When I was compiling this timeline, I was surprised to see just how cyclical certain ideas in art education have been over the centuries. I can see evidence of social reconstruction and John Dewey’s Art as Experience in today’s artist-as-activist and choice-based pedagogical approaches. But, it’s not like we’re reinventing the wheel—it seems like each cycle brings new knowledge and understanding to the practice of art education.
I’m excited to know that were I to choose to implement a TAB classroom, I could potentially look as far back as the 1930s for pedagogical points of reference.
I definitely need points of reference, because I don’t remember much of the art education experiences I had as a kid, and especially not from grade school in the 1990s. I know in 5th grade that my art class was renamed called “Venture Class” and focused on teaching creative life skills—that class is where I learned to read a map.
I think my early art education experiences in school were based around “school art” type projects. As a class, we were expected to follow instructions and create work with similar results. I wonder if my teachers were influenced by some form of DBAE, though honestly I can’t remember much besides completing some projects with strict instructions to follow.
At one point in my elementary art class experience, we were making scratch art as a class. I was determined to make a cool drawing of an alien creature. I even made one side of the crayon underlay green to be the grassy ground of the forest where the alien lived. I added stars to the border of the page my scratch drawing was mounted to and I signed my name both in cursive and print. I was so happy with my work. My parents hung it up and it was displayed in the house until this year, over 15 years later, when they gave it back to me.
Apparently, my piece wasn’t displayed in the library with the rest of my classmates’ work. My teacher pulled my mom aside and explained I hadn’t followed the directions of what to draw, and so my work didn’t look like everyone else’s. I’m lucky to have my mom, because she stood up for me: she was very proud of my work. My mom didn’t tell me this story until this past year, and I’m grateful to her for encouraging my creative expression.
In middle school I remember learning technique and theory, like drawing in various points of perspective and learning the color wheel. In high school, I had a bit more creative freedom, as my teacher set clear expectations and then let us work at our own speeds and with our own ideas. I also took AP art courses, in which the only requirements were completing work for the AP portfolio. Maybe my high school art teacher was influenced by TAB and choice-based practices… But he might have also just been a pretty laid back teacher. I remember him excitedly supporting students if they wanted to go beyond the basic requirements, and I remember him putting very little pressure on the kids who didn’t.
In my own practice, I’d like to incorporate choice-based approaches, studio thinking, and design thinking—maybe with aspects of John Dewey’s Art as Experience philosophy too. I strongly believe everyone can be creative. The teacher is responsible for creating an environment conducive to exploration and thought, and the teacher is responsible for guiding the student to the understanding that art is everywhere. Creativity can’t be dictated through strict rules, and art-making can’t be meaningful if it’s forced on the maker. Everyone can be an artist! They just need support to get there.