PARTICIPANTS:

SageStage Minotaur, l113285l113285, Liliann Ling, and Sandrine Han

Announcement:

1. The Cyprus Society for Education through the Arts (CySEA) invites you to submit a paper/abstract to the 2012 Europea n InSEA Regional Conference at www.insea2012.org .
   The theme of the Conference, which will be held from the 25th to the 27th of June 2012 in Limassol, Cyprus, is Arts Education at the Crossroad of Cultures. Further information regarding the themes/topics can be found at the conference website.The submission deadline is December 15th, 2011 (notification to authors via the conference website).
2. The call for papers for the InSEA/USSEA Regional conference has been extended until January 1, 2012.
3. New group on Facebook- International Journal of Education Through Art – welcome!
   https://www.facebook.com/groups/306543652698847/ 

Discussion: How does art education change the world? As we know, art education is important to our life. And the goal for art education today is not for training artist. What does art education includes that can change the world? And how should art educators do to make it happen?

Liliann Ling: Change the world sounds so farway, but maybe think about art activism?

SageStage Minotaur: use of materials, an understanding of symbol systems and visual expression to create meaning, interpretation of histories and societies from the study of visual art within specific cultural contexts, an ability to analyze visual art in relation to other disciplines and contexts, and an ability to think and work critically through ongoing critique of one’s own work and the work of others.

The Transcultural Dialogue is artmaking from dialogue, the dialogue reveals assumptions, misunderstandings, and develops understanding and sustains difference.

Sandrine Han: I was talking with some teachers yesterday, they think even if the students cannot be artists or designers, at least they can improve their aesthetic in their college time…  I agree with that. I think the basic of how to look, and how to understand aesthetics is important…

SageStage Minotaur: Sounds like the teachers were seeing art education as taste-makers or connoisseurs.

Liliann Ling: it depends on how one see art education is

Sandrine Han: for me, aesthetic is not only about taste maker, but more about understanding, and critical thinking…

SageStage Minotaur: Yesterday, I went o Feministing: Offline & Unfiltered, http://feministing.com/2010/09/30/feministing-on-tour-offline-and-unfiltered/

The noted how their blogs had an impact in changing policy and lives.

They could provide examples but have not done a systematic study of feminist blogs to document the impact. The same is the case with art education.

Sandrine Han: Can art educators have the power to change policy? and how? with examples and studies?

SageStage Minotaur: We know art is powerful in persuading. This is why Hitler, Pinochet, and other dictators enforce strict control of what art can be exhibited.

At Dachua the exhibit traces the visual culture influences that created fear, status of superior for some people and inhuman for others to convince large numbers of people to participate in genocide.

Sandrine Han: Karen, I have a small question, how many students do you think after they grown up, they will use art to tell the world what the world need to change? of course I wish every one of them can do it. But, as we know, there are very few of them can really be an artist that can be seen in the world…

SageStage Minotaur: When you recalled the teachers stating “at least they can improve their aesthetic in their college time” this sounds like particular values and preferences developed rather than concern with criticality, feminist lens, and other ways toward social justice and to stop injustice.

Sandrine Han: for me, aesthetic is about everything you mentioned… that is what I am teaching now… and that is the ability I want them to have… they will have the ability to see, understand, and critic

Liliann Ling: I have a feeling that many teachers in Taiwan do not share the same ideas with you

Sandrine Han: actually no… at least in higher education level… I was surprised, but happy about it

SageStage Minotaur: I will be teaching about 80 adult students in Austria next spring. Few will consider themselves artist. Few will have created visual expression since a child. They will be involved is “Social Justice Activism through Arts-based Research: Agency and Transformative Identity Politics” which is the focus of one of the courses.

I have many years experience teaching those who are not artists and do not plan to be artists to create visual expression to change the world toward a more just world.

Here’s my draft of the course description:

Arts-based research as social justice activism is when the project extends beyond data collection and analysis to answer research questions, but to also change the current status of conditions impacting living and working conditions. Here, ethics are of utmost importance and reciprocity between researcher and participants is emphasized through dialogically-based research methods to avoid exploitation. This course addresses strategies and avenues for using arts-based research as a path for change and advocacy drawing on artists’ socio-political work with communication

technologies to inspire political action and social change; and Augusto Boal participatory theatre strategies for difficult dialogues, in that a focus on ethics involves mutually educative dialogue, reciprocal-reflexivity, and intersubjectivity (Alexander & Mohanty, 2010; Boal, 1985, 1992; Brouwer, Mulder, Nigten, & Martz, 2005; Butler, 2005; Dill & Zambrana, 2009; Fischer, 2010; Lykes & Coquillon, 2006). Art activism in the 21st century uses.

Sandrine Han: excuse me, I think I didn’t get it. do you imply that only art creation can change the world?

SageStage Minotaur: I sure how there are more ways. I believe that actions (which includes inaction)change the world.

Everything changes the world as it is not frozen (yet). The issue for education is how to be aware of the change our actions and inactions make, be responsible for our actions and inactions, and understand from different perspectives to be culturally responsible in our actions. every choice and action or inaction has political consequences.

 

FIELD TRIP: NIU student virtual art exhibition http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Art%20Cafe/183/213/22 

 

Next meeting time: January 7th, 2011.

8 AM SL time= 8AM PST, 9AM MST, 10 AM CST, 11 AM EST; Frankfurt=17:00; Taipei=0:00

You are very welcome to join us!