Art + Community

As a future teacher with a diverse identity, I value the sense of community and a strong basis of essential art skills. These two ideas can be integrated into art education. You can feel like you belong in a community while you are in an art class with a solid foundation that makes everyone feel included.

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I want to help students to understand that we are a team, and together, we can achieve many goals. Whether it is helping or inspiring each other, the sense that you belong somewhere is also impactful to one’s mental health. Additionally, I want students to know that having diversity in a community is an effective way to succeed as a whole. We should preserve different cultures because they can give us insight towards different viewpoints. A different perspective can lead to the invention or adoption of positive qualities of different cultures. In addition, being in an art class may help students make friends because it helps them connect through their interests. Therefore, to improve school lifestyles and mental health, we need to prioritize the sense of community.

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To successfully achieve a sense of community, I believe that we as a society need to learn the basics. With the foundational knowledge, it will help us communicate and collaborate better. I also want to provide the tools, structure, and strong base for students so they can layer their own unique building on top. Good basic skills and education about the subject are important for students in art. I believe students should learn about how to utilize the media and tools first to execute their creativity. For example, Picasso, who is well known for the innovative art movement, Cubism, is also known for having a solid art education. Learning about basics in the arts will help students to experiment with what they learned before and create something new from it. I believe in perennialism which is a philosophy that values teaching about ideas that existed for several centuries. For example, art students should have education on art history, different art movements, and how we have been using media in the past centuries. All factors contribute to having basic knowledge of art.

 

In conclusion, I want to emphasize how important perennialism is in art education. Art can promote a healthy community and give students the opportunity to express their ideas. After all, without the understanding of basic knowledge, Picasso would not be able to establish Cubism.