This issue focuses on various interpretations of contemporary art and what art means for students today. Young students investigate their connection to the natural world and print with leaves, elementary students combine elements from historical and contemporary artworks to create a new work of art, middle-school students explore the large-scale sculptures of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, high-school students channel contemporary themes into a self-portrait photo composite, and more.
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In 2022, I began to reassess how I present curricula to all my students. I wondered if the artists I was introducing reflected who they are in their identities and why it is important to bring diverse perspectives and processes into the art room. Besides lessons, projects, and activities, how can I continue to engage and empower them? In what ways can I continue to spark conversations about what art means today?
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This lesson teaches students about how people have a deep connection to the natural world and that all living things are connected. These concepts are important for young learners as students will come to realize that we receive gifts from our community and from the natural world, and it is important to appreciate these gifts and, in turn, give back whenever possible.
One of my goals each year is to incorporate as many artists, art movements, and famous artworks into the curriculum as possible to expose my students to the world of art through both historical and contemporary lenses. If I show a historical artwork, I often pair it with a contemporary artist or artwork so that students can reflect on the time period difference. To help students gain a deeper insight into art history, I came up with an idea to create famous artwork mash-ups.
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The essence of mindfulness can be summarized with the simple phrase, “Paying attention with kindness.” I think mindfulness is often thought of as something that only certain people can do. This is a misconception. Anyone can practice mindfulness in any place and at any time, including your students. Mindfulness is simply noticing and staying in the present moment—it’s a frame of mind. Let’s get into what mindfulness looks like in the classroom and how you can integrate it into mindful art-making.
After a challenging year outside the classroom due to the pandemic, we were eager to get back to work with our honor societies. Luckily, over the summer, I stumbled upon a resource on the internet where small pouches of essential items were being donated to chemotherapy patients at a local hospital to help them through a difficult time. The pouches I came across were unadorned, but the idea struck me that our members could cover those pouches with beautiful and uplifting graphics and fill them with essential items for patients, transforming them from a utilitarian carryall to a beautiful keepsake. We would then donate them to our local hospital.
At the beginning of the semester, I have my eighth-graders each select a theme to pursue for the entire course to help eliminate artist’s block along the way and encourage them to think creatively within one topic/field of study. For this project, students had to think of an object that in some way relates to their theme. We reviewed the concept of “sculpture in the round” and how Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen made objects look visually interesting from all sides while also being self-supporting and in proportion.
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Contemporary art is all about pushing boundaries, and this project does just that by asking students to explore identity, culture, family, and society through a single image made of three different “selves.” Why three? Well, think of it as a miniseries on one canvas: each “you” in the photo can reveal something different, whether it’s a different side of your personality or different reactions to the same scenario. By combining multiple images of the same person, students can reflect on who they are and the world around them in a truly unique way.
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What to do with donated items is a dilemma that all art teachers face. As I looked through the three boxes in front of me, I came up with three options: 1. I finally toss these boxes in the trash. 2. I keep storing them for an amazing project in the future. 3. I decide the future is now and let students show me the creative potential these items hold. I took a deep breath and chose the third option. I decided we would use the items to tackle one of the most difficult concepts for students to display visually: rhythm and movement.
When I started out as an educator nearly twenty years ago, I had an unfounded but steadfast aversion to contemporary art. Informed only by my college art history lectures, which made little mention of anything outside the Western European canon, I though the “masters” were all that mattered. Because knowing my students has always been my starting point for developing lessons in which they see themselves and readily engage, even I couldn’t sustain this narrow view of art. In an effort to let go of past practices of teaching with overused and outdated works, I looked to contemporary art for a broader path to what I now know to be a rich, expressive, and diverse representation of my students.
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Many artists around the world use symbols in their works, a practice that has existed since the earliest painted prehistoric art. Symbolism can be social, cultural, religious, or even self-referential. Victor Ekpuk, an internationally renowned multidisciplinary Nigerian-American artist, has developed a body of work based on a series of abstract symbols. He uses this personal visual language to explore historical narratives, contemporary Afrofuturism, and humanity’s connection to the spiritual. He specializes in painting, printmaking, installations, murals, and fashion design.
