As art teachers we're pretty good at teaching our pupils the skills they need. We can teach them, through modelling and scaffolding during lessons, how to create tone, mix colours, print and these skills develop over time. Practice doesn't always make perfect, and some pupils will struggle with certain skills and aspects of practical work, but I'm confident that with the right teaching and encouragement that all pupils will improve.
Our school CPD recently asked us to think about how we teach students the thinking skills they need for a project. As an artist, and a teacher, I'm aware that the thought processes that go on in my head when I look at a work of art, or a piece of work I'm producing, aren't the same as the ones happening in my pupils' minds. But how do we teach kids how to think like an artist? Is this an innate ability that can't be taught? Something we're born with? To help me out with this I've revisited the great book 'Think Like an Artist' by Will Gompertz. In it he discusses the traits he thinks are common to all artists and asks if these are ways of thinking that can be developed in all of us. I have chosen a few to look into with my pupils over the next few weeks to see if it makes a difference to the way they think and work in the classroom. 1. Artists Don't Fail - Every day I'm asked by pupils if the can start again. Told they think their work is a failure. That it's not good enough. I've lost count of the amount of work I've rescued from the bin and stuck back into sketchbooks. But how do we teach pupils that making mistakes is a natural part of the creative process? All artists suffer setbacks, don't get things right and mess up their work from time to time. It's very rare that things go according to plan when you're creating artwork. I try to show this in my modelling. I talk through the processes in my head, adjust mistakes along the way and admit when I'm not happy with something. Trying all the time to show pupils that when it comes to creativity, failure is as inevitable as it is unavoidable. 2. Artists Steal - Ideas come when we encourage our brain to combine random elements in new ways. Mixing old and new, creating strange combinations. That's where ideas, although not always good ones, are born. If you look at the early work of any artist you will see them emulating someone else. As their work develops they pick up new ideas, techniques, skills, meanings and concepts that help shape their work into something new. That's how artists develop. We encourage pupils to work the same way - consuming as much art as possible, and other influences, to create a space in their mind where new ideas can be born. As Jean-Luc Godard said, 'Its not where you take things from, it's where you take them to.' 3. Artists Pause For Thought - Pupils often rush through their work, eager to get it finished before moving on to the next thing. As teachers we are guilty of this too, pushing kids to work quicker, do more work and get things finished as quickly as possible. We need to teach children to think more about their work, to step back from it and look at it with fresh eyes. To spend just as much time thinking about what they are going to do as they spend actually doing it. By thinking in depth about the big picture (the project as a whole) and the fine detail (the work being produced this lesson) we can help pupils become reflective and considered practitioners. These are initial thoughts and ideas; ways I think I can help pupils think more like artists and allow their talents to flourish. Our pupils exist in a world beset by problems and they won't resolve them with brute force or skills alone. They will need to use their brains - by thinking like artists. We are all born artists. We just forget to remember that. We need to believe it again; that's what artists do... |
Mr CarneyA weekly (in an ideal world but less often in reality) peek into the thoughts of your friendly neighbourhood art teacher.* My BookshelfArchives
September 2023
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