Contemporary Art At School, The Artist As Educator, Renewal Places In Art Education In Portugal

Author(s):

Lígia Lima(presenting / submitting)José Carlos De Paiva(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

29. Research on Arts Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

29 SES 09, Dialogues between the Art Museum and the School

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-04

11:00-12:30

Room:

B120 Sala de Aulas

Chair:

Tiago Assis

Contribution

This research proposes to reflect on students' learning and development concerning the experience of and relationship to contemporary art by involving art institutions as well as artists in the learning process, in the visual arts classroom context. Although this pedagogic approach has not been used in middle schools in Portugal, in the European context there are some references, namely in the UK.

Contemporary art is not integrated in the middle school curriculum of Visual Arts in Portugal and neither is the presence of artists. There is a lack of information in this area that builds up a learning process based on a deification of the artist and on art as a myth. This led to work with the pupils on the deconstruction of myths around art and artists. The contemporary art museum is relevant in this context as an educational institution and as a key place for legitimizing the work of art and simultaneously a place of questioning. According to Atkinson(2011), in contemporary art practice we can find work which often challenges what art practice or what being an artist is and, as a consequence, what it can become. Contemporary art practice advocates challenging thinking and the taking of risks.

It is also relevant to understand the role of the artist considering his engagement with participants based on his own authorial work as well as on his relation with the museum as an artist educator. By sharing art practice process, emotional bonds are created between students and the artist. This fact may open possible paths to the deconstruction of myths relating to art. If the contemporary artist is also a museum educator the communication and the approach to the contemporary art museum tends to be developed on a inner perspective of thinking the museum. The contemporary art institutions involved are Serralves Contemporary Art Museum and Casa da Imagem. The implementation of the research started with a group of 26 pupils, one artist educator and one teacher.

The research intends to focus in the meaning of this experience for students/ individuals involved, regarding memory, identity and deconstruction/construction of knowledge through a process of share, reflexive and critical involvement. Appropriation of culture and social interaction intends to be a learning process based on dialog.

It is important, in this context, to reflect on the fact that knowledge is being built from the point where the teacher/researcher is situated (Pringle, 2002). Pedagogy of the event and of the not-known, co-constructivism and slow education are educational concepts/paradigms for teaching and learning which can summarize the pedagogical theoretical framework of this research, defining where the researcher stands as teacher. Trying to respect different rhythms (slow schooling) and involving students on learning through collaborative activities(co-constructivism) intends to relate experiencing and engagement by exploring the world not in terms of what exists but in terms of what can be created(pedagogy of the event).

The pedagogic approach of this study is to construct knowledge and understanding on art, based on pupils' personal experiences developed in a cultural and social space by reflecting on teachers role and by reflecting on how artists and art institutions can interact inside the school. Trying to change educative routine and analyse and reflect upon its several aspects (positive, negative, neutral or unexpected) is a way of teachers being involved in their own educational process.

Can contemporary art projects undertaken between art institutions and artist educators in school context develop a conscious, critical and reflexive relationship between school and contemporary art museum/institutions? What effect does these projects have on pupils' personal development and understanding of art? What are the other effects?

Method

This research adopts an action research methodology. It is a qualitative study with multiple procedures based on the relations between students/individuals, teacher/investigator and artist/mediator through observation, interviews, diaries, graphs and videos, information boards, maps of ideas, and formal and informal meetings that aimed to produce empiric data for analysis, considering ethics. As this is an action research, the register of data integrates a mix of methods. A conventional definition of action research according to Cohen and Manion (1994) is that it is small-scale intervention in the functioning of the real world and a close examination of the effects of such intervention. Action research (McNiff, 1997) ‘actively involves teachers as participants in their own educational process’ and according to Dawn & Sedgwick (1996) teachers can regain a hold on practice and become learners alongside the pupils. It enables them to gain some understanding of the child’s view of what learning is. Using this method, it was sought to improve practice as a teacher and learn more about how pupils understand contemporary art, using the collaboration of an artist educator of the contemporary art museum. ‘Triangulation may be defined as the use of two or more methods of data collection in the study of some aspect of human behaviour’ (Cohen and Manion, 1994). According to Cohen and Manion, this helps to minimise the risk of researcher bias. Elliot (1991) explains the basic principle of triangulation is to collect accounts of a situation through a variety of angles and perspectives in order to compare and contrast them. The research was drawn up in the light of constant reflection. Each step was planned by all participants, based on the results of the previous one. There is a review of literature about the state of art concerning bibliography and research on art education applied to art teaching mentioning partnerships between art institutions, artists and schools at a national and international level. There was a review of literature about the knowledge and understanding domain of pedagogy, the art curriculum and the development of these in Portuguese middle schools. The literature about artists in schools and gallery education programs were reviewed concentrating mainly on examples from the UK.

Expected Outcomes

According to Steers (1997), national curricula are designed to define what knowledge should be transmitted (although not necessarily how things should be taught). In school context it is up to the teacher, to interpret the curriculum and decide how to teach it. Although teachers are allowed to use a vast range of pedagogic approaches, they are simultaneously under pressure to teach with standardized routines, drowned on papers and stuck on bureaucratic tasks. This turns to be a not reflexive and stationary path in the educative system. This research point to the need of understanding what meaning these kind of experiences have for participants as well as to understand in depth teachers' own perspective as art educators. The expected outcomes are related not just to pupils' critical and reflexive thought development about contemporary art and with the deconstruction of myths but to the development of their own identity. The research resulted on an unexpected temporal frame since it was extended from 6 weeks to 6 months (2012/2013). There were unexpected results such as the social and cultural interaction which grew around the project. There is a need to understand these facts in depth such as the extended communication platform with families, contemporary art institutions, artists educators, students and teachers. The need to analyse in depth these changes which were not expected to happen at the beginning of the research will probably lead to opening new paths and reflections on art education in Portuguese school context. This research points to the fact that the school can integrate the presence of the contemporary art museum through artist educators that are active in the school context, based on the process of sharing art practice and on their own authorial work, opening a renewal place for Art Education in Portugal.

References

ACASO, María (2011) Perspectivas, Situación actual de la educación en los museos de artes visuales, colección Fundación Telefónica. ALLEN, Felicity (2011) Education, a reader in the MIT / Whitechapel series, Documents of Contemporary Art, with an emphasis on texts by artists and practitioners ATKINSON, D. (2011) Art, Equality and Learning: Pedagogies Against the State. Rotterdam Boston Taipei: Sense Publishers. BOURDIEU, Pierre; DARBEL, Alain (2003) O amor pela arte – os museus de arte na Europa e seu público. Tradução Guilherme João de Freitas Teixeira, Editora da Universidade de S.Paulo, Editora Zouk, S.Paulo CAUQUELIN, Anne (2010) Arte Contemporânea, Publicações Europa-América,Presses, Edição revista e aumentada em 2009, tradução de Claudete Soares, Tradução Portuguesa de P.E.A. COHEN, L. and MANION, L. (1994). Research Methods in Education. London: Routledge. DAWN & SEDGWICK, F. (1996). Art Across the Curriculum. London: Hodder & Stoughton ESTERAS, Stella Maldonado(2008) Estrategias sensoriales para la recepción del arte contemporâneo, Su aplicación didáctica en los museos, in el arte contemporâneo en la educación artística, Antúnez , ávila, Zapatero(eds.) FERNANDEZ, Olga y RIO, Víctor del (2007:61) Estratégias críticas par una prática educativa en el arte contemporâneo, Patio Herreriano, Museo de Arte Contemporânea Español, caja España, Obra Social, Gráficas Andrés Martín, 2007. FRANCESCH, Joan Domènech(2009) Elogio de la Educación Lenta, Colección Micro-Macro Referências, Graó, Barcelona HUERTA, Ricardo (2011) Maestros, museos y artes visuals. Construyendo un imaginario educativo. in Art, Individuo y Sociedad, ver_ARIS.2011.v.23.n1.5, 23(1), 55-72. RANCIÈRE, Jacques, (2008) O mestre ignorante: cinco lições sobre a emancipação intelectual. 2. ed. Belo Horizonte: Autentica, 2005 PRINGLE, Emily. (2002). ‘We did stir things up: The Role of Artists in Sites for Learning’, London: Arts Council of England PRINGLE, Emily (2009). The Artist as Educator: Examining Relationships between Art Practice and Pedagogy in the Gallery Context. Tate Papers, (11). PRINGLE, Emily (2011). ‘What’s with the artist? Researching practice with visual arts practitioners’ in Thomson, P & Sefton-Green, J. (eds.) Researching Creative Learning: Methods and Issues. London: Routledge STEERS, J. (1997). Some Questions About the Future of Art and Design Education. Summary Paper for the International Symposium. The Arts and Education in Hong Kong, March 1997 ISLES OF SILLY , 2009/2010 Artists in Residence Programme Ania Bas at Stoke Newington School Whitechapel Gallery http://issuu.com/aniabas/docs/ania_bas_whitechapelfinal_websinglepage/1

Author Information

Lígia Lima (presenting / submitting)

i2ADS

nea

Porto

José Carlos De Paiva (presenting)

i2ADS, Portugal

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