Part of what I do when teaching is try to get students not to just copy surface style but to also understand what an artist is doing and use the same ideas and motives in creating their own work as contemporary artists. Contemporary artists (is Rauschenberg a contemporary artist?) are being emphasised at the moment as important in "creative" art departments . See also http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=2055696...
teachers in schools incorporating contemporary art practice were three times as likely to refer to creative thinking skills, twice as likely to address meaning and issues in their lessons and twice as likely to use art galleries or practising artists in their teaching. They were also more likely to refer to women artists, to artists from different cultures and to art forms other than painting and drawing.and
The NFER study does not suggest that one approach to art teaching is inherently better than the other; there may be compelling reasons to limit the range of purposes and activities in art teaching. But the fact that there are such wide differences in approach deserves attention.
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This school year I brought in artists once or twice a month...all professors from the Cleveland Institute of Art...for a contemporary artists lecture series. Each came in to speak to my students about what motivated them to become artists, to share images of their work, and discuss the inspration for each peice. Most of the artists worked conceptually, (installations, video,digital,sound,performance) two were sculptors, and one painter. At first, my classes (trades students)just didn't get it. They asked me why I kept bringing "those crazy people" in. By November, I could see the light go on behind some of the blank faces. My students (at least some of them) were starting to 'get it'. The personal 1 on 1 interaction with the artists was much more effective than I could have been at bringing them around to understanding the creative process. They are now starting apply it to their own problem solving.
That's very interesting. If you talk to students about contemporary art - out of context - it is hard for them to get (at least that's what I find) but when they get the opportunity to make stuff that reflects their own lives and asks questions rather shows solutions then the practices of conemporary art become the media of choice.
I don't know if you have come across this award winning programme which started in one primary (K-6) school in Scotland.
Room 13and this piece.
Brit Art? Yes, a child of eleven can do it
I have to say though that the way expounded by Room 13 is not the norm in the UK and certainly not in my school.
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