Favorites:
color: magenta
m&m color: blue
art museum: MOMA in NYC
artist:
major: Renoir
indie: jen stark
art movie: Da Vinci Code
art medium: photography
quote: "imagination is everything" Albert Einstein
bullshit myth: those who can't do, teach.
About my name:
I am Van go here. I am choosing to use an alias to hide my identity, protect my job, and to have some fun. I will also use alias's for the students, parents, and other teachers that are represented in my posts. I came up with this alias by looking to my right on my desk at my Van Gogh action figure still in its original package. If I take it out and bring it to work to show my students I will surely be missing some pieces. If I take it out of its package and leave it at home I will surely be missing some pieces. So, in its package it remains. I am the suburb of D.C. part of this journal. It is my hope that suburb of Atlanta will choose the name Van go there : )
About my job:
This fall will be my fourth year teaching art, overall. One year high school and the rest elementary art. These last three years I have taught in a suburb of D.C. in a very large and well respected county. I, by no means, have it bad. I work for a very wealthy county that provides around $12/student for their art education. That is an astronomical amount! I have, over the last two years however, witnessed some loss of power and control by our fine arts office/supervisors. It is a tough battle to fight for the arts and they do one hell of a job, but eventually legislation, powers above them, and this shift to and heavy emphasis on science and technology education is drowning arts education.
For the last two years, going on three, in this county I have been split between two schools. Two days a week I go to one school, am the second art teacher, and teach on a cart. The other three days are spent at another school and, as of now, I have my own room and have had my own room. In my situation, it is not that the Principals deem art unworthy of a room, it is that there just is no room. I am assuming that this is the similar situation in most schools around the country...the amount of students has surpassed the school's capacity to hold them. But come on! Lets put some money into education and get some trailors or rooms, something! It is only sending the message that art is inferior as a discipline to young people and the community when in fact the arts contribute significantly to our economy by bringing in billions of dollars to this country each year. You also can't argue the impact art has on our society. The social, cultural, and emotional effects are immesurable. Yet, there is a persistant deemphasis on the importance of art and the attitude is just getting worse. My particular group of students I work with are in the mid to high socioeconomic class whose parents appreciate the arts. They eat breakfast, are well behaved, and serve consequences for their actions. The Principal at my art on the cart school, I rarely see or speak with, however she is quite nice and is supportive of the arts. The other Principal has made it clear to me that he respects art and what I do, which is quite rare and feels great. Recently, it has taken the release of Daniel Pink's book, "A Whole New Mind," to stir up the whole issue that the arts are in fact a necessity in the schools and will be detrimental to our economy if we keep underfunding fine arts programs. It has taken someone in the business world to wake up the government and clue them in on the importance of the arts. The business world is looking for creative thinkers and problem solvers rather than the creatively stifled individual. Geez, who could have forseen such a thing!
My mission:
It is easy for me to get started on a whole rant about the entire education system and disciplines other than the fine arts, but I will try not to. Rather, arts education is my priority and passion. I want to have some part in making art a positive part of people's lives. I want people to understand the benefits that art/art making provides to the community and each person's well being. I remember a professor telling my class during a lecture that in Florence, Italy back when Michaelangelo was gaining his popularity, it was quite difficult to move about the streets because of all the sculputres made by artists. The city was like one huge museum. I want that.
In my opinion, art is dying and more and more art classrooms being put on a cart is a huge sign of this. Arts education is in a nursing home and on its way to a hospice. Art is not a priority in the schools but it should be. Being in the classroom, with children, teaching them to love art and all that art can do for them, is doing my part. I want this site to be a place for other art teachers who may or may not teach on a cart to express their opinions, look for advice, and have discussions about what is taking place in the arts education world. I will do my best to post once a week, refined and gramatically correct and punctuated and correct spelling and no run on sentences in my posts : )
