Artistic Vision
Art Education. Straight Up.Sports and the Power of Friendship (Sports vs. The Arts, Part 6a)
Sorry for being lax in posting. It’s been a crazy week with getting grades in for the end of the quarter. Needless to say, I’ve been recounting some of the points that have come up during my discussions with my students about the sports vs. the arts debate. Someone commented after my last post that they believed the core of the discussion was on one’s interests and likes; not that one is easy and the other difficult.
Certainly, interest plays a significant role as to why someone chooses to take part in an activity. But where does that interest come from? Is it purely innate? I don’t think so. I would posit that interest is also generated from (not in any particular order):
- Friends
- Family
- Pop Culture
Friends
I touched upon friendship in my last post. Specifically, I noted how art was a solitary activity. Therefore, those who push themselves to develop artistic skill in a specific medium (e.g., oil, acrylic, pastel) are going to miss out on many of the neighborhood activities of their friends. Especially in the formative middle and high school years, friendship is seemingly all-important to most young people. Issues of identity and belonging affect all of us throughout various stages of our life, but it is more keenly felt during those years. The fact that sporting activities—both playing and watching—reinforce that sense of self and camaraderie longed for makes it easy to see how friendship plays a powerful role in young people’s passion for sports. Plus, you have the release of endorphins through exercise and the general fun and excitement that comes from sports. Again, both powerful motivators.
The arts don’t offer such camaraderie since, even in a classroom setting, you are there to work and not socialize. By the time kids get older, they expect a certain level of verisimilitude from their artwork. Unfortunately, that takes time and effort. While sports certainly has its challenges, those with average skill can play and enjoy themselves. So, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying one is essentially harder than the other. A professional athlete gets paid huge sums of money because their talent is unique and their is a huge market ready to pay to see that talent in action. (But, more on that in a later post.)
Thus, the pull of friendship and all that it entails can pull young people away from participating in the arts, both short- and long-term.
In my next post, I’ll address the powerful role of parents in this discussion. I’ll look to post tonight or tomorrow.
Art is Solitary (Sports vs. The Arts, Part 5)
In my last post—sorry for the length—I touched on a few observations I had for my students when they stated that art was hard and that was one of the reasons why they believed kids prefer sports to art. That may be a piece of it, but I think there is another component that plays a significant role: sports, especially in neighborhoods, build camaraderie and friendship—both of which are positive and powerful intrinsic motivators. I believe this motivation is a key component that drives sports involvement up while visual arts involvement down.
Drawing, painting and many other visual arts aren’t group activities. Rather, they are solitary endeavors that pull you away from friendships of the nature you see develop on neighborhood courts and ball fields. A monthly meeting or weekly painting group meets briefly. Suffice it to say, artists aren’t known for playing well together. Artistic temperament aside, developing a craft requires hours of practice that rarely involves others except when feedback is being sought.
Easy Access
Think about it: sports friendships are not only built around playing together but also joining in to watch a favorite team or complain about a favorite player’s recent slump. So, we find those friendships on the court being nurtured by weekly get-togethers to watch games that are on at all hours throughout the day and night thanks to the preponderance of cable sports channels.
Such venues simply don’t exist for visual artists. (If I’m wrong, please let me know!) If nothing else, I find that many visual artists, in an effort to practice their craft, turn the TV off not on.
A Final Note
Consider that there is little change in the individual sports enthusiasts’ friendships as aging occurs. Friends may move away but they still text or talk about “the game” or a favorite player. They may even participate in the same fantasy league together. Lifestyles change but, again, that doesn’t inhibit the core value of the friendship.
With art, there exists the fear of diminishing returns. As an artist moves through different stages of life (job, marriage, family), he may find it more difficult to pursue his art and so see his skills deteriorate. Because of the isolation, it can become easy to withdraw further instead of fight your way back to the level of proficiency you once had. And, as my students rightly say, art is hard.
My next post will touch upon contemporary culture’s influence on the minds of students.
Art is Hard (Sports vs. The Arts, Part 4)
Previously, my post focused on my students’ perception on why art is boring. Today I’ll tackle what I had to say to them when they told me that art was too frustrating and difficult (compared to sports).
Art is Hard
Clearly, the main reason many students believe art is hard comes from not having been taught how to see or how to use the strategies artists employ when creating art. In general, it has become clear to me—not only from teaching art but also from having art-related conversations through the years—that people forget (or don’t understand) that the visual arts require the synthesis of auditory, visual and kinesthetic skills.
Let’s consider a simple painting example. After I verbally talk through the assignment and check for understanding by asking students to repeat what I said, I model what I am looking for via a demonstration. Students then, on their own, observe the apple on the table, process the spatial information related to relative-size, shape, color, shadow, etc., mix up appropriate colors and then put brush to canvas to record what they see.
That’s quite a bit of information to assimilate when you are first starting out. I try to remind my students that the process gets easier and parts eventually become rote, but it will take time and practice. That doesn’t allay much of their frustration once they delve into the process for themselves.
The Importance of Struggle
Though few adults relish it, struggle is anathema to my students. Filled with fear of failure and/or the embarrassment of being bad at something as “silly” as art, my students habitually teach me new ways they find to avoid doing difficult things.
Generally, I find that there are three keys that make for a successful trip through a class in the visual arts: interest, practice and time. Because my school has few electives, I inevitably deal with students who don’t want to be in my classes. Therefore, interest level is something I contend with almost daily.
I tell my students—especially my seniors—that in college (and in life) they will be required to do things they don’t enjoy. If nothing else, I encourage them to take the challenge and find one new thing to learn every class whether it be about themselves (and how much they struggle with anger when they don’t get what they want) or about the class (and how meaningless to their future they find it). Such a challenge may not make their situation a comfortable one, but developing those kinds of life strategies will help them mature.
Right behind interest level are practice and time, the two inextricably linked. You can’t cut corners in the arts because of the coordination necessary to get better. Few will be fooled if you do. Clearly some move faster along the path towards proficiency because of gifting, but even if you are gifted in an area (e.g., sports, poetry, drawing), at some point, you will plateau and you will need to push yourself to get to that next level. That’s just a fact of life born out by experience.
It is practice or lack thereof that hampers the progress of many of my students. At the beginning of the year, I begin my spiel where I pick a subject—usually a higher math—and explain to them that unless they are going into an engineering or medical field they will forget the majority of it for lack of use. However, if they put in the time and effort, they could learn a life-long hobby that benefits them mentally, physically and emotionally.
Another day I try a “sneak attack” by switching the focus to the amount of practice it took for them to become good at their favorite sport. I ask my students if they remember friends laughing or ridiculing them when they first started playing. Every one of them had such a memory. I usually tag-team this discussion with some research concerning the 10,000 hour rule which piques their interest and sparks good conversation but has yet to translate into greater study of an artistic discipline.
Whether it be a misplaced focus on digital media, weak attention spans or the never-ending expectation for college “excitement,” it didn’t take me more than six months to realize that my student’s personal time is sacred to them—and that means it’s for entertainment and friends, not school.
Therein lies the rub as I bring this article to a close. How can the arts hope to flourish when the focus of my students’ time is on entertainment, things lacking difficulty? Of similar interest would be a discussion of friends and their influence in sports vs. the arts.
Art is Boring (Sports vs. The Arts, Part 3)
My previous blog post detailed the responses I got from my students when I asked them why they believed sports was more compelling than either creating or viewing art. It was an interesting conversation, but I cannot say that their comments surprised me.
I originally was going to reflect upon each of the responses, but so many of them are rather straightforward that I thought I would give that a pass and focus on their perspectives on art. Over the next few posts, I’ll handle them one or two at a time. As always, your feedback is appreciated.
Art Is Just Plain Boring
At the heart of this statement is the false notion that art should be easy. This misperception comes from my students’ background where they have never persistently been challenged to think otherwise. Consider that most have not been to a museum (except for the Franklin Institute or The National Great Blacks in Wax) or looked at artwork other than manga, Family Guy or the shows like those on Cartoon Network. So, of course, my class should be easy because its value to them is little-to-nonexistent. They don’t know what possibilities are out there in the way of careers in the arts or even the joy of a life-long hobby that could be theirs if they were to practice developing a few skills.
In addition, our culture is focused on pop culture, not high culture. That’s where the money is: sports events/figures, celebrities and R&B. Much of the fascination with pop culture rests with our seemingly collective love of being entertained (which requires little or no thinking). Why go through the drudgery of trying to create a painting (composition, color balance, verisimilitude, etc.) when you can sit in front of the TV with no concerns except when your body tells you it’s time to snack, pee or poop.
Lastly, the art world itself has alienated kids (and many adults) to what is out there because, let’s face it, much of the contemporary art scene remains arcane or just plain weird—Duchamp’s readymades, anyone?
There is more to the whole “art is boring” concept, but I’ll leave it at these few. (Please feel free to put forth your own via comment.) But suffice it to say, art educators face a tough upstream battle convincing today’s postmodern-bred youth in seeing art as other than boring.
My Students Speak (Sports vs. The Arts, Part 2)
In my last post I wondered where the arts had gone wrong in not only attracting young people but also our culture as a whole.
My students informed me that the arts (particularly visual art which is my field of study) couldn’t hold a candle to either participating or watching sports because:
- Playing sports is an adrenaline rush
- Playing sports builds sportsmanship and character
- Playing sports stresses the importance of working with a group towards achieving a goal
- Playing sports is a great form of exercise
- Playing sports could get you a college scholarship
- Playing sports could lead to a professional career and the opportunity to make lots of money
- Watching sports is a great form of relaxation
- Watching sports provides an opportunity to follow your favorite team or player
- Watching sports builds friendship
- Watching sports is just exciting
(Numbers 1, 5 and 6 in bold were the responses most often given.)
What do you think of their list? Is it a list that should be expected from high school students? Would a list from adults be different?
Post your additions and thoughts.
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