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.[22] If we are able to learn how to draw, we can learn how to paint, etc… 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, dancing, and any form of creation is honestly, at its base level, a teachable skill.
With the arts, we want to make sure that students are exposed to them just as we would want students exposed to any other subject that we deemed important. We can, usually very easily, connect visual art to most any other subject. Of course, in the same way that not every student will grow up to be a professional athlete, astrophysicist, or mathematician, we don’t expect every student to grow up to be a professional artist, musician, writer, or even 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 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. The arts, at their core, promote divergent thinking, empathy, curiosity, and an understanding that there is a world beyond what we see in front of us every day. 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-minute school, we are privileged to have full-time music and full-time art faculty. Currently our district is contemplating doing away with magnet schools, so we, unfortunately, cannot predict what the future holds for arts exposure in our learning community. But currently, I understand the privilege of existing as a full magnet and have always advocated that each and every school in our district should have equal access to the arts. I am hoping that this will be the case if they are to abolish the magnet program within our district.
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%.[23]
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