Today was my first day NOT in class. All last week I enjoyed participating in The Academy in Your Classroom taught by Charles Muldowney at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art (PAFA). It was a one-week intensive that was both exhausting and glorious. I’ll be posting the work I did either later tonight or tomorrow. Suffice it to say, I now am longing to get my MFA. (Boy, where are those rich relatives when you need them?)

If you’ve not heard of PAFA, I would recommend you check out their program.

As I reflect upon the resounding (and expected) victory of Barack Obama in his bid for the Presidency, I am piggy-backing upon my thoughts from my last post. I commented that there was a high degree of emotionalism that drove Obama’s campaign both in political and popular circles. I want to undergird that statement with a couple of other thoughts on why I think Obama so resoundingly won.

First, I think Republican hubris played a huge role in the Democrat (and Obama’s) rise to power. Beginning in 2006 with losses in both the House and the Senate, the Republicans began their steady downward spiral to where they are today. They squandered their opportunity when they were in the same position that the Dems will be in after January. They, ironically, conducted themselves as traditional Democrats and increased the size of government, violating that and other core conservative values. They appeared to believe themselves untouchable. Sadly, they found out they weren’t.

George Bush, in his last four years in office, also squandered much (though hampered in the last two years with an oppositional House and Senate). He simply didn’t do much to further conservative thought and remained, in my mind, aloof as the figurehead of the Republican party. The public’s view of him as everything wrong with our country (not a fair estimate, but understandable) hurt any chance for a Republican to take office. (Ironically, we’ll see how the Dems spin the fact that they have control of both Houses and the Presidency but ALSO have such low approval ratings—even lower than Bush’s.)

Second, and most importantly, I believe the election of Barack Obama had much to do with the failure of the Church to effectively communicate its message to it’s own people. Yes, I didn’t say communicate its message to the World, but to its OWN people—both black and white. While I recently heard that polls indicate that the African-American vote helped Obama, it didn’t put him over the top. There wasn’t a significant increase, overall, in the number of black voters (with the increase coming from in younger voters). Rather, it was white independents and moderates who elected Barack Obama. Nevertheless, I find two points interesting.

First, the African-American community as a whole votes very traditionally on issues such as family and abortion. Ironically, they selected a candidate who is anything but traditional. Did the A-A community know Obama’s stances and voting history on these core moral issues? Or, was it more that they chose to overlook it—much like most of America—in favor of economy and the prize of having a black President? My own experience in urban education leads me to believe that they abdicated their role as salt and light to the World in favor of race. That’s a harsh statement, but, as I indicated, it holds true to what I hear consistently in my all-minority school.

As I indicated previously, polls show that moderates and independents won this election for Obama. Most of those were white. The present state of the mainline Protestant and Catholic churches also shows a clear willingness to PUT ASIDE mandates about life and the family in favor of progressive politics. After all, in their view, times change and the Word of God is a book written by men that must be revisited as society evolves.

I wonder what would happen if evangelical churches made their focus—over the next four years—one of educating their congregations about the core values of the Christian church. Because the Church has a different vocabulary—a different way of looking at the World—our account of life and meaning is vastly different. I have to agree with Robert Lewis Wilken:

Nothing is more needful today than the survival of Christian culture, because in recent generations this culture has become dangerously thin. At this moment in the Church’s history in this country (and in the West more generally) it is less urgent to convince the alternative culture in which we live of the truth of Christ than it is for the Church to tell itself its own story and to nurture its own life, the culture of the city of God, the Christian republic.

I can’t help but wonder what would happen in the 2010 and 2012 elections if the Church was grounded in this way.

I’ve been reflecting more earnestly these past two weeks as students have been talking more openly about their reasons for voting for Obama. Obviously, I’ve been listening for quite some time now, but the past two weeks—the last few days in particular—have been particularly poignantly. Frankly, I’ve listened (and read) Obama’s words and been intrigued as to what is so new and hopeful about him personally and his message professionally.

If you do a cursory examination of ads and political paraphernalia from the recent past, you’ll notice that during the recent past principles such as “hope” and “change” are dominant. This has caused me to ponder why this particular candidate has infused such words with so much more meaning as to win the election with so little experience and such damaging rhetoric.

It’s the conversations I’ve listened in on and participated in that has given me my answer and that answer rests in pure emotionalism. I know that sounds simplistic but the complicated answers about the sensibility of his political stances don’t make sense. No, I ground my argument not in politics because, frankly, the average American doesn’t care much for politics. I think it’s also clear just from the complexity that we’ve allowed our political systems to become mired under. After all, who has time to research all that the candidates truly stand for? Even the sites which purport to be nonpartisan fact-checking sites are proving to be less than genuine.

Rather, my argument is founded in pop cultures’ fascination with the image and the new. When my students go off about Obama, the point is clear that they’re not interested in answers as to why I can’t vote for him. Rather, they are more keen on emotionalism and vitriol. Once again, this spirit isn’t new with this election. Our election process has become all about promises that neither candidate can deliver on.

And, it’s the emotionalism of today that has people flocking to Obama instead of reflecting on the potential damages his policies will be for generations to come.

It’s late. I’ll post more tomorrow.

Is it just me or is it really just hypocritical that people get bent out of shape over NCLB (No Child Left Behind) whereas the SAT has been around for (seemingly) forever? Ok, NCLB is about federal funds but the principle remains the same, right?

It all comes down to a single test being the defining piece of information about your ability to perform well in college (and, to some, life).

I’ve received a few responses to my last post concerning my students’ complaints during class (Intro to Painting, in particular). I was going to respond to them individually but I’ve decided it would be better to clarify my thoughts in a formal post.

The comments I’ve received can be summarized by Daniel over at kungfu komix—

“Ignore them. Students are always that way.”

I’m sympathetic to this sentiment. On some level I think any art teacher who deals with urban kids or kids taking introductory courses needs to be aware of this (seemingly) pervasive dismissive attitude.

I should have clarified myself in the original post that my distress is also (and perhaps more so) related to the incessant talking that occurs while I’m trying to teach. When I try to address it, the students don’t get it. Sadly, their insensitivity is what most distresses (and, frankly, scares) me.

It drains me because waiting for them to get quiet—which is what I was instructed to do by an administrator— causes my projects to take forever to get done or move forward. And, the fact that the lesson gets drawn out causes MORE complaining from my students. (Yes, they’re clueless to the fact that THEY are the root cause of the delay.)

The students’ insensitivity scares me because it reinforces to me how shortsighted they are to how their own behavior is negatively affecting their education. I’ve tried to clue them in to the fact that, unless they go into a science, medical or engineering field they would use most of the higher math they are learning. BUT, the skills I’m teaching them could be a hobby they enjoy until the day they die. Well, maybe the day BEFORE they die. LOL!

Hopefully, this fills in the gaps on my frustration regarding my students lack of motivation. Additional thoughts anyone?

This week was particularly troubling for me. Emotionally, I was drained by my students’ constant complaints:

• This is too hard
• This is meaningless
• This is so dumb
• I’m never going to use this
• Blah, blah, blah.

Albeit none of these complaints is new or surprised me. I’ll be reflecting this weekend on my personal responses as I do my lesson planning.

My painting class, in particular, has been quite distressing. They don’t understand why we’re learning drawing basics. My attempts at explaining it fell on deaf ears.

What do you do with students who position themselves beyond motivation?

I met with my media specialist yesterday. I wanted to discuss with her the possibility of taking 3-4 students out of my painting class and giving them writing assignments. One of the kids has been asking for this from the beginning of the year because he hates art. (He failed art last year.) We came up with a couple of ideas. We’re going to meet again next week.

The first month of school has passed. Over the summer I thought through what I would cover in the new classes I got approval for teaching.

Unfortunately, while I can change course content I can’t change my students’ hearts. This year, like last, is proving no different with regards to that. I was hoping my frustration level would have matured but my disappointment is already peaking.

I started teaching the kids about the Elements and Principles of Design by tying it to a nonrepresentational abstract drawing project. I showed examples of other black and white abstract works and talked the students through an initial; taking the definitions of the Elements and Principles and describing how I would write about it for that piece of art.

I read through some of the papers and many were poorly done. Because I decided to have them write once a week on a different piece—describing how the artist used the Elements and Principles—I realize now that I will have to provide them with an actual writing sample.

I’ll keep you all posted.

500 Animals in Clay: Contemporary Expressions of the Animal Form was one of two books that came to me last week. I reviewed it looking for inspiration for projects for this year’s upcoming ceramics courses.

I thought this book did an excellent job providing me with examples of what it title says the book is about: 500 animals in clay. From traditional examples to more modern interpretations, this book contains beautiful single-view photos. I would have appreciated a central photo with a couple alternate views in the sidebars simple because the works are 3-D and should be presented as such. But, I didn’t mark them down for that oversight. Oh, and BTW, this is NOT a how-to book. You’ll need to look elsewhere for such a reference.

Overall, I was looking for examples that would inspire me with project ideas as I teach an introductory-level ceramics class for high school students. Obviously, some of the techniques aren’t possible in my school but I’m not looking to copy what is depicted in the book; merely to show off what is possible in a sculptural presentation.

The photography sells the book. Kudos!

Summer is sadly approaching its end. Yes, I know, it nearly brings a tear to my eye as well. After having lunch with a few friends from where I worked two companies ago, I stopped in to Barnes & Noble to look at their art book section as I was needing some inspiration and direction for a couple of new classes I am starting in the Fall.

The B&N in King of Prussia had a pretty good selection. Well, for me it did. I was looking for books specifically about pastels and oil/watercolor/acrylic painting. It shouldn’t have been too hard but I was surprised the amount of material that simply missed the mark.

I’ll give you a simple rundown of the order I placed through Amazon. I’ve already received two of my selections (woo-hoo!) and am looking forward to the others coming ahead of schedule as well. Here’s the list:

1. Pastel School (Learn as You Go)
2. Painting with Pastels: Easy Techniques to Master the Medium
3. Landscape Painting Inside and Out: Capture the Vitality of Outdoor Painting in Your Studio With Oils
4. Oil Painter’s Solution Book Landscapes: XX Answers to Your Oil Painting Questions
5. How to Paint Like the Impressionists: A Practical Guide to Re-Creating Your Own Impressionist Paintings
6. Layer by Layer Acrylic Painting

Yes, I know there aren’t any watercolor-technique books in the list and only one acrylic book. I’ve got some watercolor resources available at my house. I just need time to go through them and think out how to incorporate the info. Of course, what to include is also helpful. I’ve got that to figure out too. Though time is short, it’ll come together.

Well, I’m off to bed. Good night!

School has been more draining than usual so I haven’t been posting and that’s been disappointing to me because I felt like I had gotten closer to being more consistent with my posts. Oh well. I’ll get back to where I need to be.

In the meantime, I’d like to share what’s been going on with the work my students have been doing with Betty Edwards’ Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. The things I’ve learned are:

1. It’s okay to extend the lessons somewhat. Since last year I’ve struggled with failing kids. I want to hold them accountable for their performance, but I also want to be mindful that failing a lot of students can be a dangerous proposition when you’re looking to be rehired next year.
2. When you do extend a lesson be consistent so that the pace of the other lessons aren’t negatively affected.
3. Don’t be afraid to fail a kid for work not done (not much of a problem for me) or mark them down for work done poorly (can be a problem for me). This may sound obvious, but I’m a newbie and I know that I need to watch my tendency to be overly critical. I made a girl cry last week. Fortunately, I used the opportunity to show my humanity (by apologizing), to validate how she was feeling and to teach her about appropriate ways of expressing her frustration.

I offer these simple observations to help those who may have used this material before and found themselves in a similar teaching environment as I am now. If you have some recommendations of your own to supplement these, please let me know.

I’m going to try to post a few examples. Some of the work I’ve been getting has been quite good. We’ll see how the kids hold up with the profile portrait and self-portrait assignments.