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Everything has a beginning. Most everyone agrees that visual art plays an important role in human development, but how and when did art education become a part of compulsory education?
There have been a multitude of social, cultural, and historical events that have shaped art education throughout the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries into what we understand art education to be today. For the sake of this article, I am not going to go as far back as the inception of art education, considering artists guilds and apprenticeships of medieval times, rather we will begin with art education in American schools. For more information regarding the history of art education, check out my articles HERE.
Old School
The history of art education in the United States began with recognizing the need for skilled designers in industry to make products that were competitive in the world market. The United States did not have a strong foundation of artists and designers, causing manufacturers to hire European designers, which was very expensive. In the 1860s, drawing instruction was implemented into the school curriculum to address the need for draftsman and designers in the nation’s workforce. By educating America’s youth in drawing and the foundations of art and design, society would gain skilled workers at lower labor costs and be able to compete with the manufacturing and exporting of textiles, furniture, and decorative objects.
During the late 1800s, educators and psychologists began to think differently about the natural development of children and modifying the education structure in regard to child development. Although psychologists and educators understood the value of the freedom of expression and creativity in response to child development, education supervisors remained critical of the caliber and technical ability of drawings produced from the public school curriculum. Mechanical drawing was still regarded as superior, even though on a whole, art education had moved away from industrial drawing. As a result, in the turn of the century, there was a greater investment made to train and hire more qualified art teachers in order to meet society’s need for professionally trained artists and designers.
Art education continues to evolve today and is redefined with each new era to meet the demands of contemporary society, much the same as it began, in the mid-1860s, to meet the nation’s needs during the Industrial Revolution. Throughout the course of the last one hundred years, art educators have battled with art’s place and function within the school curriculum. Art and design was introduced into schools to fulfill the need of designers in the American workforce. As art education transformed though the next three decades, educators struggled with the authoritarian doctrines because of the free and expressive nature of children and art. Creativity became the focus of art education at the turn of the century. Even now in the 21st Century, though, the struggle to find a balance between freedom of expression, creativity, and formal application remains an issue still debated in the implementation of art education in compulsory school curriculum.
New School
Contemporary art education may be rooted in the formalism of modernism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but its branches extend far beyond what art education was in its inception. No longer bound to fitting the needs of the factory mentality of the industrial revolution, art education focuses heavily on today’s social and cultural needs. Twenty-first century learning objectives develop critical thinking, creative problem-solving, communication, technology and collaboration skills. The asking of questions regarding the human experience and the seeking of creative answers and solutions to life and global situations, is at the forefront of art education goals. The strengthening of imagination and creativity leads to innovation. Contemporary art education is about making learning objectives that are relevant to the learner’s life as it exists today; it is as diverse as our global culture and cannot be simply organized under one definition. Contemporary art and art education may be best interpreted as a continually changing and developing way of viewing and questioning the world.
Art Mouse House Philosophy
I identify myself as a contemporary art educator and strive to make learning objectives that are relevant to today’s learner as a member of a local and a global society. With that said, I recognize that my philosophy of education is deeply rooted in the history of art education. My emphasis in teaching may be on contemporary social and cultural objectives, but it is not devoid of formalism. As an art teacher I continue to stretch my own definitions of what is art and art education, therefore I make a conscious decision to be open-minded in my approach to teaching art. My teaching practice and the lessons you find on this site are eclectic as a reflection of contemporary art education and our world today. Some lessons may be heavily reflective of a formal approach to art education, whereas other lessons may be very open-ended focusing on the asking of questions and the seeking of answers. I encourage all readers, educators, and practitioners to continually redefine their personal philosophy and understanding of art education and it’s relevancy to our contemporary global society and culture.
