“The arts celebrate multiple perspectives. One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world.”(Eisner, 2002)
Today was my first class in the module ‘Integrated Arts in Education’. It was a very interesting day finding out about the various workshops and themes that we would be exploring for the next few months. I have been particularly looking forward to this module as I am an expressive and creative person when it comes to my learning and my hobbies.
Art
In today’s workshop we explored the concept that ‘anyone can draw’. In doing this, we observed art work by children in several pimary school age groups. We walked through each stage of the primary levels then chose a piece of art that stood out to us personally. In doing this, we asked why that piece stood out and discussed the conditions that we thought the drawing was done under and the child’s ideas behind the piece. I found that the upper school drawings interested me as you can identify that particular techniques are being used and inspiration from other artists is also used. I do not necessarily feel that this is a positive thing as it is not encouraging originality. This painting below demonstrates learning techniques such as texture and line.
I feel that including the arts in education is vitalto “ensure that more children and young people will have the opportunity to engage with art and culture, regardless of their background”(Brown, 2016). I found this particular input interesting because as we explored further up the age groups, the originality decreased more and more until by the end of primary school, their art work was clearly influenced by another artist’s work and was not an originally inspired piece. This may show that the teachers have simply showed the children artwork by another artist and instructed them to copy it or it could be that there is limited art supplies in the school or that the teacher did not want mess in the classroom. All of these reasons, I feel, are putting a barrier between a child’s imagination and expressing it on paper. This is the main aspect that I took from today’s art class and I will carry through University and into schools the importance of art in childrens’ education and development.
Music
In today’s music input we discussed the feelings that are conveyed through music. We listened to a piece of music and, in groups, discussed how this music made us all feel and created a storyboard from these feelings.Each group then shared their stories and ideas and the range of interpretations of the music was very interesting to see!I feel that this was a very engaging activity and having not enjoyed music throughout school, I can say that this kept me involved and having fun through the integrated use of literacy, art and music. This was also an effective way to develop both independent thinking and group work without having to use extensive varieties of resources and materials.
Brown, M. (2016) Government pilot schemes to offer children free access to arts. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/aug/09/government-pilot-schemes-to-offer-children-free-access-to-arts (Accessed: 3 October 2016)
Eisner, E.W. (2002) The arts and the creation of mind. New Haven: Yale University Press
