Reading Reflection #1

Elliot W. Eisner begins The Arts and the Creation of the Mind by describing human experience, at it's most basic, as an interaction with the qualitative environment as explored through our various senses. Throughout development, “the actualization of capacity, that is, the transformation of capacity to ability, depends on both what the individual brings to the environment and what the environment brings to the individual.”(p. 20). As this exploration continues, the child's ability to differentiate based on qualitative subtleties, form concepts, and use and recognize symbolic representation become increasingly more sophisticated; a process which is largely shaped by the physical and cultural environment provided to the child.

The author goes on in Chapter 2, Visions and Versions of Arts Education, to describe various philosophies and active approaches guiding arts curriculum, including their merits, possibilities, and limitations. Having long been a proponent of the “integrated arts” model, I was also enthused by the notion of curriculum being guided by the arts' role in cognitive development. In my view, the two concepts are inextricably bound together, the latter forming the underpinning philosophy which supports and informs the actualization of a working integrated arts model.

[T]he tasks that the arts put forward – such as noticing subtleties among qualitative relationships, interpreting the metaphorical meanings the work displays, exploiting unanticipated opportunities, in the course of one's work – require complex modes of thought. Examined analytically, work in the arts provides an agenda rich in such opportunities.(Eisner p. 35)

 What this means to me is that education is about process, about shaping and working the child's capacities; it's about revealing truth and possibilities, not just imparting information. For me, the importance of endowing the student with an inter-relational understanding of the world and its many parts cannot be overstated, and I'm sure this will be a recurring theme which informs my point of view throughout our class discussion.

Both Eisner and Freedman (in Teaching Visual Culture) seem to be questioning the scope of art curriculum; it's role in our schools, and essentially it's role in our culture. The need for a curriculum in the arts which helps us decipher a visually complex, saturated, and stimulating landscape demands a redefinition of what the arts are and what they encompass. Furthermore, the modes of cognition, skills, and capacities which are nurtured by the arts and exercised by visual literacy are necessary for taking us forward in this dynamic age, defined by rapid change and innovation.

To harken back to Liz Coleman's passionate call to action for educators in liberal arts fields (Coleman 2009), the authors seem to understand the importance of visual literacy in the process of deconstructing political and economic power structures through increased understanding of the origins, meanings, and motives behind the images with which we are presented. Sufficient knowledge about who produces images and why is crucial to a discerning and thoughtful citizenry, necessary for a working, multicultural, postmodern democracy. Furthermore, said knowledge fosters the kind of progress and innovation that is cognizant of it's own visual implications.

Eisner, E. W. (2002). The arts and the creation of mind. New Haven: Yale University Press. 

Freedman, K. (2003). Teaching visual culture: Curriculum, aesthetics, and the social life of art. New York: Teachers College Press.

Coleman, Liz (Feb 2009). Liz Coleman's call to reinvent liberal arts education

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/liz_coleman_s_call_to_reinvent_liberal_arts_education.html