RESEARCH
"We appeal to expressive form, to say what literal language can never say."
-Elliot Eisner
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Social Emotional
Learning
Community
Connections
Interdisciplinary
Collaborations
Engagement
Adolescent
Development
Representation
Current Events
Based Lessons
Long Term Effects of Art
Celebrating
Diversity and
Inclusion
Impacts Through Art
Project Based Learning
Pedagogical
Approaches
An interview with artists-educator
Meredith McDevitt
As an Art Educator, do you have a favorite part of
the curriculum?
"My favorite lesson plan...is the monument unit...It's the moment where I get to see how much students are retaining throughout the year and how much knowledge we've been collectively building around both art materials and skills and techniques, but also critical thinking and social justice themes. It's the moment where everything kind of clicks, where kids realize that they can use art in a really meaningful way, to have a message about something they care about."
Can you talk about interdisciplinary collaborations and
how you make
them successful?
"I love being able to work with other teachers... I'm really excited because of the learning objectives that we're co-creating together... I think the learning will be just that much more rich and exciting to the kids because they'll have this art element... Any
way to feel like we're educating the whole child."
Inclusion & diversity
are at the heart of
your teaching, how
do you embrace
them in class?
"My whole teaching philosophy is rooted in social justice and critical multiculturalism...I show them contemporary artists mostly from all different races and ethnicities, cultures, so that students see this work and they think to themselves, 'oh, I can see myself in this artist and I can be an artist too,' or 'I can relate to what is being made.' So having like curriculum reflect the community, but then also it's very important to me that I'm teaching kids how to be critical of the world through art making."
"I just think that art is so much more than
learning how to use the materials... So yes, I will teach the kids the skills, but more importantly, I want them to be able to think like an artist and think critically about the world around them, learn strategies that contemporary artists are using to represent ideas, and understand that art can change the world and can have a lot of
meaning in it."
Interview Reflection
To me, these moments must be the most moving, most inspiring, most craved as an art educator, -the ones that truly encompass the “awakening” that the wonderful Maxinne Greene often emphasizes. “…the ways in which encounters with works of art enrich experiences in learning and life. Professor Greene uses the work “awakening” to describe the impact that the arts have on our imagination, our ability to notice and care about what is happening in the world, and ultimately even on our sense of urgency and power to effect positive change.”
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To experience the lectures, we have studied throughout this program be realized in the classroom, is proof that what we do as art educators really does matter and can truly have an immense impact on the world for the better.
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To ensure that cultural significance is not forgotten, Ms. McDevitt challenges students to think about the message of the artwork, the artistic method being used, and what we can learn about the artist. Her model for authenticity in the art room is one of great value, which I am intent on incorporating into my own classroom.
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Her strategies for guiding students through difficult discussions has led me to realize that the openness allowed, trust gained, and insights learned are worth the effort it may take to reach them.
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I find her words and sentiments encouraging and striking, specifically, the way she views art as a story for change, and simultaneously our stories a way to facilitate art.
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Given the current turmoil in the world, I am interested in learning how your art classroom and curriculum are affected by current events, how important is it to you to include them in your classroom? ...How do you approach these issues in a sensitive, non-biased way, while also creating a safe space for discussion and reflection?
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Teaching Resource: Wise words from living, local art youth educator and Adelphi University Professor, Brooks Frederick
I think art can not only help us process trauma but help us to envision worlds and possibilities that don't currently exist.
I look for natural "openings" in class discussions where a student will bring up a topic or has a special connection to the difficult topic. Under the right circumstances, the student can be a large part of facilitating these discussions on these topics.
This is one of the most rewarding aspects
of teaching for me, getting to honestly respond to the moment.
It's a lot more work, but rewarding.
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To Art Educators and Students,
or those who wish to see the world a bit differently,
RESEARCH
APPROACHES
An enlightening exercise, as an artist and a teacher of art, begins with reaching back into our own personal lives to discover what ignited that very first spark for art. Through reflection and connection, along with research, we can learn about where we have come from, how we got here, and why we aspire to ignite art in other’s lives. Exploring these early memories of experiencing art, is fulfilling, and illuminating to our
creative journey.
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…It is Easter Sunday at grandma’s house. Everyone is dressed in their best. An aroma of pierogies and kielbasa fills the house. The abundance of potted tulips pours in from the porch to decorate the tables inside. And there on the coffee table, just as they are displayed every year, is her magical collection of painted eggs. Delicately piled in glistening Czechoslovakian crystal bowls, the only nest that seems fitting, and
stealing center stage of the whole day. My sisters and I study them, play with them, arrange, and rearrange them. As grandma describes the process of how they are made, which she does every year, I search for the hole where the yolk has been blown through. Perfect forms, painted with crisp strokes of contrasting hues in rich earth tones and soft jewel tints, symmetrical and asymmetrical, botanical, and abstract. Each egg with its own unique composition and seemingly unique personality; Each egg its
own spherical world. When I held them in my hand as a child, I knew that they were eggs, but somehow, they still felt like magic.
Upon researching the eggs, which are called Pysanky, I learned that they have existed in Folk Art in many regions throughout Eastern European. Different decorative techniques include painting with acrylic, applied wax, or a wax-resist method in conjunction with dyeing. Even though they are associated with Easter, they existed in ancient art, long before Christianity was adopted by these countries. There are differing stories on how this cultural tradition of painted eggs began, with many believing that the practice originated with ancient people who worshipped the sun as the source of life on earth. Because birds were the only beings who get close to him, they were the sun god’s chosen creations. To my surprise, the eggs were a source of life and considered magical – my childhood instincts confirmed!
As time passed on, and with-it grandma, her collection was divided between the grandchildren. I chose eggs that I still connected with and called to me, the ones I still remember choosing as a kid. They now sit in a delicate pile on my desk, and sometimes in my hand. To me they are so much more than eggs. When given the chance, this thing, which often we discard, had a chance to transform beyond its purpose, to something with new meaning and new experience. The eggs are a connection to my past, a reflection of my journey, and inspiration for my art.
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As artists and explorers of the world, we have the ability to think differently about how we approach different objects. By exploring these eggs through “thing-power and distributive agency”, I set out to create a list of what my object was, what it represented to different people, what it felt like to be it, and what it had the possibility of becoming. Through reflection,
I connected to myself, my family, and my heritage, creating a shareable story along the way. Additionally, classic research has given me a new perspective on the origins of the object, defining it, but not limiting it. All were successful methods for research and supported each other in different informative ways – one by mind, one by memory, and one by experience.
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In the classroom, I encourage you to inspire students to become connected, to look to the past and the future, and to see the world through a different lens. It is important for students to feel represented in the art room, to share their stories with one another, and to become inspired to think abstractly. Through lessons designed at exploring the potential of a simple object, we can inspire students to then begin to see much bigger things in a changing light, and with endless possibilities – We are explorers, innovators, creative thinkers, we are artists!
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See you in the art room,
Alana Lipovsky
Noteable Scholars that have influenced my research and teaching include, but are not limited to :
Maxinne Greene • Jessica Hoffman Davis •
Elliot Eisner • John Dewey