artCORE: Inquiry-based Learning in a Studio Foundation Art Curriculum

1. artCORE: Inquiry-based Learning in a Studio Foundation Art Curriculum Dan Collins, MFA, PhD Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts Arizona State University Principles of Core Art Instruction August 31, 2012

2. The artCORE Program at ASU The artCORE Foundation Cube (Thanks to Think Tank 5)

3. The artCORE Program at ASU The artCORE program at Arizona State University is a comprehensive foundation in the studio arts organized around four areas of study—2D studio, Color, 3D studio, and Digital Media. The program emphasizes inquiry into thematic issues, studio skills, and methodologies. Conceived originally as a standard “scope and sequence” of “assignments” rooted in the elements and principles of design, over the years the program has evolved to feature projects driven by “themes” and, more recently, the “methodologies” we use in our day to day practices as artists, designers, and scholars. Key to fully tapping the potential of each category is the idea of “inquiry-based teaching,” a method that, in the words of Dr. Erickson, "puts control and direction in the hands of the learner.”

4. Scaffold for Inquiry-based Education • An old adage states: "Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand." The last part of this statement is the essence of inquiry-based learning. • Inquiry implies active involvement on the part of the student that leads to understanding. • The philosophy of inquiry-based learning finds its antecedents in the work of Piaget, Dewey, Vygotsky, Freire and others. • Inquiry-based learning emphasizes a constructivist approach that is student-centered. • Students are challenged to construct their own approaches and knowledge is built in a step-wise fashion. However, this does not mean students are left to their own devices. • Inquiry-based learning does not begin with statements, but with questions posed by the teacher. • Posing questions for students to solve is a more effective method of instruction in many areas. This allows the students to search for information and learn on their own with the teacher providing guidance and a framework for the students’ investigations. • Well-designed inquiry-learning activities and interactions provides the level of support that students need (for Vygotsky this would be called a “scaffold”)

5. What is Inquiry-based art+design Education? In inquiry-based education, the teacher and student work together for an outcome that is glimpsed, but not fully articulated, at the beginning of the journey. The process of instruction is inductive—building empirical evidence into plausible arguments—utilizing the visual tool kit of the elements of art and the principles of design to gather clues that inform the emergent hypothesis. Richard Siegesmund, Future Forward volume 1, number 2 : march 2011, page 8

6. The artCORE Program at ASU

7. Inquiry-based Axes for Curriculum Design • Themes • Body • Identity • Protest and Persuasion • Art and Technology • Border Crossing • Art for Hire • Fantasy • The Natural World • Spirit Worlds • Signs • History • Studio Skills (3D) • From 2D to 3D • Relief • Space • Mass • Scale and Context • Modularity • Structure • Dynamics • Methods • Chance operations • Self-reflection • Trial and error • Working backward • Brainstorming • Collaboration • Scientific method • Re-photography • Ethnographic fieldwork • Cultural inventory • Pattern language • Fengshui • Semiotic analysis • Phenomenology • Concept mapping • Photo elicitation • Relational aesthetics • etc.

8. Inquiry focused on Themes • Inquiry Themes • Body • Identity • Protest and Persuasion • Art and Technology • Border Crossing • Art for Hire • Fantasy • The Natural World • Spirit Worlds • Signs • History • The “thematic inquiry” approach at the heart of the artCORE curriculum provides content and focus to the sequence of units found in each of the Studios. Every theme page in the artCORE website includes a relevant quotation, a discussion that develops the ideas of the theme, a series of inquiry questions, related artCore projects, a list of relevant artists and cultural works, and recommended reading. • According to Dr. Mary Erickson, professor of Art Education at Arizona State University, themes help learners to integrate their understanding by: • connecting a learner's prior experience with new ideas and experiences. • connecting art making and art history lessons. • connecting artworks from very different cultures. • connecting ideas in art with ideas in other areas of the curriculum.

9. Inquiry focused on Themes (viz., Fantasy and Surrealism)

10. Inquiry focused on Studio Skills • Inquiry Studio Skills (3D) • From 2D to 3D • Relief • Space • Mass • Scale and Context • Modularity • Structure • Dynamics The artCORE program is the only time that many students will be exposed to a real variety of materials, physical processes, and techniques in their University experience. The ability to engage tangible, body centered processes is essential to the full appreciation of works of art—regardless of media. Emphasizing hands-on experiences, the artCORE program fosters basic studio techniques and an introduction to a range of professional studio orientations. Training in powers of observation, basic drawing, facility with a range of art materials and digital media, an introduction to the elements and principles of design, and the control and self-confidence that comes with practice is found in every class.

11. Inquiry focused on Studio Skills

12. Inquiry focused on Methodology • Inquiry Methods • chance operations (e.g., automatic writing) • self-reflection • trial and error • working backward • brainstorming • collaboration and/or cooperative learning • scientific method • visual measurement (“re-photography”) • ethnographic fieldwork • cultural inventory • pattern language • pattern recognition • feng shui • semiotic analysis • phenomenology • action research • concept and mind mapping • photo and graphic elicitation • relational aesthetics Running in parallel with regular studio assignments is a track we call “methodological inquiry” or simply “methods.” Various research methodologies are highlighted in lectures and class discussions, then subsequently applied by students in the context of various projects. It is important to distinguish "methods" from “studio skills or processes." Methodology in the context of teaching, learning about, and creating art focuses on the deeper heuristics—that is, the strategies for problem solving and exploration—that inform or guide a creative process.

13. Sample Inquiry-based project showing multiple objectives: studio skills —structural design; a theme—fantasy; and a method—collaboration

14. Questions for Bob, Frida, and Max, and George (Inquiry questions into Themes, Skills, and Methods) Alternatively, we can use the artCORE cube to as a scaffold for investigating actual artworks and artists. Whether we are talking about Themes, Studio Skills, or Methodologies, we can posit leading questions that help us to stimulate discussion, focus studio investigations, and clarify creative outcomes. What follows is a series of fictional interviews with famous artists…each structured around one of the inquiry categories.

15. Robert Arneson California Artist Glazed Ceramic 1982

16. Inquiry focused on Themes

17. Inquiry focused on Themes (viz., Identity)

18. Questions for Bob… (Inquiry questions for the Theme of Identity) • How do you identify yourself? How does your partner or other members of your group identify themselves? Is it possible to move beyond stereotypes? • I’m probably a stereotype myself by now. It’s hard to evolve when you’re dead. But I maintain that ceramics—taken out of context—is just a fascinating hobby. It’s not the clay, per se. I am drawn to artists who use their art to examine their own shit. • How does society at large identify you? • I think my life and art pretty much defined what it meant to be a “funky west coast California artist” from the middle 60s until the early 90s when the cancer got me. Now I’m just another DWM (dead white male). • How do other societies or cultures or groups identify their members? • It is all written in the mud. • What elements can artists use to express their own identity in a work of art? • I use the stuff I find around me. Plus I’m always going to shows and looking at art history books—especially the history of ceramics. But mostly I use my life and the people I respect and love as props. • How can you use, replicate, combine, or transform these elements in your own artwork to generate meaningful visual statements? • I want to make high art that is funny, outrageous and also reveals the human condition, which is not always high.

19. Frida Kahlo The Two Fridas Oil on Canvas, 170 x 170 cm 1939

20. Inquiry focused on Themes

21. Questions for Frida… (Inquiry questions for the theme of Identity) • How do you identify yourself? How does your partner or other members of your group identify themselves? Is it possible to move beyond stereotypes? • My awareness of myself as a mestiza is central to understanding my work. Many of my works deal with this dialectic between my European and indigenous Mexican identities. My father was a German-Jew who changed his name from Carl Wilhelm Kahl to Guillermo Kahlo when he immigrated to Mexico. My mother, Matilda, was of Indian and Spanish ancestry. This multicultural background is illustrated by my 1939 painting, The Two Fridas, with the Frida on the left wearing a white lace dress of the European tradition while the one on the right wears the traditional local dress of Tehuana. • How does society at large identify you? • As a student I was known as a member of 'Las Cachuchas' ('The Caps'), a Marxist group dedicated to addressing society’s inequities. I was in and out of favor with the Communist party throughout my life. Later, when I became known for my paintings, they thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn't. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality. I have always been misunderstood. • How do other societies or cultures or groups identify their members? • It’s not my business. • What elements can artists use to express their own identity in a work of art? • The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration. It is true that I am influenced by indigenous Mexican culture, which is apparent in my use of bright colors. I am attracted to dramatic symbolism from both Christian and Jewish traditions.

22. George Seurat, Self-Portrait Conté crayon on Michalletpaper 1880s

23. Questions for George… (Inquiry questions for Studio Skills) • What range of visual qualities can you produce in this medium? with this tool? • I obtain infinite nuances of half-shades thanks to the textured weave of the support—a heavy paper made by Michallet—and the range of blacks possible with Conté crayon. • Will a traditional or non-traditional use of the medium best achieve your goals? • Contrary to classical tradition, my drawings are more like paintings. I am also very influenced by photography. So my technique is “non-traditional” in at least two ways. • What visual phenomena might you carefully observe to prepare yourself and check yourself as you work? • Of course, light is everything. I call the associations of light and dark “irradiation”. • What principle/s of design will best reinforce the goal of your work? • I use asymmetrical balance and strong figure / ground relationships. • What element/s of design will best reinforce the goal of your work? • Rather than approaching drawing as line, I prefer to blacken more or less entire areas of the page. The line no longer outlines the shape. I think in terms of tonal values. • How has your control and confidence improved as you work in this medium? What needs to improve with practice or more experience? • I am an artist who has challenged my academic training and established my own style, leading (some have said) directly to abstraction. I am constantly looking for ways to simplify the image.

24. Max Ernst, The Eye of Silence, 1943-44, Oil on canvas

25. Questions for Max… (Inquiry questions for the Method of Chance Operations) • Which methodology that we discussed in class did you use in your process? • Chance operations. More particularly, I used a variety of methods I invented including frottage, grattage, decalcomania. • Given the quality of your final work, how would you rate the success of the methodology you used? • Do you think you will use this strategy again? • Did you follow one strategy pretty consistently? change strategies in process? modify your original strategy? reject a strategy? • What aspect you your methodology was most valuable? enriching? predictable? stimulating? practical? informative? adventuresome? • What aspect you your methodology was least valuable? inefficient? fruitless? time wasting? frustrating? • What is the most important insight you gained through your process?

26. Conclusion We are witnessing a dynamic shift in foundation teaching from a discipline-specific orientation (which stresses the “elements and principles” and “art for art’s sake” perspectives) to broad-based interdisciplinary approaches. Many arts educators agree that grounding in the history of visual culture and developing a capacity for critical thinking are essential. There is strong consensus regarding the importance of acknowledging diverse identities and embracing multiple points of view. There is wide-spread discussion centered on the importance of inquiry, the necessity of thoughtful risk-taking, and the need for students to trade short term effects for long range goals. There is an awareness that our increasingly networked and interconnected lives demand artists and educators who can help to clarify and perhaps even shape our increasingly complicated lives. How can curricula still tied to 19th century notions of arts education deal effectively with the challenges of the 21st? It is essential to challenge our students to think beyond traditional boundaries and give them not only the technical skills and formal principles for success in the conventional sense, but the capacity for critical reflection and the tools for meaningful problem solving. A program that makes explicit the multiple competencies that today’s students must master for success is

27. artCORE: Inquiry-based Learning in a Studio Foundation Art Curriculum Dan Collins, MFA, PhD Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts Professor, Core Coordinator, School of Art PO Box 871505 Arizona State University Tempe, AZ 85287-1505 dan.collins@asu.edu

28. Helen Frankenthaler Mountains and Sea Oil on Canvas, 84 in. x 120 in. 1952

29. Questions for Helen… (Inquiry questions for Studio Skills) • What range of visual qualities can you produce in this medium? with this tool? • All my life, I have been drawn to water and translucency. I love the water; I love to swim, to watch changing seascapes. One of my favorite childhood games was to fill a sink with water and punt nail polish into to see what happened when the colors burst up the surface, merging into each other as floating, changing shapes. • Will a traditional or non-traditional use of the medium best achieve your goals? • I don’t start with a color order but find the color as I go. I’d rather risk an ugly surprise then rely on things I know I can do. • What visual phenomena might you carefully observe to prepare yourself and check yourself as you work? • I sift through every inch of what it was that worked, or if it didn't, and wonder what was effective in it, in terms of paint, the subject matter, the size, the drawing. • What principle/s or elements of design will best reinforce the goal of your work? • There are no rules. That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules. That is what invention is about. • How has your control and confidence improved as you work in this medium? What needs to improve with practice or more experience? • A really good picture looks as if it's happened at once. It's an immediate image… I think very often it takes ten of those over-labored efforts to produce one really beautiful wrist motion that is synchronized with your head and heart, and you have it, and therefore it looks as if it were born in a minute • If you have worked in a similar medium in the past, what does that experience tell you about possibilities afforded in this medium? • There are many accidents that are nothing but accidents - and forget it. But there are some that were brought about only because you are the person you are... you have the wherewithal, intelligence, and energy to recognize it and do something with it.