Introduction
I was born to parents who were determined to reinforce the significance of self value to their children. I'm not sure if they felt unappreciated as adults, or if they felt their parents failed to recognized accomplishments during their own childhood, but I can't remember a time during my childhood that my mother or father went without telling me how special and unique I was. The acknowledgement of an accomplishment of any kind never went unnoticed. Drawing a picture, allowing my sister to wear my favorite jeans, or doing well in school were acts in my life that my parents glorified as having superior value. These were traits that their daughter had that made her special. And as parents go I suppose this is not unusual. This said, I hardly grew-up with an overactive ego, my three siblings made sure of that. They were my reality. My sister and I talked, and still talk, at great length about our parents, and the role all parents play in a child's concept of self. The reality is that I should share with my sister and I should do well in school. These are not accomplishments as much as they are simple and appropriate behaviors. But in some way I felt as if these things made me unique and made me different. I was the proverbial small fish but in a little pond. I did not realize the size of the ocean.
Enter my freshman year art class. I was far from unique, I was in fact quite ordinary. My portfolio was limited to only drawings, my dress was (gasp) conservative, and my desire to be a great artist was met with similar power from the others in my class. I was no longer that little girl. We had all crammed as many studio classes into our schedule as possible, and were dropped from what was inevitably our favorite to be enrolled in a newly adopted, Art History course. It was at this point, my perceptions of the world shifted. It was in this class I learned that in 800 B.C. the Greeks took from the Egyptians the technique of geometric vase painting and incorporating figure drawings which dealt with the difficult challenge of foreshortening. I learned that architects of the18th century Neoclassical period rejected the canon of the time and revived classical forms. And that when French painters looked East, they were influenced by the Japanese wood block prints, with their flat shapes, bright colors, and asymmetrical compositions. It was at this time in my life that not only the idea of cultural influences and identities impacted my perception of art, but when I realized that the world was connected in an important way through art. Suddenly the little fish lost any fear of jumping into the deepest ocean.
My high school students are no different than I was. Their perceptions of themselves through any given self portrait assignment is a classic example of this. The image of a solitary dark figure, usually with a single tear falling slowly down their cheek reflecting the utter misery that is life as a teenager (or something sincerely melodramatic). We all have the propensity to look at works of art with an appreciation for the human experience. One of my goals as a teacher is to help my students recognize that human experience is a shared phenomenon. I want them to recognize that they are not alone in the pond. This is important because it connects them to the work, their world, and themselves. When placed in a natural humanistic and/or cultural context, art can reveal a range of ever-changing images and attitudes as artists express opinions of themselves, their social surroundings, and their place in the spiritual world. Each on a quest to interpret the world they live in. My overarching goal in this unit of study on the Ceramic History of the Olmec Culture is that students are able to understand how these ideas are revealed through their art and how throughout the history of art, we find similar patterns that can be useful in helping us develop relevant perceptions of people in their specific historical context. Also, I believe that in as much as this may be true, it allows my students the opportunity to connect themselves to history, as humans repeatedly show an inclination toward this behavior. Because I believe this is applicable to every moment in human existence these topics and the questions I pose here will be revisited on a number of occasions throughout the course of the year.
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