From: Goell, Jonathan
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 9:26 AM

I strongly support the addition of a new arts competency and the alternative wording Sumita proposes to address the "percentage" issue (theory to-studio course ratio) raised in her letter.

Studio art courses didn't just teach me how to draw , sculpt or paint. They taught me how to see what was around me, both generally and specifically, and how to come to understand what I was seeing. You want to draw a face? OK, learn about what is under the skin - bones and muscles, for example - and work from the inside out. Reveal the presence of these structures while at the same you are trying to catch and reveal something personal or emotional. The thing about studio courses is partly this: you have to get the memory of the experience into your muscles, and that takes a lot of training, time and practice. It doesn't happen fully in theory or lecture courses, although these are an important aspect of studying any art, or any field, from music to medicine. Like these skill areas, however, and even in athletics, the muscles have to be trained over time to "keep the memory", so that it's there and working when you need it.

I went on to become a photographer, not a painter. But those many years of concentrated hands-on studio courses gave me unique visual tools and problem-solving skills I could not have gotten any other way. And they taught me to solve visual problems in differing ways, and often on the fly, in the course of a tough location photo assignment.

Something else, perhaps partly related to the GenEd issues at hand: after one year at Boston University, I attended the American College in Paris for a year, and they accepted all the studio and liberal arts courses credits fully, and awarded me their two-year degree after just one year. B.U. then accepted all the course credits from ACP when I returned. In turn, The University of Arizona then accepted ALL of my various studio credits when I attended graduate school. If the studio course credits had been restricted or taken out of the GenEd pool at that time, my life would have been complicated greatly. I realize that our GenEd issue has other aspects affecting courses and teaching issues not connected to my own experience, but for what it may be worth, that is what I want to say. I'm sorry I couldn't get back to you sooner.

Thank you, and good luck.

Jon Goell

From: St. Ours, Harry
Sent: 2007-02-11

Subject: RE: Gen Ed Comments

Please, for the Gen Ed page:

To reiterate a "Hands-Off Hands-On" argument I made in 1994 concerning the inclusion of studio courses in the Gen Ed panoply of options (la plus ca change...), let me just say that we probably all agree that our goal with so-called aesthetic appreciation courses is a pedagogic attempt to infuse students with a distillation of the essence of what we believe are vital basic elements crucial to understanding a small corner of the vast traditional liberal arts universe. All this, of course, is done with the best intentions in our mission to help students achieve breadth and integration in their exploration of creative methods of inquiry. And one needs to begin somewhere, no?

When we require students with little aptitude in math to take a math course anyway in order to graduate, we do not actually expect that one course will turn them into mathematicians, but we recognize that studying math does exercise particular types of analysis, logic and problem-solving rationale important to cognitive development. If they had a good teacher in the math course they took (and that is likely here at MC!) and chose not to continue in math, they are still better problem-solvers for the experience. 

Similarly, when we require students to take a foreign language, we teach them how to speak and think and interpret problems in another language to introduce them to cultural diversity and to empower them with the opportunity to look at life from a different point of view. Many will not continue their study, but all will be enriched by the experience.

In the Arts, many avenues are open to students in their search for a better understanding of the nature of creativity. But the proposed revision to the current offerings limit students to methods of critical inquiry, not creative inquiry.  Nowhere in our current offerings can a student better develop creative inquiry than with skills learned in the plastic arts. Studio courses serve this purpose very well, and drawing courses particularly are known to excel in this regard.

Learning to observe and draw is a very efficient way to train the visual system just as learning to read and write can efficiently train the verbal system. In fact, in its simplicity, drawing is the silent twin to reading. There is a vocabulary in the visual language of drawing that includes line, form and structure, the study of which can improve and even promote creativity. We are only now beginning to understand the complex dual functions of the human brain, and new possibilities for teaching creative awareness are opening up.

       
Drawing in particular and the studio arts generally allow students a true choice in investigating methods of Inquiry and is an essential component if we are serious in our mission to give our students a full range of choices "...to become intellectually flexible and inventive enough to react positively in a rapidly changing society." Drawing is more than an artist's simple technique: it is an exercise of the muscles of creativity. Once a person achieves that sense of "ah-ha!" that accompanies truly seeing something for the first time in a successfully taught drawing class, they have unlocked a door behind which is a richness of non-verbal, spatial, intuitive expression that they will be able to use in creative problem solving again and again.

The two major modes of human brain-hemisphere function were first described by psychologist Roger W. Sperry in his pioneering work during the late 1950's and early 1960's. Sperry's research, which was honored by a Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1981, has shown that the right and left hemispheres of the human brain use contrasting methods of information processing. 

Both thinking modes are involved in high level cognitive functioning, but each brain half specializes in its own style of thinking and each has its own special capabilities. The correct study of drawing can exercise the R-mode of the brain so as to strengthen and increase the brain's ability to  more creatively solve problems in concert with its verbal, logical twin, the L-mode.

Perhaps psychologist Abraham Maslow said it best: "The question is, who is interested in creativity?  And my answer is that practically everybody is. This interest is no longer confined to psychologists and psychiatrists.  Now it has become a question of national policy as well."

Harry

It is critical to keep the Studio Arts courses in our Gen. Ed. Program and it is important to add an equally weighted competency that addresses the Arts and Humanities area objectives to the existing competency list.

The following article offers justification for the inclusion of Studio art courses in the Gen. ED. Program

Acknowledgment

Intent of Visual Arts Education: Madison Metropolitan School District Visual Arts Standards Committee

Definition: The Visual Arts are an essential part of human existence. They communicate ideas, feelings, and experiences into meaningful visual expressions. Through the use of a medium and the simple elements of line, form, space, color, and texture, people from earliest recorded history have created art. It is all around us. It appears in nature, in the imitation of nature, and in original expressions. One of the most revealing ways that people share their culture is through the arts which are as varied as the cultures that create it. The different forms of visual art reflect what is happening in a nation and in the world. It exists in the form and function of everything on the market and its importance is sometimes taken for granted in the design of such things as apparel, furniture, appliances, technology, vehicles, etc.

Purpose: Art is universal because it transcends barriers which can exist in the spoken and written word. Through art, the common threads of humanity and cultural differences are recognized and appreciated. In a world which depends so much on accurate visual interpretation, learners need to interpret the visual experience through an understanding of other subject matter, symbols and ideas.

The visual arts give balance to human existence. They are a means used to convey people's emotional reactions to others and the life around them. Art permits people to express who they are and what they feel about the world they live in. It establishes their identity in a particular place and at a particular time. They are a means of caring for and preserving the life of the human spirit. Because the nation's population is more diverse, understanding and communication across nations and cultures is essential. Students need to understand the function and structure of the visual arts, the relationship to human history and cultures, and the connections between the visual arts and other disciplines.

Standards Committee additional notes:

The arts are important components of human culture and should be placed on an equal footing with other cultural disciplines such as literature or history. 

The intrinsic argument can lead to either of two pedagogical approaches.  On the one hand, an acknowledgement of the intrinsic value of the arts can lead to the adoption of the various Disciplines such as dance, music, theatre and visual arts as academic subjects for the edification of all students as part of their preparation for future lives as culturally adept adults.  On the other hand, recognition of the arts as important elements in the culture of the wider community can lead to a focus on skill development with a view to training talented students to supply the world with a new generation of professional artists.  Both of these approaches reflect the legitimate concerns of arts educators who may look upon a formal school program that omits a study of the arts as one that has failed to reflect the realities of society.

The second general argument in favor of incorporating the arts in school programs is Instrumental.  It advocates using the arts as an effective means of achieving the educational goals of the curriculum as a whole.  This argument can similarly be subdivided into two major branches.  One school of thought maintains that an experience of the arts can lead to the social, psychological and physical development of the student as a total person.  It is variously claimed that a student who is exposed to the arts in school has the potential to become a more creative, imaginative, expressive, confident, and self-reliant or critically thinking individual.  In so far as the school curriculum is intended to foster these characteristics, the arts can be seen to be of instrumental value to students and teachers.  Another school of thought is more concerned with the potential of the arts to serve as pedagogical tools in the teaching of other academic subjects.  Adherents to this view propose that the various arts disciplines, individually or in combination, can be applied to the teaching of concepts specific to subjects such as reading, numeracy and social studies as well as literature, science and mathematics.  

The conviction that an exposure to the arts in school can benefit the personal and social development of students has been widely accepted by educational theorists and authorities in many countries. In arts courses, students develop their ability to reason and to think critically as well as creatively. They develop their communication and collaborative skills, as well as skills in using different forms of technology. Through studying various works of art, they deepen their appreciation of diverse perspectives and develop the ability to approach others with openness and flexibility. They also learn to approach issues and present ideas in new ways, to teach and persuade, to entertain, and to make designs with attention to aesthetic considerations. Participation in arts courses helps students develop their ability to listen and observe, and enables them to become more self-aware and self-confident. It encourages them to take risks, to solve problems in creative ways, and to draw on their resourcefulness. In short, the knowledge and skills developed in the study of the arts can be applied in many other endeavours.

 John Carr
Rockville Art Department

Many faculty will disagree that the College should change Gen Ed so that it aligns more closely with Maryland State and national general education requirements.  Our Committee has discussed, at length, whether our program should be tailored to our personal beliefs about what is important for a generally educated student or whether is should more generally match typical general education requirements of transfer institutions, both in Maryland and across the US, 2-year and 4-year schools.