Aesthetic PedagogyKurt Love, Ph.D.

Central Connecticut State University

“Rickshaw”Banksy

“Rickshaw”Banksy

Globalization

“Othering”

First World & “Third World”

Business Mindsets

Relationships with Global Consumerism

Modern Day Slavery

Modernity

Colonization

Tourism & Exploitation

Racism Classism

“Napalm”Banksy

Critical Aesthetic Pedagogy & Empowerment

By exposing students to participatory encounters with artworks that possess certain qualities that encourage the sharing of experiences and the recognition of common sources of oppression, educators can create a sense of empowerment that will prepare students to enable social justice. (Medina, 2006)Students can explore oppressions, privilege, relationships & tensions that exist in community so that they can be empowered to create change.

Art as a “Portal”

The “Portal”Art serves as a medium for deeper analysis Art asks us to make deeper connections about ourselves

Art as a Portal

1917 -

At the very least, participatory involvement with the many forms of art can enable us to see more in our experience, to hear more on normally unheard frequencies, to become conscious of what daily routines have obscured, what habit and convention have suppressed. (Greene, 1995, p. 123)

Art as a Portal Into Self, Soul & Society

Many nature-based cultures have no word for art or artist because producing what we call art is simply part of being human.True art has nothing to do with impressing or entertaining others with pleasant or stunning creations; it’s about carrying what is hidden in the soul as a gift to others. However we embody our souls in the world, that is our art. Soul expression...(Plotkin, 2003, p. 191)

Using Art as a Teaching Method

Steps:What do you see?What relationships exist among the elements of the artwork?What do you think it means?

Various Portals

MythsFine ArtsPerforming ArtsPoetry

Art as Myth

Myths are oral art, as opposed to visual art“A myth is, in a sense, the very truest of stories, a story that reveals universal qualities of that human condition, of the world, and the deeper meanings and possibilities of our lives.” (Plotkin, 2003, p. 204)Myths contain “layers upon layers of significance, like bands of rock in a canyon wall, each stratum holding and hiding untold treasures and mysteries. We become aware of the different layers only as we develop spiritually.” (Plotkin, 2003, p. 205)

Art as Myth

Myths are “stories” acting as banks that store cultural values, origins of thinking, rituals, and traditions that might otherwise be lost.

Connection to ecojustice pedagogy because of how myths can help to question dominant and privileged mindsets.

http://prezi.com/lsncossgvb3c/nine-worlds/

Using Fine Art as a Portal

“War By Numbers”Shepard Fairey

Alex Grey

“Dying”Alex Grey

“Pregnancy”Alex Grey

Andy Goldsworthy

“Guernica” Picasso

“Guernica” Picasso

“Starry Night” Van Gogh

“Girl Before a Mirror” Picasso

“Girl Before a Mirror” Picasso

Long hours she sat looking in the mirror, trying to discover the secret of the ugliness, the ugliness that made her ignored or despised at school, by teachers and classmates alike.

Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

“Spheres I” M.C. Escher’s

“Trash People”HA Schult

“Spiral Jetty”Robert Smithson

“Tree of Hope”Frida Kahlo

CREATE A MURAL

CREATE ECO-ART

GRAFFITI WALLS & STREET ART

GRAFFITI WALLS & STREET ART

MAKE PUBLIC ART

BUST ADVERTISEMENTS

PERFORMING ARTS AS TEACHING METHODS

THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSEDImage Theatre, Forum Theater, Newspaper Theater, Rainbow of Desire, Historical Theater, Invisible Theater

THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED:IMAGE THEATER

• Frozen image, no sound

• “Spectactors” analyze what they see and provide their interpretations

• Mime adds movement with no sound

• Rainbow of Desire: Spectactors provide words for the actors that might explain their thinking

THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED:NEWSPAPER THEATER

• Reenacting a situation that was reported in the newspaper

• Purpose is to understand the injustice and to work with it in a safe way to promote understanding, compassion, and possible actions/decisions that might work

THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED:FORUM THEATER

• Story is one that is born out of a real community issue

• Forum Theater is “rehearsal for life”

• Scenes must be accurate depictions of an injustice in community. Spectactors can stop the scene if something seems exaggerated or unreal.

• Spectactors yell “FREEZE” when they see an injustice and replace the protagonist in order to see if s/he can stop the antagonist’s actions.

• A “joker” (teacher) asks questions of the spectactors

THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED:INVISIBLE THEATER

• Actors do something in community, but are not initially seen as actors.

• Purpose is to raise awareness of how we respond to injustice when it happens right in front of us

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvzj8wyZ9PI

Augusto Boal1931-2009

POETRY SLAMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTnxJdxhU7o

CREATE AND PERFORM PLAYS THAT RESHAPE STORIES

USE PUPPETS FOR PERFORMANCE

USE MASKS AS WAYS TO REVEAL HIDDEN THOUGHT & EMOTION

MAKE A DOCUMENTARY

MAKE A DOCUMENTARY

REFERENCES

Greene, M. (1995). Releasing the imagination. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Medina, Y. (2006). Critical aesthetic pedagogy: Toward a theory of self and

social understanding. Unpublished Dissertation, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greenboro, NC.

Plotkin, B. (2003). Soulcraft: Crossing into the mysteries of nature and psyche. Novato, CA: New World Library.