ERIC Number: EJ1194558
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 7
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0004-3125
EISSN: N/A
Socially Engaged Art as Living Form: Activating Spaces and Creating New Ways of Being in a Middle School Setting
Sanders-Bustle, Lynn
Art Education, v71 n6 p38-44 2018
In this article, Sanders-Bustle recounts what happened when university art education students created socially engaged art (SEA), "Project Unway" and "Project Unity," in the hallways of a middle school. The events represented in this article stem from activities that took place in a secondary art education curriculum course that she taught at a large university in the south during spring 2017. Scheduled for 3 hours, twice a week, the class met on Mondays at the university and on Wednesdays at a local middle school where they immersed themselves in middle-school culture and designed and taught art lessons to 6th- and 7th-graders. Four guiding principles for the design of the SEA experiences were identified by the art education students: implementation in a common area of the school; active participation by teachers, students, and staff; opportunity for dialogue; and relinquishing ownership through collective making. With these ideas in mind, the students generated five designs and over a period of 2 weeks, through in-depth discussions that oscillated between logistics and aesthetics, the students refined their ideas, arriving at "Project Unity" and "Project Unway." Meant to disrupt the schoolwide practice of requiring students to walk down the hall without stepping in the center, "Project Unway" involved laying a long piece of white paper all the way down the middle of a very long 6th-grade hall. Purposefully, no directions were provided for participation. Designed to build unity in the school community, "Project Unity"--created in hallways outside the lunchroom and across from the administrative offices--was designed for participants to share what they valued most and, in doing so, to open up conversations with others and reveal shared values. It involved hanging two large pieces of white paper and stringing colored markers from the ceiling for use by participants.
Descriptors: Art Education, College Students, Middle School Students, Grade 6, Grade 7, Aesthetics, Educational Environment, Social Development, Interaction
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Middle Schools; Secondary Education; Junior High Schools; Grade 6; Intermediate Grades; Elementary Education; Grade 7
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A