NCECA 2014: John Dorsey
•Download as PPTX, PDF•
0 likes•217 views
Lecture: The Gallery as Classroom This presentation focuses on challenging the traditional archetype of school art galleries. We will advocate for an active and experiential model that focuses on classroom teaching techniques instead of a passive, uninvolved model that has its roots in the commercial gallery system.
Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
More from NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts)
More from NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts) (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
NCECA 2014: John Dorsey
- 1. The Gallery As Classroom John Dorsey Director, Foster Gallery Noble and Greenough School
- 18. The Gallery As Classroom • John_Dorsey@nobles.edu • www.fostergallery.org • https://www.facebook.com/FosterGallery • http://www.nobles.edu
Editor's Notes
- This talk is about what it means to run a gallery in a school setting. What does a gallery add to a school? What does it mean to curate? How does a gallery add value to a school’s educational setting?
- Evolution of thinking in regards to the gallery. Originally modeled after a commercial gallery: find great work, hang beautifully, stand back and wait for the art to speak. We were artists, not business people. Results: passive approach = passive audience.In our department, we have had an ongoing conversation about the gallery and what it means to curate. Curation is the process of selecting, editing, repackaging, and disseminating art and information. Within an academic setting, it is important to think about curation in the context of the entire K12 school. Too often, we approach a gallery or other show space as a venue that serves only the art department. However, a gallery can also function as an important bridge that promotes inter-disciplinary connections across departments and experiential learning among students.Foster Gallery - Opened in Fall 2006Foster Gallery - 75 linear feet of wall space and 1050 sq ft
- However, too often, we encountered what might be called the “U” visitor. Instead of being wowed, our visitors would simply walk through the door, pace the gallery’s perimeter, and quickly skip out the room in a minute’s time, their path having effective traced the shape of a “U” on the floor. This is the very definition of surface learning.
- What we are looking to do: create deep learners in the arts. Deep Learning: engaged, committed, curious,
- How do you create deep learners in the classroom?Multiple approaches to information dissemination: Visual presentation, verbal presentation, group activities, singular activities… etc.Trying to take the same approach to the gallery
- How to create engaged teachers? How to have the gallery function as a resource for non-visual arts teachers.English and language classes are ripe for this kind of discussion.
- Web Information, Teacher Guides, Student newspaper (interviews), podcasts, etc.Important to do their homework for them!
- Teacher as maker, allowing visual in other classes to be showcasedTeachers to claim ownership of the space. Expanding their resources. Support what they do in the classroom already
- The non-artist as maker: creates ownership of the space.The goal over the year is to reach as many types of learners as possible: spatial, linguistic, kinesthetic, etc. By conceiving of ways that visitors might engage content not only as consumers but also as creators, we hope to produce more buy-in from the entire school.
- Draw parallels between classes. I thought it would be about drawing. Programming – Choreography. Collaboration allows insight
- Gallery as non-galleryHave the gallery function as not/gallery. In the past year, we have turned the gallery into a concert hall, a dance stage, a movie theater (The first year of our Foster Gallery Film Festival was programmed in conjunction with our Modern Language department.), and a science lab.
- Community Service group creating work in the studio. Looking to make connections with all populations in your school. How to reach out? How to support what they do?
- Last year, created the Artist-in-Residence position. We envisioned it as double opportunity – for the community to learn about the making process of a show. for artist to learn more about a teaching and learning community
- Janice Jakielski was the inaugural AIR. She was great about creating opportunities for both students and facultyClassroom visitsStudio visitsLunch tableStudent critiquesCulminating in her show – I Think I’ll Like It Here
- In a recent show, artist Janice Jakielski created a photo booth just outside the gallery where students could don some of her wearable sculpture and be photographed against one of her background vignettes, effectively becoming part of the show, itself.
- In conclusion, what has been the biggest change for Foster Gallery in the past couple of years is the realization that the entire school can be our student roster, the gallery our classroom, and the entire school year our class period. Looking through this macro lens, and with this understanding, it has become easier to think about how to bring a robust arts education to the school community. Schools need to approach the arts from many angles. Curatorial education can work hand-in-hand with art history and visual arts instruction to round out the arts curriculum for a K12 school.