Community art education: methods and outcomes

Community Art Education

The objective of this study is to answer the question of what are the conservative, liberal, and progressive philosophies undergirding the current (1990-present) debates in community arts education? Specifically, this study will address whom is and whom is not advocating for Arts education and why.

Timeline of Arts Education in the United States

The progressive era was a time involving political reform and social activism during the period between 1890 and sometime in the 1920s. The Progressive movement intended to purify the government through elimination of corruption in the government. Government was monopolized by mafia bosses and political machines. In addition, prohibition was supported by the majority of Progressive movement members. (Timberlake, 1970, paraphrased) The art teacher during the 1920s is reported to have been "contrarily imbued with the ph8ilosophy that creative work called for considerable freedom on the part of the individual." (Logan, 1955) The students were allowed creative freedom.

The philosophy of John Dewey was interpreted "brusquely and purposely in a more colloquial vein'. (Logan, 1955) The art that was taught was not of much value to students in furthering their education. During the 1930s art was taught for "arts sake." (Logan, 1955) During the 1930s it is reported "Many movements in art important to the design of our environment have flourished in the last century. William Morris' arts and crafts movement, the art nouveau period, the cubist painting influence on early modernist furniture, the still-widening circle of influence from the German Bauhaus -- all of these in subtle measure have helped to create the "art in everyday life" of the nineteen-fifties." (Logan, 1955, p. 10) It is reported "However, the art education most readily associated with progressive education did not originate in Dewey's thought but in the writings and practices of such artist educators as Harold Rugg, Ann Shumaker, and Florence Cane [Rugg and Shumaker 1928]. The method was known as creative self-expression. The impetus for change came from the artist as a model for social reform rather than the scientist. Expressionism pervaded the arts of the time -- in the dance of Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham, the painting of Max Weber and John Marin, and the photography of Alfred Steiglitz." (Efland, 1990, p. 1) During the 1960s it is reported "there was great increase in at teachers and public schools offering at instruction, especially at the elementary level. The fortunes of art education were rising, and self-expression was the favored method of teaching. At the same time the progressive movement was on the wane and never regained the prestige and influence it had during the inner-war years. The journal Progressive Education ceased publication in 1957 . . . . " (Efland, 1990, p. 1)

Amburgy (1990) writes that the conceptions of art education around the turn of the century "were a complex response to the new vocationalism in schooling and the changing nature of modern work. To some extent changes in art education were a recreation against vocationalism and the increasingly fragmented, alienating conditions of industrial labor." (Amburgy, 1990) The Progressive educators sought to improve the working-class children's existence through decorating the classroom and studying work of master art. Art some became focused upon as a means of personal expression.

However, the progressive movement advanced and the constructionist view held that arts education should be in the manner of "culture for the masses." (Amburgy, 1990) The constructivist view of any type of learning holds that learning strategies require community learning. Constructivism is reported to be "concerned with how personal understanding or knowledge is formed." (Arts Edge,. 2014, p. 1) Integration of arts education is reported to be reliant on the student-centered progressive view. The student-centered view of community arts education is less supportive of community arts education than is the Constructivist view which supports learning in the community setting.

Constructivist practices that align with arts integration practices in education are inclusive of:

(1) drawing on prior knowledge of students;

(2) the provision of learning that is hands-on