Introduction
Connections between Open-endedness, Daily Experiences, and The Art Room
Creative self-expression is a skill that can be taught and a tool that can be used to foster more meaningful connections with our daily experiences. Art curricula is often quite flexible, and so we see a broad range of teaching styles, classroom routines, projects, and techniques being taught in public schools around the United States. Upon facing the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, I relied on my studio practice which quickly became a space where I can rummage through feelings and ideas that, at first, felt too elusive and fast-paced to deeply connect with. At the outset of the pandemic, I felt uninspired to create art; unsure of a conceptual focus. As a new teacher, I felt I should practice what I would be teaching my students in just a few months: to think of my art practice as a thought process, rather than racing to a beautiful or aesthetically pleasing outcome.
The unpredictability of the pandemic is what inspired me to explore the idea of open-endedness. For my personal studio practice, this meant I would create and respond to the world around me without expecting a particular outcome. Instead, I would listen and respond to my environment. I would take quotes from conversations, words I overheard on walks or on the news, and responded to it through drawing, painting, writing, and animation. As I started to use my studio practice to respond to unprecedented times, I began to wonder how I could elicit a similar contemplative artistic process for my students.
The purpose of this study is to better understand what students choose to create when given the freedom of choice in content, to better inform my lessons according to the trends and patterns I notice in the data. This study continues to guide my curriculum to provide students with lessons that encompass interpreting, responding to, and creating student-centered art, structured by relevant techniques and material demonstrations that correspond with the collected data. This study also has the potential to inform art teachers of particular conceptual categories which they can present and support students in learning how to better represent their ideas through materials and new techniques.
Rationale
This study is important for art educators because it provides an analysis on the benefits of open-ended art lessons for elementary students. There is an ongoing conversation regarding an open-ended art curriculum (which is often student-driven) versus teacher-directed projects that shape the curriculum and are often based on achieving a particular aesthetic or visual outcome. A popular criticism against choice-oriented curriculum is that it lacks the structure and technique necessary for the child to create attractive artwork. This study enters this conversation from the perspective of using material research within the art studio to express more personal ideas. Elliot Eisner, Gert Biesta, and Brent Wilson, amongst other renowned Art Education Researchers support the idea that open-ended exploratory art lessons are important for the development of the child for a variety of reasons.
My research addresses the question, “What do students create with open-ended instruction in the art room?” It also explores how a student-driven art curriculum inspired by individualized life experiences can result in rich and meaningful in artworks that benefit the child and how they interact with their community. A student-driven art curriculum can empower students to create art that reflects aspects of their daily life and aligns with the idea of creating art that explores what it means to the student fit into their community. Therese Quinn (2006) in “Out of Cite, Out of Mind” asks the question “Art education, to what end?” which should prompt art educators to reflect upon the power educators have on curricula (p 297). To give students the space to form connections with each other through artmaking.
This study will explore the benefits of providing students with open-ended art-making prompts and will suggest themes and materials to help students embrace a creativity practice that focuses on meaning-making. It will support art educators in expressing these potential benefits of a more open-ended and exploratory curriculum approach, which are often overshadowed by the teacher-directed, more aesthetically-sound art projects.
Teachers have the potential inspire students to express their individuality through visual arts. Art, in its most general sense, is expressive. With a student-centered approach, students can choose which ideas to share and explore in the art room. What concepts do students explore when engaging in self-directed artmaking?