How can I teach art in ways that
makes my students take pride in
their own cultural identity while
gaining respect and appreciation
for the art and customs of other
cultures?Marvin Bartel
http://www.goshen.edu/art/ed/multiculturalart.html
Is it appropriate to make assumptions about a
culture that has no word for art?
For example, Native American cultures have no
word for art. They do not separate “art” from life.
Is it right to imitate what might be sacred or at least
traditional in another culture?Marvin Bartel
http://www.goshen.edu/art/ed/multiculturalart.html
The Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona
If I know an artist’s intentions, I can motivate my
students to create art based on similar intentions related
to the culture of the students in my class.Marvin Bartel
http://www.goshen.edu/art/ed/multiculturalart.html
Learn about artists as part of
a larger unit. Here a Days of
the Dead celebration honors
Mexican artists Diego Rivera
and Frida Kahlo.
One approach is to start with the cultures
represented in your school and community.
Another is to start with a theme or big idea and
show how it has been expressed in art from
many cultures and times. Try to include visual
culture and both contemporary and historic
artworks.
Know what you are talking about.
How to Get Started
Ernest Boyer’s Human Commonalities
All of us:
• experience the life cycles.
• work.
• use symbols.
• know time and place.
• search for a larger purpose.
• have an aesthetic response.
• seek social bonding.
• have a connection to nature.
How to Get Started
One approach is to start with the cultures represented in your
school and community.
Come up with a theme or big idea. This can be as simple as identity,
community, story, nature, ecology, cycles, etc. Keep concepts
simple. Consider how that idea is expressed in art. Look for many
art examples from different times, places, and cultures that will
appeal to students. Try to include visual culture and both
contemporary and historic artworks.
Think about how you will engage your students. How can you
present each lesson in an interesting way? Sharing a book,
showing and discussing an Animoto video, PowerPoint, or Prezi?
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