THE ARTIST/TEACHER IDENTITY IN THE

CLASSROOM

By Marcia Jackson

M.Ed. Candidate

Sam Houston State University

The Art Educator Asks: Who am I?

Teacher? Artist? Mentor? Researcher? All of the above?

?

What’s the difference?

Artist Teacher vs. Teacher of Art

An artist teacher is an individual who practices making art and teaching art and who is dedicated to both activities as a practitioner.

A teacher of art is an individual dedicated to the artistic development of students who does not necessarily practice as an artist.

(Thornton 2011)

Should an Art Educator Practice What They Preach Teach?

Problem Statement

The concept of the artist-teacher has less to do with the

professional activities of an artist

And more to do with an active

thinking process applied to educational

situations.

(Daichendt 2010)

The Dual Roles of Artist & Teacher

Educating the Students Nurturing the Artist

How do these roles interact?

How Does an Educator’s Artmaking Influence the Content of Teaching?

Contemporary Art Involvement

Allows the content of the discipline to be open to renovation and reconstruction

Students become critical interpreters of art and contributors to an evolving discipline

Engaging students in art experiences outside of school: galleries, museums, community art projects, visiting artists

Students gain access to an expanding vocabulary of art

Creating Meaning

Art is a body of evolving knowledge that is about something (not just techniques to be learned)

Students learn to think broadly

Exploration of personal and/or cultural narratives

Creating conceptual contexts beyond just the visual

(Graham & Zwirn 2010)

Teachers who embrace their own

artistic aptitudes and value the connections

between studio and classroom can create

a classroom experience that utilizes

individual artmaking interests.

(Daichendt 2009)

The Artist/Teacher Models the Artistic Process and Making Mistakes

Encourages an atmosphere that

values learning by first getting it wrong

Artist/Teachers are sensitive to the

artistic challenges of their students

Learning is not always about the

product, sometimes learning occurs in the form of perseverance

Models persistence in the face of risks and

failures

Redefines curriculum as open-ended, emergent,

and fluid

(Graham & Zwirn 2010)

Mentoring in the Art Classroom

Comes form experience and confidence working with materials and ideas

Is not complacent Confidence using artistic vocabulary Ability to relay connections among

technique, materials, craft, and ideas Treating students as young artists

Play: Important for the teacher as well as the students

The artist is accustomed to working in the open spaces of creativity, ambiguity, uncertainty, opinion, and personal story.

Woven into this relationship with the discipline is a sense of play.

Some teaching artists make this kind of playful interaction within their discipline an essential component of their curriculum and teaching.

(Graham 2009)

Conversation

Key element for interaction with students about art

The practicing artist/teacher promotes student inquiry about making art

Inquiry leads to dialogue Providing additional opportunities to

utilize Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS)

Nurturing the Artist

Nurturing the Artist in the Art Teachertakes a look at how some art educators are nurturing their artist identity and bringing it back into the classroom.

(Liscow 2009)

Professional Identity Management Strategies

Holding one professional art educator identity while feeling pressure to be more of an artist

Integrating multiple identities into one Balancing of multiple identities The use of naming for self identification

(Hatfield, Montana, & Deffenbaugh 2006)

The failure to interweave the two traditions – art and education – in a meaningful way has created art teachers who see the roles of artist and teacher as incompatible.

(Daichendt 2010)

In the field of art education, many art educators agree that balancing multiple identities is empowering art teachers to demonstrate their artistic processes and pedagogical strategies.

(Lim 2006)

The art educator inevitably has a professional obligation to identify the qualities conducive for effectiveness and to establish means to reach that level of effectiveness.

(Anderson 1981)

ConclusionHolding an Artist identity enhances and enriches the Teacher identity. Modeling the artistic process in the teacher self shows the students that mistakes are meant to be made in order to develop divergent thinking that allows them to persevere. Play engages experimentation for both the teacher and students. Multiple identity roles such as artist, teacher, mentor, and researcher add value to the practice of both artistry and pedagogy.

BibliographyAnderson, C. (1981). The Identity Crisis of the Art Educator: Artist? Teacher? Both? Art Education Vol. 34, No. 4 (Jul., 1981), pp. 45-46. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3192553

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Daichendt, G. (2009). George Wallis: The Original Artist-Teacher. Teaching Artist Journal, 7(4), 219-226. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Elliott, S. E. (2006). The artist/teacher connection in preservice art education. Ed.D. dissertation, University of Rochester, United States -- New York. Retrieved from Dissertations & Theses: Full Text.(Publication No. AAT 3220551).

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BibliographyHatfield, C., Montana, V., & Deffenbaugh, C. (2006). Artist/Art Educator: Making Sense of Identity Issues. Art Education, 59(3), 42-47. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Jackson, M. (2009) Original Illustrations (5)

Lim, E. (2006). Influences of Studio Practice on Art Teachers' Professional Identities. Northern Illinois University, United States. Retrieved from http://www.uiowa.edu/~srae/workingpapers/2006/documents/06_Lim_Eun-Hee-Paper.pdf

Liscow, W. (2009). Nurturing the Artist in the Art Teacher. Posted on The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Blog. Grdodge.org. Retrieved from http://blog.grdodge.org/2009/06/29/nurturing-the-artist/

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Zwirn, S. (2006). Artist or Art Teacher: The Role of Gender in Identity Formation and Career Choice. Teaching Artist Journal, 4(3), 167-175. doi:10.1207/s1541180xtaj0403_4