Philosophy of Art Instruction and Demographics
As a practicing visual artist, musician, and writer, my personal philosophy is that everyone is an artist in some shape or form. Everyone starts out with the built-in ability, want, and maybe even, need, to create. With visual art, I use Betty Edwards’s philosophy as an example. We are creative beings, and if we are able to learn how to write, we are able to learn how to draw.3 We can apply this to any form of discipline that requires repetition and practice to master. If you have the dexterity to write legibly, there is nothing holding you back from creating visually. Drawing, writing, playing music, carpentry, and any form of creation is, to some level, a teachable skill.
With the arts, we make sure that students are exposed to them just as we would want students exposed to any other subject. In the same way that every student will not grow up to be a professional athlete, astrophysicist, or mathematician, not everyone will grow up to be a professional artist, writer, or musician or even as an educator of any of these art forms. However, being exposed to any or all of the aspects and disciplines of the arts provide a way for people of every age to grow and develop creative thinking and problem solving skills which have proven to transfer to pretty much all other disciplines and professions. We, as a world, want and need creative thinkers. Every line of work, at its core, needs problem solvers. The arts help nurture creative thinking skills, which lead to creative problem solving children who grow into creative problem solving adults. Everyone benefits from exposure and immersion in the arts.
I teach at Pittsburgh Dilworth PreK-5. Dilworth is an arts and humanities magnet within the Pittsburgh Public Schools. Because we are a full magnet school, we are privileged to have full time music and full time art faculty. I understand this privilege and hope that, someday, all of our district facilities and schools will have a more robust and well-rounded arts curriculum.
Our student demographics this past school year were about 60% African American, 30% White, and about 10% who identify as Mixed Race. Our individualized education program (IEP) students and gifted individualized education program (GIEP) students represent about 17% of our student population along with an economically disadvantaged population of a little over 50%.4
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