Montserrat Granados

Patrick Fahey
May 11th, 2016
Synthesis and Conclusion
The lecture and service learning in Art Education Concepts (Art
325) has demonstrated the importance of art in the classroom.
Through the various readings, activities, and planning I have received a
better understanding of how to teach art but also how to identify
various processes in my own art. This course covers many ideas and
concepts about early childhood education and secondary education.
The strongest terms and ideas were making vs. doing, teaching
approaches, and the role of art in society. Within these large ideas
there are more detailed concepts like artistic development, praxis, and
student oriented learning.
The classs initial introduction to making vs. doing came from
Studio Art. In this book the author, Marilyn Zurmuehlen, describes a
childs experiment with orange paint. After an adult intervenes the
child changes his response from making orange, to making an orange
wall. (Zurmuehlen, 1990) This begins to illustrate how artists can either
begin work with an intended process or content in mind or by exploring
materials, which can then turn, into something else. Doing can be
described as exploration without an intended meaning or outcome.
Making is working with an outcome, purpose, or meaning in mind. This

process can begin at different stages and can end or continue

depending on the artist.
The idea of doing vs. making also incorporates the stages of creativity
and praxis. Zurmuehlen writes about Rhoda Kellogs research on
childrens scribbles and how through those scribbles then establish an
understanding of art. (Zurmuehlen, 1990) This is identified as praxis,
making to inform creation or understanding. The stages of creativity,
similar to doing vs. making, can begin at any stage. Most of the time it
is continuous cycle. The stages are inspiration, imagination,
experimentation, and manifestation. As teachers we want to make sure
our lessons create room for these stages to happen in our students
artwork. These stages were evident in our service-learning portion of
the course. During the third lesson, found object printing, Tylor was not
excited about the project. He liked to focus on realism and couldnt
imagine how household items could help him create artwork he would
enjoy. I convinced him to give some materials a chance. He grabbed
Styrofoam and pressed a design onto it with the back of a paintbrush.
After applying paint and printing it he noticed that it came out how he
drew it, I identify this as experimentation. After seeing what he could
do he was in the inspiration stage. Which then lead to him creating
multiple prints with various objects that represented physical features
of his drawn characters. Imagination and creating were his final two

stages for that specific task. Like stated earlier this process is not liner
but cyclical.
In concepts of art education we also covered various teaching
approaches in art. In the chapter Visions and Versions of Art Education,
the Eliot Eisner breaks down some methods used in art education. The
article gives a brief introduction to discipline based art education,
visual culture, creative problem solving, and creative self-expression.
(Eisner, 2002) These methods each have their own curriculum and
intended outcomes and through time have inspired approaches like
expeditionary learning and choice based learning. Choice based
learning is an important component that can be integrated with many
of these methods. The importance of choice based learning is
presented in the video setting sail. The video follows a kindergarten
class that develops an emergent curriculum based on the students
interest. The teachers in this class pay attention to their students likes
and interests to develop a lesson on the Titanic. Through out the unit
students are dictating their learning by choosing how and what to work
on. The video demonstrates the teachers having a passive role in the
students decisions but is there to guide and support the learning.
(Setting Sail, 1997)
Art making process and emergent curriculum were evident in the
service-learning portion of the class. In the first lesson our group
taught material exploration through tissue paper, which focused on

doing, working on an exploration sheet, to making, finishing a

composition with the techniques, explored. This continued onto making
trading cards with the same size exploration paper. We realized that
this size sheet would make a good book size and began to focus our
projects as a way for the students to explore and play with materials
that could be kept in a book. This was also evident in our students
work. Kelsy for every project try a sample of what the assigned project
has but always dedicated most of the class to creating intricate patters
in black marker, her favorite. Kelsy is taking control of her learning by
making the choice to focus on something she enjoys. As teachers we
have to pay attention to this and try to nurture this motivation instead
of trying to focus it on another project.
Art is an integral part of society and is developed in most
children at a young age like researched by Rhoda Kellogg. Art
Education Concepts pushes this idea so that as teachers we can
defend our role in students education. Art is not a process done by
professional artists, or creative peoples, but can be used by all
students to communicate their experiences or ideas. As art teachers
our role is to develop artistic behaviors in all students and help them
identify this originator instinct, like described in Studio Art. Art is an
integral part of our society and has been used as a tool of
communication, collaboration, and creation.

Art Education Concepts does a good job at connecting lecture

and service learning to have a larger understanding about these
educational ideas. Before the service learning portion I struggled with
fully identifying terms like praxis, and wasnt until I was able to see if
my students work that I understood it. Learning about the various
teaching methods and teaching at the same time begins to connect
how you want to teach. The class advocates for art education and
gives us the tools to teach students and defend our role in schools.
This course has broken down basics in art education as well art
practices that can be incorporated into many subjects.

Bibliography
Eisner, E. (2002). Visions and Versions of Art Education. In Arts and
Creation of the Mind (pp. 2-45). Yalr University Press.
Setting Sail: An Emergent Curriculum Project (1997). [Motion Picture].
Zurmuehlen, M. (1990). Studio Art. Reston, Virginia: The National Art
Educaion Association.