Kyle Guzik

1. Anna Schuleit-Haber’s Bloom, Phenomenology, and Art Education 1
Anna Schuleit-Haber’s Bloom, Phenomenology, and Art Education
November 11, 2017
Kyle Andrew Guzik
University of Chicago
College of Visual Art Education (COVAE)
Abstract
In this essay I will interrogate phenomenology as a philosophical framework.
Phenomenology, as it concerned Husserl, can be described as the study of “all experiences
of consciousness and the attendant structures of those experiences” (Streb, 1984). In order
to propose my philosophical framework, I wish to utilize psychophysical reductionism to
describe a rational phenomenology. To emphasize this concept, I have selected a work of
art by the visual artist Anna Schuleit-Haber that relates strongly to concerns from
phenomenology. Art educators should avoid the trap of the failed student art show scenario
by avoiding denial of authorship. Second, art educators, most importantly teachers at the
primary and secondary educational levels, should avoid any instructional methodology that
encourages students to create homogeneous “finished” art objects. Instead, study by art
educators of the concept of phenomenology, as it is informed by psychophysical
reductionism, will help art educators to teach their students to create more complex and
personally meaningful artwork with deeper conceptual associations.

2. Bloom, Art Education, and Phenomenology 2
Description of Phenomenology as a Philosophical Framework
In this essay I will interrogate phenomenology as a philosophical framework.
Phenomenology, as it concerned Husserl, can be described as the study of “all experiences
of consciousness and the attendant structures of those experiences” (Streb, 1984). In order
to propose my philosophical framework, I wish to utilize psychophysical reductionism to
describe a rational phenomenology.
According to Sartre (1991) in Hegelian and Marxist dialectical monism “history
continually effects totalizations of totalizations” (p. 15). Sartre (1991) views this as
problematic because principles from dialectical monism cannot be taken for granted. Sartre
claims that “most anthropologists” would reject principles such as “the details of an
analytical-synthetic and regressive progressive method” surrounding dialectical monism
(p. 15). I find it convincing that Hegelian and Marxist thought can be described as
dialectical monism and will proceed from this foundation as a definition. Anthropologists
study humans and this field is relevant to the field of art education as art teachers must be
astute observers of both their students and the human condition in order to be effective
instructors.
Phenomenology can be defined as the study of the human subjective experience of qualia,
instantiations within consciousness of sensory reception and interpretation (or perception).
Examples include the experiences of watching pelicans swim on and fly over a lake or of
walking on a bridge across as river at night and observing the lights. Marx provides insights
into the nature of existential phenomenology. Marx (1978) states:
Labour is not the source of all wealth. Nature is just as much the source of use
values (And it is surely of such that material wealth consists!) as labour, which
itself is only the manifestation of a force of nature, [is] human labour power (p.
525).
This can be viewed as a philosophical statement of the phenomenological kind because it
relates Marx’s concern with the value of the natural world. Marx describes nature in terms
that seem intended to be compelling to the proletariat, indicating that a good proletarian
should view human labor power as a force of nature, yet this concept is only a
subcomponent of a larger concept (the natural world). Secondly, we see in Marx a
description of the human population as comparable to a complex machine:
It is, likewise, the development of the population… in that the productive
power of labour, like the application of machinery, is related to the
population; whose growth in and for itself already [requires as prerequisite]
the presupposition as well as the result of the growth of the use values to be
reproduced and hence also to be consumed (Tucker, Marx, and Engels,
1978, p. 291).
This idea reflects the political-geographical-historical context of Marx’s writing: the
Industrial Revolution in Europe. Industrial machinery made new standards of living

3. Bloom, Art Education, and Phenomenology 3
possible and Marx may be suggesting that humans aspire to become more like machines
with the hope of generating greater material abundance for the proletariat. We can see a
similar interest in the interrelationship between humans and machine technology in
Haraway’s (2000) description of biological-determinist ideology:
Biological-determinist ideology is only one position opened up in scientific culture
for arguing the meanings of human animality… Far from signaling a walling off of
people from other living beings, cyborgs signal disturbingly and pleasurably tight
coupling (p. 294).
Haraway’s ideas may be viewed as suggestive of the idea of a pleasant and optimistic future in
which humans interface with machines to move beyond biological determinism, the notion that
one’s biophysical constitution (psychophysical attributes, genetics) predetermine the life
outcomes, quantity, and quality of lived experiences of an individual or group. These are core
tenets of a rational phenomenology grounded in psychophysical reductionism.
Alignment with Critical Theory
Phenomenology is a concern from postmodern thought. The postmodern roots of critical theory
can be found in the work of John Stuart Mill, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Critical
to the understanding of postmodernism is the concept of deconstruction.
Conway (1991) defines deconstruction and identifies a significant flaw in its methodology, the
denial of authorship:
Deconstruction presupposes the critics insight into the contingency of the
construction of authority. By exposing the empowering presuppositions of the
author’s discourse, deconstruction effectively discredits any claim to an
epistemically privileged authority. But does deconstruction adequately provide for
the author's own insight into the construction of textual authority? (Conway, p. 91)
One might argue that a work of art exists as a thing-in-itself, or text, and that critique of any artwork
can be made only in reference to this text. However, a narrative, from Mill (1975) can be used to
demonstrate why this idea is problematic. Mill (1975) wrote:
To prevent the weaker members of the community from being preyed upon by
innumerable vultures, it was needful that there should be an animal of prey stronger
than the rest, commissioned to keep them down. But as the king of the vultures
would be no less bent upon preying on the flock than any of the minor harpies; it
was indispensable to be in a perpetual attitude of defense against his beak and claw
(p. 3)
Mill uses vultures as a metaphor for one way in which the state maintains its monopoly on
the use of the violent, the counterbalancing of the interest of various actors. While Mill
(1975) recognized the value of the state as a final arbiter in human relations, he also viewed

4. Bloom, Art Education, and Phenomenology 4
this function as a threat to individual autonomy and human freedom Mill: “Their power
was regarded as necessary but also highly dangerous” (p. 3).
Understanding the finality of the state's authority to regulate society provides “a collective
view of the economical phenomena of society, considered as existing simultaneously”
(Mill, 1975, p. 65). With this comprehension Mill (1975) argues it is possible “to infer, in
a general way, the contemporaneous state of possession of the economical laws of a
stationary and unchanging society” (p. 65). However, human cultures and societies are not
static, in fact they are subject to frequent changes and upheavals. This leads Mill (1994)
to conclude: “We have to consider what these changes are, what are their laws, and what
their ultimate tendencies, thereby adding a theory of motion to our theory of equilibrium-
the Dynamics of political economy to the Statics (p. 65). This digression into the nature of
socio-economic power sheds light on the problematic nature of the denial of authorship in
postmodern deconstruction. One cannot understand the political-cultural complex as an
unchanging set of images and objects. One must account for the dispositions and
intentionality the individuals that populate any governed cultural group in order to more
accurately model this construct. This means that a nation state does not exist only as a text
that may be critiqued by a theoretical external interpreter.
One role for visual art is to function as an hermeneutic critique of the society in which the
art creator operates. To deny authorship from text causes resentment in society because
the human population of the society critique is ignored. On a smaller scale denial of
authorship in an individual art work critiqued as text also leads to resentment. This is
problematic because as Solomon (1990) writes:
According to Nietzsche… the modern age is virtually defined by bourgeois
resentment- the resentment of a class that is no longer “slave” in any ordinary
sociological or political sense but is still wholly servile in a profound psychological
sense (p. 278)
According to Solomon (1990). “Nietzsche’s … view… is that resentment is disastrous,
incapacitating to the strong (as ‘bad conscience’) and injurious to the weak as well” (p.
278). Nietzsche can be considered a progenitor of postmodern critical thought because
“the emotional thrust of Nietzsche’s philosophy… is to diagnose and extinguish resentment
from our basic repertoire of emotions” (p. 278). Critical theory concerns the elimination
of conditions that lead to suffering particularly the suffering of individuals that comprise
historically marginalized populations. This is why arguments from critical philosophy
extend from Mill to Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and Sartre. This crux of this argument rests
in the notion that the authorship of texts is meaningful and that the postmodern critical
denial of authorship causes resentment. This is why critical theorists should reject
postmodern philosophy as an ideational turn within a larger discourse that extends from
Mill and his philosophy of utilitarianism. One solution to the problem of the denial of
authorship is to account for the subjective interpretations individual humans. Human
perceive sensory information in the context of their unique dispositions, intentions,
motivations. The hermeneutics of lived experience is the concern of phenomenology.

5. Bloom, Art Education, and Phenomenology 5
Contemporary Artwork: Anna Schuleit-Haber’s Bloom
To emphasize this concept, I have selected a work of art by the visual artist Anna Schuleit-Haber
that relates strongly to concerns from phenomenology. Bell (2011) describes her artwork, Bloom
as follows:
‘Bloom’ was a four-day installation at Massachusetts Mental Health Center in
November 2003 after the original building was closed and the staff, patients, and
services were moved to a different location in Boston. Schuleit installed 28,000
flowers and grass in the hospital and arranged a one-day symposium and
opportunity for oral testimony at the original building (p. 314).
I find this artwork personally meaningful, because, as a schizophrenic person disabled by mental
illness, I know patients in mental hospitals do not receive flowers. This is due to the danger posed
to the patients by the plants themselves as well as their containers and any decorations. According
to Bell (2011) Bloom:
commemorated the life and history of the buildings – and the people who worked
in and had been patients in them – at times of transition in their histories. They
brought together former patients, caregivers, and families who had entered the
buildings for mental illness treatment over a period of many years with others who
had never been inside before. The artworks juxtaposed easily recognizable
elements – sacred music and living flowers, hospitals and asylums, audiences and
patients, testimony and symposia – in a surprising and beautiful, even haunting way
(Bell, p. 314).
The piece itself was aesthetically pleasing. The decrepit and decaying building was the ideal
setting in which to locate a floral installation. The utilitarian ugliness of the building complements
the aesthetic perfection of the flowers. However, the piece became emotionally moving because
of the conceptual associations that surround it. Its haunting beauty comes from the idea that many
people suffered there and they really would have appreciated some flowers. The objects within
the space also function as a call to action.
To understand how the piece accomplishes this considers Abbott, Lindgren, William, and
Thomas’s (2002) description of a simple computer program called Life:
The “Game of Life” starts with an object, or a cluster of objects, made from a
configurations of black cells on a white-cell background. Then the automaton
follows the rules, and you find out what happens. Many configurations die out
completely (all cells white), become static, or cycles through a small number of
states. Some configurations…such as the glider…move. Eventually Conway
manages to prove that it is possible to construct a Universal Turing Machine- an

6. Bloom, Art Education, and Phenomenology 6
abstract programmable computer- from the rules of Life. Pulses of gliders carry
“information through the Turing Machine” (p. 55)
The decommissioned mental institution is the space in which the installation operates or “the
program runs.” Cut rectangles of grass, lilies, roses, and other flowers plans in their pots exist as
objects within this demarcated space or grid. Art observers within the installation grid are
motivated to action by sensory experiences such as scents, sounds, and colors to move from
location to location within the space. As the number of plants installed was enormous, the
installation required a large number of human participants in the installation. Schuleit-Haber likely
could not have created this installation by herself, but at a minimum, her contribution was the
intention and role as a driving force to do this. Co-participants moving the plants functioned like
gliders in Life because they were bounded by the physical constraints of the installation space,
such as hallways and rooms. An understanding of phenomenology is important to interpretation
of this piece because it sheds light on how the piece was socially constructed, observed, and
deconstructed.
Relationship to Art Educational Theory and Practice
Smith (2009) describes art school theory as an important component of curricula for non-studio
doctoral programs for visual artists. Smith (2009) justifies the need for art theoretical instruction
in terms of the intended learning outcomes of a non-studio visual arts PhD program: If we are
going to produce the artist-philosopher through academic training, what is needed is nothing less
than engagement with philosophy and theory that comes of sustained reading and discussion and
culminates in full-fledged dissertations” (p. 89). Theory in this context is meaningful because of
its relationship to student cognition: “The artist has no more claim to intelligence than anyone else.
But because of her studio training, her style of thinking and seeing does tend to be different”
(Smith, 2009, p. 89). In addition, despite initial apprehension about the interest, motivation,
capacity of his students to study art educational theories, Smith (2009) observed that his students
found inquiry regarding this subject meaningful:
I soon found out there were two good reasons why: First, theory for art students
meant something more than “theory”: it was useful to their lives, to their aspirations
and personal identity as creative expressive individuals. Secondly, because art
students spent most of their time in the studio, where resolving abstract problems
was a basic activity of studio practice, dealing with abstraction was a way of life,
and analytical thinking was the medium of thought (Smith, 2009, p. 89).
Art educators should understand philosophies involving critical theory because they allow
them to make more complex judgments and decisions in art making and provide them with
constructs to use as reference points when critiquing a work of art. Unlike visual artists,
who work primarily with object-based or conceptual mediums, art educators also include
education as a medium, and education requires work with students, teachers, parents and
guardians, administrators, and other stakeholders within a learning community.

7. Bloom, Art Education, and Phenomenology 7
The argument against the denial of authorship is clear in this context. Consider two
possible examples of problems that could occur when an art teacher is unfamiliar with
phenomenology and works in art education within a postmodern philosophical framework.
First, an art teacher will like be unsuccessful if they create situation in which students create
and display art but ignores the authorship of the students’ texts. The students will feel hurt
because they worked hard on their pieces. The parents and guardians will be offended
because their children are upset. Administrators and other teachers will feel obligated to
inform this hypothetical art teacher that their installation was a failure because the
stakeholders who created it are not personally invested in the individual pieces. This will
create a state of resentment which would be destructive to all of those involved. Second,
imagine a scenario in which an art educator employs a “group learning” methodology in
an art class with the goal of teaching the students in this hypothetical class how to create a
specific type of artwork. The intended learning outcome in this scenario is for each student
to create a finished piece that demonstrates that the student has completed, mastered, or
learned how to create an art piece with a specific style, form, or function, or created in
alignment with a specific visual arts movement. The teacher uses a modified Socratic
educational technique in which the students are arranged in a circle. Each student begins
working on their piece using the media the art teacher provides. After a certain period of
time the teacher tells the students to pass their unfinished piece to the right or left to the
next students. The teacher then asks the students to correct the mistakes in the piece their
peers hand to them. The teacher asks students to refer to the examples on the board or
projection screen in the front of the classroom when deciding what mistakes in the piece
must be corrected. The teacher instructs the students to work on this piece for period of
time and then pass the work to the right or left. The class continues working in this manner
for the duration of the class. The teacher notes in their lesson plan that this methodology
employs differentiated instruction via peer critique. This instructional methodology
promotes an average uniform series of art objects constructed by the class as a whole.
These products will seem finished as the end of instruction and will resemble the examples
presented at the front of the classroom. In this nightmare scenario the individual intentions,
choices, and motivations of each student are annihilated. No student creates their own
work, instead the class creates a series of finished art products in a process that resembles
an industrial assembly line. Primary and secondary students will likely hate this form of
art instruction because they do not get to make their own work. However, this methodology
might be acceptable in a tertiary educational setting if the instructor makes the students
aware of the intended learning outcome in advance of the class and does not rely solely on
this methodology in instruction. These two hypothetical examples demonstrate why art
educators should familiarize themselves with phenomenology and its philosophical-
historical antecedents. First, art educators should avoid the trap of the failed student art
show scenario by avoiding denial of authorship. Second, art educators, most importantly
teachers at the primary and secondary educational levels, should avoid any instructional
methodology that encourages students to create homogeneous “finished” art objects.
Instead, study by art educators of the concept of phenomenology, as it is informed by
psychophysical reductionism, will help art educators to teach their students to create more
complex and personally meaningful artwork with deeper conceptual associations.

8. Bloom, Art Education, and Phenomenology 8
Appendix A
Thought Problem
How strange would it be if you met yourself on the street?
How strange if you liked yourself,
took yourself in your arms, married your own self,
propagated by techniques known only to you,
and then populated the world? Replicas of you are everywhere.
Some are Arabs. Some are Jews. Some live in yurts. It is
an abomination, but better that your
sweet and scrupulously neat self
emerges at many points on the earth to watch the horned moon rise
than all those dolts out there, turning into pillars of salt wherever we look.
If we have to have people, let them be you,
spritzing your geraniums, driving yourself to the haberdashery,
killing your supper with a blowgun.
Yes, only in the forest do you feel at peace,
up in the branches and down in the terrific gorges,
but you’ve seen through everything else.
You’ve fled in terror across the frozen lake,
you’ve found yourself in the sand, the palace,
the prison, the dockside stews;
and long ago, on this same planet, you came home
to an empty house, poured a Scotch-and-soda,
and sat in a recliner in the unlit rumpus room,
puzzled at what became of you.

9. Bloom, Art Education, and Phenomenology 9
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Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing.
Bell, Susan. (2011). Claiming justice: Knowing mental illness in the public art of Anna
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_in_the_public_art_of_Anna_Schuleit%27s_%27Habeas_Corpus%27_and_%27Bloom%27
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10. Bloom, Art Education, and Phenomenology 10
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Tucker, R., Marx, Karl, & Engels, Friedrich. (1978). The Marx-Engels reader (2d ed.).
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