Art Graduate Theses and Projects Copyright (c) 2013 Boise State University All rights reserved. http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/art_gradproj Recent documents in Art Graduate Theses and Projects en-us Thu, 07 Mar 2013 11:55:12 PST 3600 Informed. Active. Connected. Arts Educators Advocating For The Arts in Idaho http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/art_gradproj/4 http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/art_gradproj/4 Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:02:29 PDT PROJECT OVERVIEW: Create a professional marketing handbook for arts educators in Idaho to use as a tool to allow them to more effectively advocate for arts education in Idaho.

For the first time, in 1994, the Goals 2000: Education America Act identified the arts as part of the core curriculum in federal policy. Eighteen years later, available research shows that arts education contributes to critical thinking, creativity, social engagement, cultural awareness, and student achievement. However, despite this “convincing research and strong public support, the arts remain on the margin of education, often the last to be added and the first to be dropped in times of strained budget and shifting priorities” (“Critical Evidence,” 2006, p. 17). The great state of Idaho is a prime example of this discrepancy. According to A Report on the Status of Arts Education In Idaho (2010), arts education in Idaho reflects the national situation, continues to struggle for recognition at the district level, and the infrastructure to support arts education in Idaho is lacking (“A Report,” 2010, p. 2). To confirm this, the same article reports Idaho’s elementary school art specialist-to-student ratio for visual arts at 1 to 2,335. It is time for change–it is time for change in Idaho.

This advocacy resource handbook has been created specifically for arts educators in Idaho to provide materials and information needed to be effective advocates for the arts. The interests and long-term goals for this project in arts advocacy are in how we, arts educators, communicate the value of the arts here in Idaho. How do we promote the arts? How do we get people–– government officials, school board members, parents, communities, and students––to care about the arts? The very act of advocating requires knowledge, consistent information, and purpose. This handbook will provide Idaho’s arts educators with a comprehensive arts advocacy campaign that maintains the quality and thoughtfulness that the arts deserve.

]]> Heather Hanks Arts Educators Advocating for the Arts in Idaho http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/art_gradproj/3 http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/art_gradproj/3 Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:19:29 PDT The purpose of this M.A. Art Education project is to provide Idaho’s arts educators with both a comprehensive arts education advocacy handbook and access to a professionally designed arts education advocacy marketing campaign. Global, national, and local arts advocacy research serve as a foundation for this project. This project has three major components: an arts advocacy handbook, materials for an Idaho-specific arts advocacy marketing campaign, and a social media page. The handbook, “Informed. Active. Connected. Arts Educators Advocating For The Arts in Idaho,” aims to better prepare Idaho’s arts educators to be effective, knowledgeable, and informed advocates for the arts with a consistent marketing message and theme.

Major objectives for this project include: accessibility of the handbook and its materials, ease of use, consistent design, and shareability of information. A key component in addressing these intentions is how the handbook will be distributed and accessed. In an effort to maximize viral use and distribution of the arts advocacy handbook, a Facebook Fan Page has been created and serves as a hub for this project. The Facebook Fan Page, “Idaho Arts Advocacy,” will provide Idaho’s arts advocates with an open platform to communicate and connect.

The handbook designed as a result of this project consists of the following information and materials:

  • Introduction: Why An Arts Advocacy Handbook?, Who Is This Handbook For?, How Do You Use This Handbook?, Recent Research In Arts Education, Marketing And Advocacy Defined
  • State of Education in Idaho
  • State of Arts Education in Idaho: Arts Educators vs. Parent Volunteers, Idaho Arts Education Resources, Additional Idaho Resources and Facts, Arts Education Recommendations from NAEA
  • Marketing Plan: Explanation of Design, Posters, Flyers, E-blast, Small Images, Facebook, Additional Ideas, Graphic Design Tips, Marketing Tips
  • Closing: Idaho’s Arts Educators Are Advocates, Resources

]]> Heather Hanks BE MUCH: Teaching the Principles of Design http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/art_gradproj/2 http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/art_gradproj/2 Mon, 14 Jun 2010 08:19:49 PDT What constitutes a piece of artwork? Is it the subject matter, the idea, the meaning, or the way in which it is made that realizes its success? Or is it the mere fact that human beings created it with purpose? If two pieces of artwork address the same subject, can one be considered better or more compelling than the other? Is there even such a thing as “good art” as opposed to “poor art”, or is that a debate that can only be answered within a culture or time period? Can one really judge the value of art, or is the process of making art just the instinctive urge of mankind to make expressive marks? These questions have been the topic of debate for centuries, and will continue as a catalyst for discussion among artist for a long time to come. But, as a middle school art teacher, I must address the question asked by my students: “Ms. Chattin, is my art good?” The middle school student ranges in age from eleven to fourteen. This is a time of dramatic changes in the brain which brings an increased ability of the student to create more mature art. It is the age when the brain transforms from concrete thinking to abstract thinking and the young artist is no longer content to make expressive marks, but to arrange those marks in ways that bring meaning, beauty, and fun. Middle school students want their artwork to “look right” and they are highly critical of their performance. Those students who are more talented in either artistic ability and/or vision are respected and envied by their peers and will excel in their artistic endeavors if motivated to do so. However, public middle school art classes must create an atmosphere success for all students. I believe that the process of successful art making, art which the student can be proud of, should be available to all students, not just to those are talented. The knowledge and use of the principles of design is a starting point where students can successfully participate in personal art production. But it is only a starting point, not the goal of art education. It is a knowledge base which will help students make design decisions for the purpose of expressing and communicating personal feelings, ideas and concepts. Part of my job as an art educator is to direct my students in the basic understanding of the fundamentals of art in order that their finished product is not only self expressive, but satisfying to their eye. To accomplish this job I must teach the principles of design: concepts and terms that are often difficult for the middle school student to grasp. This thesis/project will address one of many ways to teach the principles of design, offering practical lesson plans which emphasize each one individually. The goal being: to ground students in knowledge about design so they may effectively communicate their artistic visions.

]]> Lois J. Chattin Visual Culture Art Education: Critical Pedagogy, Identity Formation and Generative Studio Practices in Art http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/art_gradproj/1 http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/art_gradproj/1 Tue, 25 May 2010 14:49:07 PDT This paper explores visual culture and its emergence as a (inter-) disciplinary field of study and practice within art education. Visual Culture Art Education (VCAE), while still in the process of defining itself, inserts itself among myriad academic disciplines as well as our everyday living experiences outside the classroom. Due to its discursive nature, VCAE draws extensively on contemporary pedagogical praxis. I advocate for the integration of visual culture, with an emphasis on popular culture, into art curricula as a means to increase the relevancy of art instruction for students. The inclusion of (popular) visual culture in the art classroom also serves as a means to facilitate the development of higher order thinking skills that can assist students in their ability to navigate the seemingly infinite clusters of signs aimed at shaping them (inside and) outside the art classroom. I advocate for inquiry-based educational methods within the framework of constructivist theory with an emphasis on critical pedagogy and psychoanalytic pedagogy. These contemporary pedagogical models position the learner as a key agent in meaning making. By modeling questioning strategies and facilitating critical connections to course materials and student interests, art educators share the responsibility of learning with the students thereby creating a democratic community within the classroom. Connections to democratic principles are made throughout this paper as a means to communicate the several opportunities art educators have in the classroom to foster student questioning, student-initiated research, and student constructed meanings that are independent of authority and distinct from dominant ideologies. My research focuses first on the scope of visual culture, then on contemporary constructivist pedagogies that reveal multiple access points for art educators to begin to integrate VCAE. This research becomes the foundation for several instructional resource guides written for art educators in K–16 classrooms. These guides present research on several contemporary fine artists whose work collectively makes use of (popular) visual culture and (popular) media to communicate meaning and affect social change. A focus on contemporary fine art demonstrates the applicability of a visual culture art education while at once elucidating the importance of empowering students to critically engage their visual worlds whatever they might be. Questioning strategies are provided to encourage student construction of meaning in a manner that informs student-initiated research and art making.

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