Co-Editor’s Letter: Choice

The short time that students spend in art class during the school year might be the only time they can fully experience their role as intentional artists. Personal interests and autobiographical events realized through art-making processes are potent opportunities for transdisciplinary learning. This issue of SchoolArts, focused on choice-based art education and Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB), will provide readers with useful art education perspectives.

TAB from the Heart

I visited Reggio Emilia, Italy, where I immersed myself in the child-centered, exploratory environment. I took what worked for me back to my art room, and my students thrived. When they moved on to elementary school, they had little choice in the art room. My students wanted their choice back! So, I created an afterschool class for them where, once a week, they could work on whatever they were interested in. I began a TAB program without knowing what TAB was.

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The Art Lesson That Changed Me

In the winter of 2021, the Smithsonian American Art Museum announced the theme for their annual art contest for DoDEA (Department of Defense Education Activity) students. For young artists in kindergarten through fifth grade, that theme was Up/Down. It was a perfect connection to the open-ended themes I planned for my young artists as opposed to the more teacher-directed work I had previously taught. It was also an excellent opportunity for students to think about their audience as they worked through the stages of the artistic process.

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Unwanted Artwork Olympics

I have a rule in my art room that students are not allowed to throw their “mistakes” in the trash. If they are working on a piece and decide they don’t like it, it goes in the Unwanted Artwork Bin. Every so often, one of my young artists, stuck for an idea, will dip into the bin, fish out somebody’s artwork, and make it into something else. I call these Beautiful Oops projects, after Barney Saltzberg’s fantastic children’s book. As June arrived, the Unwanted Artwork Bin piled high, and I felt sick at the thought of consigning all these lovely unfinished pieces to the recycling bin. That’s when I came up with the idea for the First Annual Unwanted Artwork Olympics.

The Lighthouse as a Symbol

Students are prompted to reflect on who or what serves as the “lighthouse” in their life and how this person or thing protects or guides them. Many students choose traditional guidance figures such as family members, and I am always impressed by their passionate declarations. Students can choose any media they would like to express their ideas. The finished works are displayed in the halls, along with students’ artist statements.

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Collaborative Learning through Design

This collaboration was developed during the 2020–2021 school year, when the pandemic made working together a challenge. With the implementation of Google Docs and Google Drawings, the barriers to collaborating were overcome, and students were able to work with either virtual or in-person instruction. This lesson has successfully transitioned beyond these conditions into today’s classroom, while still remaining flexible for students who require alternative learning environments.

Architectural Renderings

Many of my students are coming to school with the feeling that they failed out of art in middle school. Students stepping into the studio for the first time assume that their inability to draw a stick figure makes it inappropriate for them to be there. That’s why I’ve made it my priority in the first month of drawing class to inspire confidence. The project that really convinces my students they are artists and designers who are truly thinking in two and three dimensions is the architectural rendering. The final result changes over the years, but the application of precise lines, use of geometrical terms, and the project’s flexibility to be inclusive in skill level and comprehension are topped off with a pinch of surrealism.

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Choice Sketchbooks

After twenty-seven years of teaching art, I was thrilled to be granted permission to offer an art class based solely on the creation of a sketchbook art journal. The idea is for students to be evaluated on the beauty of brainstorming, playing with media, exploring ideas visually, and personal reflection. During each class, I introduce 2D materials to students by demonstrating them on a large classroom screen. Students follow my lead, practicing techniques and applying them in various ways in their sketchbooks. As students develop a range of media and skills at their own pace, they gradually incorporate words and mixed media to create full double-page layouts that tell their personal stories.

Much More Than Recess with Crayons

Have you ever heard TAB referred to as “recess with crayons”? The idea that TAB is a free-for-all or lacks educational value doesn’t represent the learning and engagement in the thousands of classrooms around the country that share this pedagogy. Organization, scaffolding, and planning are essential components of every TAB classroom, though how they are implemented varies. In my high-school classroom, I facilitate student choice by teaching students about different types of learning activities as options for studio work and how to set personal goals that support the direction of the work they choose to pursue.

Colorful Meditations

Drawing on mathematics and science, Jen Stark combines color, depth, and geometry to create works that resemble organic, blooming, or cloud-like structures endowed with kinetic, undulating effects in a body of work that includes sculpture, murals, intricately cut paper forms, and immersive, pulsating installations. Color pulls viewers in, encouraging them to enter an altered state of perception akin to meditation.

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