Eloquence

Rhetorical structures embedded in classroom activities

In this section of the unit I have arranged my discussion of the class activities using a well-known rhetorical structure, Monroe's Motivated Sequence. This structure is useful in arranging remarks for a public audience for purposes of persuasion and a call to action. This structure can be easily remembered under the acronym of ANSVA, Attention, Need, Satisfaction, Visualization, and Action. In following this format, I will establish a sequence for the development of the classroom activities that is discreetly rhetorical.

Monroe's Motivated Sequence is a technique for organizing that inspire people to take action. Developed in the mid-1930s by at , it consists of the steps below.

- Attention: Get the attention of your audience using a detailed story, shocking example, dramatic statistic, , etc.

- Need: Show how the topic applies to the psychological need of the audience members. The premise here is that audience needs are what motivates action. Go beyond establishing that there is a significant problem. There are many problems that are not particularly relevant to your audience. Show that the need will not go away by itself. Use examples, etc. Convince your audience that they each have a personal need to take action.

- Satisfaction: You need to solve the issue. Provide specific and viable solutions that individuals or communities can implement to solve the problem.

- Visualization: Tell the audience what will happen if the solution is implemented or does not take place. Be visual and detailed.

- Action: Tell the audience what action they can take personally to solve the problem. ²⁹

ANSVA in the classroom

In this unit, applying ANSVA to the classroom includes these considerations:

• Getting their Attention- our need to talk about art. Creating a climate for philosophical inquiry in the classroom.
• The Need for a definition of art. Crafting a definition; understanding context.
• Satisfaction-viable solutions for the study of aesthetics. Practice in the four-step critical method while talking about art.
• Visualization-the act of rhetorical articulations in the classroom. Performance based class activities: Rhetorical declar-RAP-tions; "Truth or not", the Declaration of Independence as visual rhetoric; Three-on-three: ethos, pathos, logos; LeBrun-style rhetorical self-portraits.
• Action-toward achievement of rhetorical prowess in the classroom.

Getting their Attention- our need to talk about art

Creating a climate for philosophical inquiry in the classroom compels two very important sensitivities. First, that the environment is a safe place where the student feels comfortable about sharing ideas or concerns and feels that his or her opinions are valued. Secondly, the environment must be a place where inquiry is not only encouraged, but also modeled. The teacher stands as someone who is a fellow inquirer, in awe of the world-someone who shares with students the wonder that is the root of all learning. ³⁰ Strategies for philosophical inquiry should allow students to use their capacity to reason as they reflect on ideas and make decisions about what to believe or do. While critical thinking is evaluative, creative thinking is generative. Students practice their abilities to think creatively when they generate questions and construct new ideas. ³¹

As a point of entry, the teacher narrative in the introduction to this unit is offered as an example of how a conversation might be engendered that pulls students into our need to talk about art. The discussion provided focuses on two works: In Advance Of The Broken Arm, Marcel Duchamp, 1915/1945, sculpture [replica] and Tu m', Marcel Duchamp, 1918, both on view at Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut.

The Need for a definition of art

'X' is a work of art if, and only if,………………

Establishing students' Need for a definition of art is a premise for the following intriguing questions that invite rhetorical discourse.

What is art?When is art?What is art about?How can I respond to art?

Provide students with an assortment of found objects to view and discuss while considering a variety of artificial contexts. Each object should be discussed for its implied artistic characteristics and potential rhetorical content for purposes of aiding students in articulating their personal definitions of art. Aesthetic theories, as mentioned in this unit, should be introduced to students during this conversation to broaden the considerations that students might embrace as they form their working definitions of art.

Students will write a personal definition of art as a categorical proposition in the following format, 'X' is a work of art if, and only if,……… This categorical proposition (a form of rhetoric) becomes the student's working definition of art. Rhetorical discourse is constructed from carefully chosen words. Which words each student chooses for their definition will later provide a point of reference as the student defends a work of art as either effective or ineffective. This definition of art should be noted as such in the student's journal and written down on index cards that are posted on a bulletin board or wall within in the classroom. Students will test their definition in this unit's subsequent activities. Periodically, students should be asked to revisit their working definitions of art, making revisions as desired.

The objects considered as catalysts for philosophical inquiry in this activity might be found objects, natural objects, commercially produced packages or trinkets, household items or items that have qualities of "real" artworks. The following descriptions are offered as examples of some objects I have presented to students for their consideration as works of art. For each object, an artificially constructed context is provided followed by a suggested rhetorical aesthetic. How might each of these objects be considered art?

• Object: A crimpled aluminum pie tin. Artificial context: object is mounted to a podium in a gallery; title tag reads "Domestic Abuse". Rhetorical aesthetic: Instrumentalism.
• Object: A small wax milk carton 'house' made by a child. Artificial context: object is an original sculpture bearing the authentic marks of the artist in gestural lines reminiscent of abstract-expressionist style. Rhetorical aesthetic: Institutionalism.
• Object: A craft show find with a realistic painting of a mountain landscape on a circular wood panel; cotton eyelet doily edging; embroidery hoop band. Artificial context: the landscape looks just like the mountains last fall; snow-topped peaks appear crisp white against the blue sky; in the foreground wildflowers grow at a mountain lake. Rhetorical aesthetic: Imitationalsim.
• Object: Lid from an old Christmas cookie tin. Artificial context: object is an antique with detail from a Norman Rockwell painting. The tin was a limited edition collector's item in 1959. Rhetorical aesthetic: Institutionalism
• Object: A painting by a toddler; framed. Artificial context: The use of broad colorful brushstrokes, line, and texture create rhythmic movement and unity within the picture plane. Rhetorical aesthetic: Formalism.

Context is one of the most challenging standards to address in teaching art. To facilitate understandings of the meaning of context, two works of art may be used for a compare and contrast activity. In this discussion, the two works are: Napalm, Banksy, 2004 and Napalm Girl, Nick Ut, 1972. It should be noted that, though widely accepted in the discourse of contemporary art, these works do include the image of a naked young girl. The teacher may wish to prepare the students ahead of time before seeing the images or provide a mask for part of each image to accommodate viewing in the classroom.

The following narrative is positioned to incite further discussion: In 2004, a British artist, who goes by the pseudonym, Banksy, created a provocative work, a very large hand-pulled silkscreen print titled "Napalm". At first glance this image appears to be a lively cartoon. The work features three figures walking towards the viewer, seemingly hand in hand as if in a parade line. The figure on the left is Disney's tuxedoed Mickey Mouse with his open round eyes and his beloved smile; on the right is Ronald MacDonald in his striped clown-like costume, his arm raised waving a cheery hello. In the center, the figure is the image of a naked female Asian child whose face exudes the screaming grimace of terror and pain. The two icons of American pop culture happily take hold of the horrified girl's forearms, one each side, as if escorting her against her will. Except for these figures, the space of the picture plane is an empty and flat. But WHO'S art is it? Neither Mickey Mouse nor Ronald MacDonald were Banksy's creations. Banksy borrowed the image of the girl from a very famous image taken during the Viet Nam war by South Viet Namese photographer Nick Ut in 1972. Ut's image captured Kim Phuc, as a 9 year-old-girl as she ran for her life to escape from her village in Trang Bang, South Viet Nam after a Napalm bomb hit it. Her clothes had been incinerated in the blast. Photographer, Nick Ut, actually saved the little girl's life by rushing her to emergency care.

Questions for small group discussions on the topic of context: What is Banksy trying to persuade us to think about? Why do you think Banksy decided to use Nick Ut's famous image 32 years later? What do you think of the way Banksy combined these particular three figures together? What other figures do you think he might have considered using? How might his message have changed should he have done so? How might we think of Banksy's efforts? To what extent is his work cheating or is his work original? How has it happened that both artists are very famous today? How does someone become famous as an artist? Ask students to review their definitions of art. Ask how their definition of art is holding up? Have they been persuaded to make any changes based on preferred subject matter, materials, etc.? Have they found any imagery to be objectionable and therefore not effective for them as a work of art?

Perhaps they are still not convinced of the need to talk about art. Have students try their definitions on this work: The New York Earth Room, Walter DeMaria, Long term installation, 141 Wooster Street, Soho, New York, 1977. This work no longer exists. It was installed for a set period of time on the 2 ^nd floor of an old school building. In order to see it a visitor had to ring a buzzer for a service elevator to take them to the 2 ^nd floor. No one could walk into the space or walk on the soil. Just think about the exponential number of microbes present in that room full of dirt! How do you call THIS art?

What is art ABOUT? Art is always about something. Images are visual texts that convey complex ideas. When Ut's photograph was published in 1972 it evoked worldwide horror and condemnation at the conduct of the war. Banksy's satirical work makes a comment on how consumerism and entertainment occupies the attention of the American people, blinding them to the way their foreign policy is conducted and distracting them from social injustices. Duchamp's snow-shovel (its still a snow-shovel) contributed to the movement called Dada, a form of surrealism after World War I during a period that attempted to put art back in the service of the through conceptual art. Is Walter DeMaria's installation just a room full of dirt? What is the artist trying to persuade us to think about? What are other artworks by this artist about?

Satisfaction-viable solutions for the study of aesthetics

Students live in a media rich culture. They need to be provided with learning experiences to help them with the skills necessary to decode images. Unfortunately, most images that our students encounter do not require dialogue. The special nature of the arts, however, requires a commensurate approach to eloquence in talking about art, especially when the students are finding for themselves, with guidance, a language of criticism.

The four-step art critical method, now standard practice in art education, is based on the work of Edmund Burke Feldman. The steps in this process are description, analysis, interpretation and judgment (evaluation). This structure of inquiry is implicitly rhetorical. For purposes of this unit the four basic operations are considered in two distinct modes, objective operations and rhetorical operations. The following is suggested as a method of practice in using the four-step method for a selected artwork to be identified by title, artist, year, media. Students will respond to the artwork through the prompts embedded.

Objective Operations of Art Criticism

Describe and Analyze-ethos

Step 1 Description-what do you see? Refer to the work. List everything you can possibly see in the artwork. Include the people, shapes, colors, and types of lines, just about everything. No opinions/just the facts. Be very specific.

Step 2 Analysis-Examine the use of design components in organizing the work. Refer to the work. Select two design elements from the chart that you think are important in this work. Then select two design principles from the chart that you think are accomplished in this work. Write a paragraph explaining specifically how the artist used the design element in achieving the design principle.

Rhetorical Operations of Art Criticism

Interpret-pathos

Step 3 Interpretation-what do you think it is about?

To interpret a work of art means to explain the meaning of it: what is it expressing? What is its content? Is it about what you see, or is it a metaphor for something else? Referring specifically to evidence within and surrounding the work, write a paragraph describing what you think this picture is about?

Judge-logos

Step 4 Judgment/Evaluation-judge the work of art as being effective or ineffective based on the application of an aesthetic theory. Select one aesthetic theory from the chart below to complete a statement of aesthetic inclination.

Student response: Based on my working definition of art, my aesthetic preference toward this work is (chose one): Imitationalism, Formalism, Emotionalism, Instrumentalism, Institutionalism. Refer to the image. Select one choice of opinion below and write a statement of evaluation based on your aesthetic preference.

• I think that this is an effective work of art. I think this because…
• I think that this is not an effective work of art. I think this because…

How might we TALK about art? In this discussion two works of art are used for a compare and contrast activity. The two works are: Grant Wood (1891-1942), American Gothic, 1930, Oil on Board and Gordon Parks (1912-2006), American Gothic, Washington D.C., 1942, Photograph. These two works have the same title. Create a visual presentation of these two works side by side, either through a Power Point slide, posters, or color handout. In viewing these works side-by-side students will begin to see similarities and differences. It is here that we can start to talk about art using the specific language of the discipline. Using the objective operations of art criticism we compare; we contrast. We take the works apart line-by-line, shape-by-shape. We examine how each work is organized. But soon the question is posed, what they are about? Art is always about something! Ask students to test their working definitions of art against these two pieces. It is at this point in the discussion that the rhetorical operations of art criticism come into play. In small groups, students can work effectively to apply analytic frameworks to formulate their interpretations. Students are likely to differ here. When asked to decide if either of these is an effective work of art or not, students are likely to differ here too. Through the lens of a chosen aesthetic theory, students make judgments about these works of art.

What is a masterpiece? How can a masterpiece be a rhetorical device through its influence on contemporary art? Again, two works of art are used for a compare and contrast activity, both aristocratic portraits of women. Compare Kerry James Marshall's Untitled (Portrait of an African Woman), 2009, acrylic on PVC panel with John Singleton Copley's Mrs. Isaac Smith (nee Elizabeth Storer,1726-86), 1769, oil on canvas. View these works, and related contextual information, in the online collection of the Yale University Art Gallery.

Visualization-the act of rhetorical articulations in the classroom

The creation of desire, that "internal act, which, by influencing the will, makes one proceed to action", (is) the ultimate purpose of all oratory. –James Burgh ³²

For 18 ^th century America, true eloquence in oratory was seen as an internal act that influenced the will, making one proceed to action. ³³ The early American value placed on public speaking continued into the nineteenth century notion that, in a true democracy, all citizens would have access to eloquence, the study and practice of speech, in public education. The arts were at the core of pedagogy, and reading aloud was the practice that honed not only reading skills but prowess in writing as well. Through their articulations in this units' discussions and class activities students experience the democratizing provocations of Burgh's "internal act".