#9 - Part I - Social Justice and Art: Black + White = Gray
Part I
My connection to Finnish schools was made possible through my friends/colleagues at Aalto University. All of the teachers, professors, and art education students that I meet during my stay were a pleasure to meet, and I owe a huge thanks to Dr. Mira Kallio-Tavin, University Lecturer of International Art Education and Dr. Kevin Tavin, Head of the Art Department and Professor of International Art Education. Kevin arranged for me to speak to several Art Education classes at Aalto, and Mira reached out to several teachers to help organize my visits to schools. Through her efforts, Mira found one school and teacher in particular that were willing to have me as their guest for multiple visits and a possible collaboration; Salla Iivanainen - Visual Art Teacher at the Secondary and Upper Secondary School of Lauttasaari, Isokaari 19.
Going into this experience, my initial goal was to see how Finnish students would respond to an art unit, perhaps one that I had employed in the past with my students, and then to compare the results. No doubt, it would have been easier to stick with tried-and-true lessons. Instead, I entertained the idea of trying to collaborate on a lesson that focused on issues of social justice. I knew I was creating more work for myself with this approach as the dialogue that precedes the project can often dictate the direction the students want to go in rather than having a common starting point with other types of lessons.
I also knew from past experience that there was something incredibly rewarding hearing students engage in critical discourse about issues of race, gender and culture. I have come to appreciate over the years that students have opinions about these issues and that art can be a powerful means of expression when given the opportunity. It was especially appealing to me knowing I had a unique opportunity to hear how students from another country might respond to similar issues.
My connection to Finnish schools was made possible through my friends/colleagues at Aalto University. All of the teachers, professors, and art education students that I meet during my stay were a pleasure to meet, and I owe a huge thanks to Dr. Mira Kallio-Tavin, University Lecturer of International Art Education and Dr. Kevin Tavin, Head of the Art Department and Professor of International Art Education. Kevin arranged for me to speak to several Art Education classes at Aalto, and Mira reached out to several teachers to help organize my visits to schools. Through her efforts, Mira found one school and teacher in particular that were willing to have me as their guest for multiple visits and a possible collaboration; Salla Iivanainen - Visual Art Teacher at the Secondary and Upper Secondary School of Lauttasaari, Isokaari 19.
Going into this experience, my initial goal was to see how Finnish students would respond to an art unit, perhaps one that I had employed in the past with my students, and then to compare the results. No doubt, it would have been easier to stick with tried-and-true lessons. Instead, I entertained the idea of trying to collaborate on a lesson that focused on issues of social justice. I knew I was creating more work for myself with this approach as the dialogue that precedes the project can often dictate the direction the students want to go in rather than having a common starting point with other types of lessons.
I also knew from past experience that there was something incredibly rewarding hearing students engage in critical discourse about issues of race, gender and culture. I have come to appreciate over the years that students have opinions about these issues and that art can be a powerful means of expression when given the opportunity. It was especially appealing to me knowing I had a unique opportunity to hear how students from another country might respond to similar issues.
While I have worked with these types of topics in the past, it was especially relevant given the news stories that were prominent during the first half of the 2014 school year. It was becoming increasingly difficult to avoid conversations with students in school concerning issues of race as many had questions and concerns after seeing, hearing, and/or reading about national (and inter-national) news stories regarding “Ferguson”, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice, et al. Rather than avoid these stories, my school’s administration encouraged teachers to approach these topics in the classroom as they (the teachers) deemed appropriate. Diversity lunches were held with open conversations, students approached the topics in the school newspaper, and as expected some teachers worked the topics into their daily lessons. No teacher or student was forced to participate; instead opportunities were created for students to have a voice. Likewise, I put the call out for any students who were interested to create art in response to these stories, or any other issues of interest. Navigating topics of race, authority, and politics can be challenging. However, having the support from my head of school and other administrators who trusted that myself and other teachers would handle these discussions with tact was incredibly refreshing and empowering.
I proposed the idea to my Finnish counterpart (Salla) via e-mail and received a favorable response. She too, was interested in how her students would respond to issues of social justice within the context of their own culture. The connection was made and the pressure was on. I had just eight weeks before my departure for Finland to pull off an art-making unit with my students that was meaningful and yielded results that would translate with our Finnish counterparts.
Creating art in response to one’s knowledge of a particular issue or event poses several challenges, particularly at the middle school level. Listed below are considerations that I tend to keep in mind when promoting these types of projects:
* Facilitating Conversations – Student ideas are generally grounded in the beliefs of their guardians. Sub-consciously, ideas about race, gender, and culture are also formulated based on one’s exposure to imagery and media. At the middle school level, students are able to articulate their ideas; some freely with passion and conviction and others through encouragement. It is important that students can engage in an open dialogue and feel as though their ideas are valued. This often requires the teacher to provide additional information related to the news story or issue from different points of view.
* Symbolism - Get students to think symbolically with their ideas so the imagery and message promote critical thinking.
* Image and Text - allowing students to incorporate text with their imagery can enhance the overall meaning and purpose of their work. However, the challenge can be getting the student to not make the work and its intended message look like glorified protest posters, i.e. – smart, creative work vs. something blatantly literal.
* Contemporary Artists - Getting students to include symbolism and text into their work can be aided by introducing and critiquing the work of contemporary artists that approach issues of social justice within their own work.
* Mediums - Have a common starting point for students in regards to the medium(s) that are used so that the timing and sequencing of the project can be controlled. As with any lesson, the mess can get quickly out of hand if students choose whatever medium they desire.
Facing these challenges in my own classroom is one thing; the anticipation of putting them into practice in Finland given the cultural barrier and time restraints was unnerving. I was hopeful, however, that once the Finnish students saw examples of work from my own students that the cultural barrier might be breached. I had done some research beforehand on cultural/racial issues in Finnish society, but I was also going to need to rely on my collaborator to help facilitate these conversations. Finally, given my limited time in Finland, it was probable that the Finnish students would not complete their projects before my departure. Depending on how the project got off the ground, I half-heartedly imagined that once I left, the Finnish teacher would dismiss the project altogether and go back to her regularly scheduled lessons.
Too ambitious? In over my head? How did the Finnish students respond? Check out Part II of this post to read the details.
In the meantime, the images below are the results that came from my students completed just days before my departure to Finland. Like many projects, there is always a greater interest at first and then students drop out. In the end I had a consistent group of 12-13 year old, 7th grade students that came in willingly during their afternoon study hall time. I ask the students to write an artist statement to accompany the work so that the viewer can understand their intentions and to avoid misinterpretations. When you click on the images you can see statement in the caption.
I proposed the idea to my Finnish counterpart (Salla) via e-mail and received a favorable response. She too, was interested in how her students would respond to issues of social justice within the context of their own culture. The connection was made and the pressure was on. I had just eight weeks before my departure for Finland to pull off an art-making unit with my students that was meaningful and yielded results that would translate with our Finnish counterparts.
Creating art in response to one’s knowledge of a particular issue or event poses several challenges, particularly at the middle school level. Listed below are considerations that I tend to keep in mind when promoting these types of projects:
* Facilitating Conversations – Student ideas are generally grounded in the beliefs of their guardians. Sub-consciously, ideas about race, gender, and culture are also formulated based on one’s exposure to imagery and media. At the middle school level, students are able to articulate their ideas; some freely with passion and conviction and others through encouragement. It is important that students can engage in an open dialogue and feel as though their ideas are valued. This often requires the teacher to provide additional information related to the news story or issue from different points of view.
* Symbolism - Get students to think symbolically with their ideas so the imagery and message promote critical thinking.
* Image and Text - allowing students to incorporate text with their imagery can enhance the overall meaning and purpose of their work. However, the challenge can be getting the student to not make the work and its intended message look like glorified protest posters, i.e. – smart, creative work vs. something blatantly literal.
* Contemporary Artists - Getting students to include symbolism and text into their work can be aided by introducing and critiquing the work of contemporary artists that approach issues of social justice within their own work.
* Mediums - Have a common starting point for students in regards to the medium(s) that are used so that the timing and sequencing of the project can be controlled. As with any lesson, the mess can get quickly out of hand if students choose whatever medium they desire.
Facing these challenges in my own classroom is one thing; the anticipation of putting them into practice in Finland given the cultural barrier and time restraints was unnerving. I was hopeful, however, that once the Finnish students saw examples of work from my own students that the cultural barrier might be breached. I had done some research beforehand on cultural/racial issues in Finnish society, but I was also going to need to rely on my collaborator to help facilitate these conversations. Finally, given my limited time in Finland, it was probable that the Finnish students would not complete their projects before my departure. Depending on how the project got off the ground, I half-heartedly imagined that once I left, the Finnish teacher would dismiss the project altogether and go back to her regularly scheduled lessons.
Too ambitious? In over my head? How did the Finnish students respond? Check out Part II of this post to read the details.
In the meantime, the images below are the results that came from my students completed just days before my departure to Finland. Like many projects, there is always a greater interest at first and then students drop out. In the end I had a consistent group of 12-13 year old, 7th grade students that came in willingly during their afternoon study hall time. I ask the students to write an artist statement to accompany the work so that the viewer can understand their intentions and to avoid misinterpretations. When you click on the images you can see statement in the caption.