This is usually the very first assignment in my classes. I ask students to write down a gut reaction answer to the question. I want them to tell me the first thing that comes to their minds. Answers range from "things that are pretty" to "expressing ones self" to "everything is art." It is the starting point. Throughout the semester I sincerely hope the answer becomes more and more complex. It should be a continually evolving idea throughout life. What is art?
The thought that I had the other day was that there is an academic side and a creative side to art. The academic side always asks, "Why is it this way?" The creative side always asks, "How can it be changed?" The definition of art, perhaps, is a balance of those two things.
In the first couple of weeks of class we will discuss much about art, craft, and design. How are these categories similar and different? Should there be categories at all?
I like this assignment because it gives your students the opportunity to start where they are with the study of art. From my view, education always works best when it starts with the student rather than with the information or with the teacher.
ReplyDeleteYou might follow up by asking them to identify any artifact that they own or regularly encounter that they would call art and then tell why. Or identify a similar artifact (say, an iPod) and tell why it is or is not art. Then a great class exercise might be to have them get in groups to aggregate their definitions and make a presentation to the class arguing for their definition. Wow. This conversation could go on the entire semester.
That is actually the second writing assignment that is part of our discussion of "design" and what it has to do with art.
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