line. It was now my task to fill in the entire date. The 1900s were drawing to a close and the bank was preparing itself, as well as me, for the forthcoming change.

I may have been more acutely aware of this alteration in my checks because of an incident that took place in the days just preceding the delivery of the new checks in the mail. While indulging in one of my favorite pastimes-rummaging through second-hand stores-in the back corer of an antique shop I came across a timeworn ledger book from the 19th cen- tury. I knew it was from this era because printed in the upper right comer of each page was 18_. Seeing this, I was struck by the perceived permanence of a specified time period. In my hands rested an object that was designed for employment at a particular time, without the intention that its use as a book- keeping document would cross over into the next century. Its spell of usefulness was determined and stamped within its pages; its days were numbered, literally. This brief and seem-

ingly modest encounter with a musty leather-bound book caused me to stop and reflect on a world that was perceptibly different, yet in many ways similar to my own.

It is through encounters like this, with objects that make up everyday life, that we capture a fundamental and essential view of ourselves. James Deetz (1977) speaks to this notion by asking us not to overlook or ignore the great number of commonplace objects and patterns of life that make up our existence each day:

It is terribly important that the "small things forgotten" be remembered. For in the seemingly little and insignifi- cant things that accumulate to create a lifetime, the essence of our existence is captured. We must remember these bits and pieces, and we must use them in new and imaginative ways so that a different appreciation for what life is today, and was in the past, can be achieved. (p. 161) The conscious recognition of often passed over objects

and actions in life presents us with a potentially rich perspec- tive about the intertwined kinship between the past and the present.

This month begins what I anticipate to be a long line of journal issues that begin with 2 . "Art Education at Home and Around the World" is the theme that initiates the series. In this issue, Jay Michael Hanes and Eleanor Weisman dis- cuss aspects of drawing education in the home, through an analysis and interpretation of drawings made by their son Hawk. Mary Stokrocki extends the geographic purview of art education by presenting various sociocultural influences that come to bear on the drawings of children in Brazil. The devel- opment of a CD-ROM for teaching "Evaluating and Appreciating" art to Scottish school students is examined by Glen Coutts and David Hart. Some hardships and benefits of teaching through distance learning technologies are given first-hand by Mary Ann Stankiewicz and Elizabeth Garber. Together, these four articles bring focus to art education, as it occurs within the home and in locations around the world.

The final two articles in this issue are placed together for purposes of contrast. Anna Kindler argues forcefully, "that in a curriculum packed with 'issues' and 'ultimate concerns,' art education can and should free some space for the enjoyment and savoring of art in its purely aesthetic layer." This per- spective is juxtaposed with that offered by Olivia Gude, who

ART EDUCATION / JANUARY 2000

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helps to build a case for art education being a place where critical issues, particularly those involving racial understanding and cultural recogni- tion, are viewed as essential aspects of art education.

These final two articles in this issue of the journal are included to reflect a range of viewpoints the field is sorting out as we move from the 1900s to the 2000s. Doing this, I am fully cognizant of the similar predicament that Winston Smith, the main character from the book 1984, expressed as he began writing in his journal. Smith asked: "For whom, it suddenly occurred to him to wonder, was he writing this diary? For the future, for the unborn.... The magnitude of what he had undertaken came home to him. How could you communicate with the future?" (Orwell, 1949, p. 10). As editor ofArt Education and someone very interested in history, I am quite aware that in assembling each issue of the journal I am doing so for the present as well as for the future. The words con- tained within these pages are frozen in time, much like the worn-out ledger book from the 1800s and my bank checks from the 1900s were reflections of those times. The present condition of art education, as it is manifested within Art Education, is displayed within these pages. Yet so, may future generations judge that the current character of art education is not static, but is both decidedly diverse and dynamic.

Paul E. Bolin Editor

REFERENCES Deetz, J. (1977). In small thingsforgotten: The

archaeology of earlyAmerican life. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday.

Orwell, G. (1949). 1984. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

LETTERS THE

I _H^EKB Dear Editor: Art educators certainly are indebted to John

Hicks for his enlightening article, "It's Catch-up Time for Aesthetics," (July 1999) wherein he brings to our attention what aesthetics really means in art education and which most have overlooked or have not been aware of in recent years. Times have changed, as John points out, and society, more now than ever, is concerned with design and appearance-lawns have become "sculpture gardens"; homes have become "aesthetic environments"; and cars have become "instruments of personal expres- sion," to name a few examples. "This inundation of choices creates the necessity to make decisions, and decision making means more involvement with aesthetics." In reality, aesthetics now has taken center stage in life in America. But, where but in the art class does one acquire crite- ria for making all of these choices involving shape, form, line, color, and the function of things ? Some have been aware for many years of the

imporance of aesthetic aspects of ar education. In 1926, 73 years ago, Superintendent J.O. Engelman of Terre Haute, Indiana, in speaking to the art teachers of the state, said that via school art experiences, "gradually one's taste is refined, artistic standards developed, and one's knowl- edge increased to the point that he can justify his taste. H knows what he likes, and better still, why he likes it, whether the thing judged be a picture, a vase, or some uitilitarian object. The rank and file of your students become discriminatory crit- ics and more intelligent consumers of art, both fine and applied, with a commensurate increase in the aesthetic pleasure so long as they shall live." And Plato perceived that the natural laws governing the structure of the universe and man-harmony, proportion, balance, and rhythm-also govern the arts. And, as I noted in my book, ArtandAdolescence, "Art experiences involving line, shape, texture, and color, develop aesthetic awareness which is the basis for making choices not only in matters

of painting, drawing, sculpture, and the crafts, but also choices as consumers and selectors of vari- ous objects and commodities used in our daily lives. From where else does one derive criteria for choosing material objects: our clothes, cars, houses, appliances, and the like? Art class is the only place in the school curriculum wherein an understanding and awareness of good design is consciously and seriously developed. Our homes, our cities, even ourselves look as they do because of someone's choice involving build- ings, streets, parks, cars, clothing, and the multitude of objects we use in our daily lives." No wonder the public is beginning to realize the importance of aesthetics in our lives. Perhaps because art educators feel they have achieved the goal of developing aesthetic sensitivity that they are turning toward multicultural concerns and socio-political issues and away from aesthetic concerns. However, I believe the public is not aware that their concern for aesthetics in their lives is directly related to the teaching of art in school. Therefore, it becomes the responsibility of the art teacher to make parents aware of this relationship via speaking to parent groups, display of school artwork in the school and com- munity, and publicizing in the news media. Let us not become distracted from the real purpose of art in the school curriculum. Art educators, hang in there for the development of aesthetic sensitivity, good design, and creative aspects in art and in all of life for all students. Whatever happened to the many "good design shows" of the 1940s and 1950s? Maybe it's time to bring them back

Sincerely, John A. Michael

Professor Emeritus, Miami University P.S. What criteria for aesthetics/good design are art teachers following today: Dow's principles as put forth in his book, Composition, the Bauhaus's "Form follows function," or postmodernism's "anything goes"?

JANUARY 2000 / ART EDUCATION N

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