National Art Education Association

Art HomeworkAuthor(s): George SzekelySource: Art Education, Vol. 55, No. 3, Back to the Future: [Re][De]Fining Art Education (May,2002), pp. 47-53Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3194000 .

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. to look at things with fresh that look beyc eyes, to shop for ideas; they art class.

r the next art class to ng to you, their most ,ue. The result of each be students who are arch for and collect eas for the next art equires preparation, exploration, which is n the art class alone. 11 the time, and working atural component of The school art class can for licensing children to ists. ies" collected in the post nd fast-food restaurant as major finds in an art ; a "home" for children's oom can become the ollections and ideas )ns are welcome, a place into the many lives of :ts is appreciated. Art nplies a trust and respect d's ability to conduct

artistic investigation and discover valuable ideas independently.

Art homework can be an howcase children's art ices, and ideas in school g audience. School art not be an artist's sole n children's finds and trates a willingness to gn of adult lesson plans lance of the teacher's Through carefully creat- k assignments, teachers importance of the young :reative acts and interests, i a real commitment to e root in the child's life. 11 describe home works mnd the art found in the

Y GEORGE SZEKELY

MAY 2002 / ART EDUCATION

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The more art thoughts are brought home-the

more art becomes part of

home discussions, home

consciousness, home

routines and spaces- the more likely that

children and families will

be meaningfully involved.

I A.student brings to class a surgical mask that is playfully inscribed with a smiling nose. An old beekeeper's mask, a hockey mask, a vintage catcher's mask, and a silver K Mart space mask are part of a gathering of contemporary masks for today's art session. It is not just the teacher who collects and shares finds. Looking for objects that inspire the lesson should be a regular part of students' prepara- tion for an art class. The art teacher is generally alone in preparing a lesson and gathering supplies to make it. It is all a surprise. Students don't know where the ideas for most art lessons come from, or how it relates to their art. The art teacher should not be the best prepared member of an art lesson; it should be the students. Art teaching can be reconsidered as preparing students for each art class. What can a student see, explore, think about, and experience in preparation for a class? What notes, plans, collections, or supplies can the student bring? If an art lesson is to represent the art process, the students should fully experience

what artists do, and the focus of teach- ing needs to shift to student prepara- tion. In a school day closely managed by teachers, where learning comes from books and lectures, it is hard for students to remember that they have ideas and that their own ideas are important. Teachers and students should see the art class as a place where kids' finds and ideas count, and students are partners in the art lesson.

On the way to lunch today, a child risked wandering from the hallway line to show me a set of inflatable ice cream cones he wanted me to preview before the art class. It almost started major havoc, as others in line reached for their pockets to show me something. The art teacher can become a school's most trusted fan and observer of children's treasures. As a young art teacher, I was proud of the trust students had in me, knowing that I would appreciate prized finds. But children's collections never became a "main class event" or changed the art lesson I envisioned. It took time for me to recognize young collectors, to properly listen to their ideas and to make their initiatives an official part of the art lesson. My art teaching was changed by students who felt free to open their artistic selves to me.

School art time is short Art teaching needs to reach for the rest of the day, to become part of the child's entire day. Art lessons can inspire things students would like to see and do after class, at lunch, or in the evening; they can even suggest a lifetime of dreams and actions. An art class can lead to children discovering art ideas while playing, shopping, setting the dinner table, helping in the kitchen, raking leaves, preparing for a birthday party, or waiting for the school bus. The art lesson can initiate urban safaris, collectors' walks, art shopping

ART EDUCATION / MAY 2002

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adventures-looking everywhere and at everything as an art possibility. To present the art world and a "complete" picture of the artist in 45 minutes per week is impossible without including the time external to the art period. The more art thoughts are brought home- the more art becomes part of home discussions, home consciousness, home routines and spaces-the more likely that children and families will be meaningfully involved.

In preparation for class, students search through home closets and store displays to uncover the most extraordi- nary hangers. We sit on the floor engrossed in hanger talk and in sharing ideas for our found objects. I describe the history of clothes hangers using samples neatly arranged in a vintage Shirley Temple trunk. Finding common art interests in ordinary objects builds students' confidence in their own art choices and views. An art lesson's conclusion can offer encour- agement, suggestions, materials, and plans for what can be done between the end of the class and the next class. This requires teacher planning beyond the art class to create homework that merges class learning with children's daily home explorations. Generally an art lesson plan is designed for what takes place in class. Art lessons can reach beyond school and elevate the importance of home art. An individual art lesson becomes significant if the student is able to apply it, use it to build new ideas, new plans, new sensitivities.

It is not potato printing that we are teaching, but exciting ways to test our world, to choose tools to record our finds, to appreciate all "skins" and surfaces. An important consideration in art teaching is to create experiences that will be used beyond the classroom. Every art concept and technique taught must

have broad implications to open students' perceptions of what art could,. be and to inspire individual testing of the boundaries of art after school. Each school art experience has the responsi- bility for broadening young artists' visions about art in their world. If an art lesson could talk, it would ask, "What do I inspire students to do? How will young artists be moved by my experi- ence? At the end of the school bell, have I created a hunger to do more? Will my ending be a clue for new ideas and a seed for a new beginning?"

There is no class artist favored here. There is no officially sanctioned class art when each young artist's views and experiences are invited. Instead of presenting correct, isolated, and narrow art techniques and adult notions of art, each art lesson can suggest further experiences so that students feel that art can still be invented and new art sources can still : be found, and a good place to start is at home. When each child comes to class as an artist with a folio of plans, objects, and ideas, the art class becomes a place to respect and recognize different art views and art forms. Art teaching is the act of discovering students' multiple art abilities. To reveal the many sources of children's art interests and abilities in front of a class, individual search, or homework, is required. Art homework is not the unappetizing forced labor, busy work that fails to involve individ- ual interests. On the contrary, after an exciting art class there is always more for students to do. Art homework complements children's inspiration from a lesson and implements art class learning at home. Art homework is also effective in focusing students' interest and preparation for the next art class. An art lesson is incomplete without it. The following examples are art class inspired explorations at home.

Neighborhood Watch Long lenses can be seen peering out

'the school bus window. Observers of a city block focus their attention on doorways and point towards an unusual wrought iron gate. Cardboard viewers made in class get their first testing on the way home from school. Tools made, or lent for home use, from long lenses to magnifiers, become official tools for home safaris. Observing the environment can be a major theme of art homework. A lifelong love of the built environment begins with a habit of taking stock of neighborhoods and sorting through local offerings. Finding beauty and inspiration in nature also needs art room encouragement and homework practice. Take a walk with a young child to be humbled by his or her capacity to see and experience the surroundings. Homework is a prepara- tion to live like an artist, which involves a continuous interest in every segment of nature and the built environment.

Object Magic Yellow shopping bags sparkle in the

spotlight. The extraordinary forms inside are surprises revealed in a modeling of cup holders, field hockey paddles, and kitchen containers prepared as ceremonial masks. Wearing these found faces, students describe their home finds into play microphones, naming the imaginary occasion to be celebrated with each contemporary mask. Looking for extra- ordinary qualities in ordinary objects can be the theme of many art homework assignments. Supplying unusual collection containers and parading home finds as part of the art lesson is an important incentive. As children identify a found object's special qualities, they tag it with a thousand great art ideas. Having students participate in playful posing, or "fashion walks," can uncover

MAY 2002 / ART EDUCATION

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another thousand possibilities. Homework should be an encourage- ment to see like an artist, contemplat- ing the many possibilities residing in ordinary objects. The Home Store

Students place neon surveyors' ribbons around a medicine cabinet, dad's old tool-box, and an attic trunk. "PLEASE EXCUSE OUR APPEAR- ANCE," reads a handmade sign, as students thoroughly inventory their favorite home art supply containers. In a blue folder, students draw each container, picturing favorite supply finds, recalling memorable past uses, and of course inserting sample souvenirs. Through homework assign- ments, teachers can acknowledge that children's art supplies are very different from art supplies for adults, and teachers can underscore the impor- tance of regularly searching for one's own supplies as artists. The Home Store Project is designed to have kids feature their favorite drawer, cubbies, cabinets, and containers where they can always depend on finding great creative supplies. Sagas of attic adven- tures, trunk openings, and promising objects saved from "almost being thrown out" are components of this type of homework. An entire drawer brought from home or a single creative,; find can be regular celebrities in the art class. Through homework assign- ments, teachers can acknowledge that artists weave their work from objects and materials from their own surround- ings, and in turn, we can regain tolerance and respect for home sh. oppers.

Shoppers' Club Students remodel free hats from the

-paintstore, with an insignia for art shoppers. The hats may be seen in your neighborhood stores, worn by clipboard-toting art class shoppers,

taking a turn down an unexplored aisle. You can also identify these shoppers' carts, filled with the free wonders of the store-bag ties, fruit crate dividers, paint sample charts, or magnetic business cards. Students carry blank shopping lists from the art class (adult lists limit free browsing), noting all that is new and exciting in each store. Every store has things that only children find, unlikely candidates for an art canvas, an art tool, or an item with which to build or animate. The chip bags, detergent boxes, fruit stickers, or salad bar containers curated by shopping students find their way into our contin- uous class display. Art homework can focus on a store, sharing the latest from the beauty supply store, bank, or fast-food restaurant. Who, if not the art teacher, will share these shopping finds and encourage the research trip to new stores-and new aisles in old stores? Kids look for art in stores, instead of in art classes where topics are presented as a known commodity. The excite- ment of one's own special find is a memorable event. Assigning meaning- ful homework can support the artistic life of idea shopping and looking for art tools and supplies in all things and all places. Home Studio

Yertle Land beats Dollywood! On an interior design notepad, a site is pictured for raising a new pet. A Polaroid camera will be lent to the young artist so that the construction phase of the project and the satisfied client's impressions can be shared with the art class. While sitting in school, great home projects are in the backlot of children's mind. Creative art homework makes it possible to construct a tree house for play figures, remodel an existing playhouse, and realize the construction of a doll factory. Homework assignments can motivate young interior designers to

plan changes in play space, or in their rooms. Growing up is accompanied by a rapid purge of children's toys, as a kid's room is turned into an office or study. Most children's rooms are not just a mess. Kids are interested in the appearance of their environment, and homework can encourage moving furniture, trying out new arrangements and displays on home canvases- shelves, windows, walls, doors, and display boards. Art homework can make it possible to reclaim play and art spaces with plans for cleaning up specific areas to make things at home, to find sites for collections, and to store artwork. Homework can encourage the studio life... always looking for ways to turn one's place into an inspiring and productive space. Collectors Welcome

Coming from school, and more decorated than a four-star general, Ana wears a jacket richly covered with her button collection. In the living room, she drops her key-chain-loaded backpack with a clang and watches me clean inside the china closet. She is curious about the small creamer collec- tion, and I explain how these pieces, over 100 years old, belonged to her great-grandmother. Ana wonders if someday her buttons and key chains will be displayed in the closet with the other family treasures. Homework can encourage revisiting family collections and talking about them with parents. And would it not be wonderful if other art homework involved parents? What if art became the first thing children talked about after they came home from school? In one of our classes recently, an adult collector showed his milk bottle top collection, and a student shared his Pogs album. Homework can encourage young artists to collect and talk about collections to everyone at home and at school.

ART EDUCATION / MAY 2002

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Homework

inspires artistic

self-reliance and

the ability to

look for art ideas

in one's own play

investigations and discoveries.

Design Practice Artworks made in our class are

expressly packaged, or "gift wrapped," to invite a special reception at home. Students further clear a shelf or open up space on their bulletin boards at home to display their school art. The voyage and transplantation of art from school to home is the focus of this homework. Students list doors, windows and ledges, furniture, and electronics "pedestals" as they survey the many possible display areas in the house. A frequent art class activity is to view the e-mailed images students send to the class computer of their new art and collection setups. Each home is a primary art display site that can build confidence in young artists in present- ing art to a public. A child's room is a personal gallery, especially when changing shows are encouraged. Creative art homework concentrates on developing home art shows as impor- tant occasions in which one can take pride. Meaningful art homework assignments help children who want to make changes in their home canvas become young artists who care about

the visual quality of their environment and who enjoy living with beautiful things. Home Chore Art

One hundred bottles of... on the :wall. But don't worry, this time none of them will fall. It's only the refrigerator being cleaned out. The young designer steps back, carefully deliberates, and designs each refrigerator shelf. On the refrigerator door the artist reorganizes all the magnets before opening the door for her final presentation. This typical home chore art would usually go unheralded if not for homework, which includes photographs of the refrigerator to take to the art class. Children list their home chores and consider the art possibilities in each. Creative homework assignments can spotlight home helpers who approach everything artistically. It subscribes to creating further opportunities to help around the house-to set the dinner table, to clean out drawers and shelves, to fix things, to put things together, to garden, rake, peel, sew, pack, or decorate foods, all becoming founda- tion courses for children's training in

design and the development of art skills and interests. Tales and documentation of home creating should be received with notable interest in an art class. Creative art homework can encourage children to continue to do everything as an artist, to seek creative challenges in every task.

FromPlay to Art The pine needles are laced together

to create a fine border for the room. Small twigs (found at just the right size and shape) serve as eating utensils. The biggest lush leaves are plates. This outdoor restaurant was franchised by a homework assignment from the art class. Students turned boxes into cameras in a class project, and the story of the restaurant is told on film (adding machine paper). For a computer-hardened generation, playing at home is enhanced by homework. Drawing with the watering can on the sidewalk and riding through puddles after a rain to make prints are explo- rations recorded in children's play diaries. Each play is followed up by other artworks at home and then in

MAY 2002 / ART EDUCATION

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...a young artist's growing

up is a full-time activity,

aided by school art, home

plays, chores, collections,

and experiments in home

studios. If school art is

to be a significant part

of children's artistic life,

it needs connections to

home art practice.

class. The joy of camping under the dining room table, for example, suggests the design for a bat cave m

under the table in the art room. Students come to class with "artistic heads" filled with exciting stuff in mind, when play is promoted at home. Homework inspires artistic self- reliance and the ability to look for art ideas in one's own play investigations :and discoveries.

Home Projects "I thought of you, and had to tell

you,": a child whispers while showing me photos of his room that he is in the process of redecorating. "I knew you would appreciate these fishing lures on colored strings I hung from the ceiling!" "Nudge" any kid, and they will tell you about a grand project they are interested in doing at home. The school art class can become a place to talk about and plan children's greatest home projects. Making one's own playhouse, door tag, picture frame, or cork board can be encouraged in many ways. The simple loan of art class tools such as a pocket stamp pad, a veggie peeler, or a plastic vase can become an incentive to act on an idea. Artist-to- artist discussions with the teacher about material shopping and receiving parental consent for a home project can help. The highest level of school art is self-assigned, accomplished by children taking ownership of the homework process. Art homework can prepare kids for a life of artistic planning; it can enable children to take their ideas seriously, to record them in idea books and to act on them regularly.

To Be Continued . Each art class needs to be based on both the teacher's homework and the sft nts' homework. Students can share the responsibility for homework and benefit from the inspiration that comes from shopping for tools, materi- als, and ideas. In a traditional art class, one idea governs the actions of 30. But when art homework is assigned, there are at least 31 different ideas that can begin a class. When students are also involved in preparing for the lesson, the art room becomes a convention of things to experience.

Each art lesson is to be continued. Lesson plans should include a homework component, so that students leaving an art class are filled with ideas for what they can do further at home. Art teaching must build connections between what we do in class and the richness of possibilities of what students already do, or can do, at home. School art can be thought of as a design for activities that support art beyond the lesson, inspiring lifelong art habits, art views, and interests. School art is the preparation for art at home, where the challenge of being an independent artist is played out.

In summary, a young artist's growing up is a full-time activity, aided by school art, home plays, chores, collections, and experiments in home studios. If school art is to be a significant part of children's artistic life, it needs connections to home art practice. Seeds can be planted in an art class, to be fully experienced in children's lives. Part of every art teach- ing plan needs to be a home plan that highlights what children can do to expand, practice, and make an art lesson into an enduring experience:

ART EDUCATION / MAY 2002

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* opportunities for children to see art possibilities in everything

* homework to encourage creating and investigating independently

* assignments that focus on children's ideas, collections, and discoveries

* homework to support working alone, in one's own space and time

* assignments that encourage bringing art choices and inventions to school

* assignments that will be an important contribution to the next art class Art homework can stimulate

children's artistic development by expanding a school art lesson to build home interests and use the wealth of opportunities to practice art making and thinking at home. Art homework can invigorate: * observing, looking for the unusual

and beautiful in nature and in the environment above and below ground

* collecting, developing collections and arranging, displaying, and preserving beautiful things

* decorating, beautifying one's own room, possessions, and environment

* cleaning, attending to ordinary tasks artistically and finding creative challenges in them

* creating, art as gifts for others and just making things for fun

* connoisseurship, an interest in antiques and vintage objects

* futurism, an interest in the latest and most unusual in all forms

* taking notes, keeping records of home plays, inventions, and one's own ideas

* safaris, going places with "art vision" and tools and bringing back souvenirs

George Szekely is Professor, Area Head Art Education, at the University of Kentucky at Lexington.

RESOURCES Szekely,G. (1988) Encouraging creativity in

art lessons. New York: Teachers College. Szekely,G. (1991) Planning for the sharing of

experiences and observations. Art Education, 41(3), 6-14.

Szekely,G. (1991) From play to art. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Szekely,G. (1994) Shopping for art materials and ideasArt Education, 47(3), 9-18.

Szekely, G. (1995) Art at home: Learning from a "Suzuki" education. The Visual Arts and Early Childhood Learning. C. Thompson (Ed.), Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

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