Color Expressions: An Art Educational Voyage

About the Book

Chapter 1 focuses on my early childhood development in elementary school and how I used my environment as a tool for learning. My autobiographical narrative begins with a description of how I integrated art education concepts establishing a method for learning. Applying those self-taught methods and concepts, I became proficient in the four core subject areas and succeeded in school. The most significant obstacle that I encountered in my life, at this time, was the fact I lived in a high poverty area, also known as “The Projects”. Most minorities are cut off from information, skills, and guidance that will prepare them for the pursuit of their desires to learn while living in a poverty area. Moving from elementary to the junior high school, my learning environment changed. Following the Brown v. Board of Education decision desegregating public schools, I was bused to the neighboring school which was located in a predominantly white and more affluent neighborhood. This experience showed me the stark disparity between higher qualities of educational learning environment versus the destitution of living in a ghetto! While in junior high my educational art integration methods were slowed by national conflicts and catastrophic deaths of famous African-American people and the burning cities in the late 1960s’. These were my first encounters of how race relationships were so important to learning. In spite of the conflicts and tragedies around me, I was determined to remain focused on my education. I used art as a coping mechanism to deal with the events that surrounded me, and I came to understand the value of art as a way of learning. During this time, I continually searched for the one teacher who would understand and endorse my use of art as a way of learning. The interesting thing about this search is that although I found several teachers like this in elementary and middle school, they were nowhere to be found in high school, college, and graduate school. I explain how this lack of guidance and understanding affected my academic success and achievements. With the school culture, social environment and unhappy classroom experiences, school became an illusion of unwanted relationships. For example, I was known more for my athletic abilities than for my unique artistic integrations in my learning, which I found extremely frustrating. While I enjoyed the attention that I received as an athlete, I longed for that one teacher or professor who would notice or appreciate the way I used art in my learning. Chapter 2 focuses on the history of my employment as an art teacher and how I began to integrate art with the four core subject areas. All I needed was a place in which to put my theories into practice. My first opportunity came when I was hired to teach at a boys’ home for underprivileged African-American adolescents who were wards of the state and were at risk of academic failure. My strategies were extremely successful. Later, as an art instructor for adult education, I continued to conduct more strategies to refine my teaching skills. I also describe in some detail, other positions that allowed me the opportunity to gain more knowledge in art education, use my strategies and attain my certification of teaching art education. Chapter 3 consists of for my search for new ways to use art education for the purpose of teaching across the curriculum. This process began with my vision that all art teachers teach across the curriculum. I believe that a common set of standards, language and curriculum in art education can help teachers assess children’s knowledge and skills. To accomplish this vision, it was imperative for me to attend workshops designed for teachers in the other core subject areas. While attending these workshops I would collect evidence that proved or disproved my strategies of the connections between art education and the core subject area. For example, attending a writing/reading workshop for language arts was

About the Author

I am an art teacher. For the past 15 years, I have taught middle school students in an urban school district in metropolitan Detroit. My students learn how to draw, sketch, paint, and sculpt in a variety of media, ranging from pencils, to crayons, to water color, to clay, to fabric, to jewelry. They also learn important art concepts such as shape, pattern, texture, balance, symmetry, proximity, and closure. My students learn a lot about art in my class, and I enjoy teaching them. However, there is one thing about being an art teacher that has always frustrated me. Art does not receive the same respect as the other school subjects. Whenever budgets are tight, the art program is considered expendable. It is typically viewed by parents and educators as mere “enrichment” rather than a viable and essential part of the school curriculum. Groups such as the National Art Education Association (NAEA) advocate for the importance of art by treating it as another core subject area that should be valued as highly as science, math, social studies, and language arts. While I generally agree with this stance, I think they are missing a critical argument for the value of art. By framing art as a stand-along core subject area, they neglect the essential connections among art and the other disciplines.