Advocacy

I have a really weird art room.   One wall is windows, one wall is counters and sinks, one wall is taken up by the white board (which I still call the blackboard out of habit), and one wall is like a giant post-it board.  There are little gaps of free space all over, but I've been waiting for inspiration to strike about what to do with it.I think I just got struck:

Two weeks ago I took my students down to Moganshan Lu, a famous Shanghai street which has been converted from old factories into contemporary art galleries. Not surprisingly, many of the students were drawn towards the rows of spray-painted walls on the long alley that leads into the old factories more than exploring some of the galleries. To be perfectly clear, I understand this completely. I'm drawn there too. There is something about well-executed graffiti that I find fascinating.

Art Teacher Gregory J. Barry posted this video at Art Ed 2.0  and its one that you'll want to bookmark.  To me, it visually explains the necessity of not just keeping art education in schools but developing it as a thriving force.This was originally created for the Night of the Unboring (2005), a benefit for the Ontario College of Art and Design.

MIckey writes in a recent comment to suggest this great little mock debate between McCain and Obama on the arts and art education. While this didn't actually happen, all of the answers are quoted and sourced. Thanks Mikey!

What better way to celebrate our 500th post than with this awesome Art Education PSA from the fantastic organization Americans for the Arts.

In a recent post, David Warlick points out an interesting report called Ready to Innovate(.pdf) from The Conference Board and Americans for the Arts, in partnership with the American Association of School Administrators (AASA). This is where it begins:

Recently, I posted about why Obama matters to art education - today I'm going to follow up that post to show how artists matter to Obama.

Here's the problem that a lot of art teachers have with Deviant Art: a lot of the images are violent, exploitive, juvenile, and very often - really bad.This is of course, only a problem in the context of students logging on in the classroom. We're trying to teach Rembrant and the students are looking at images of scantly clad busty women with swords that are dripping with blood.

I have to admit - it was really difficult for me to be unplugged for our vacation, especially during Super Tuesday.