Kathryn Gorr

ARTE 302
Delacruz
1/21/2010 Reading Response

Toku, What is Manga? The influence of pop culture on adolexcent art.

I’m not sure that I can fully get behind the idea that art education needs to
get students to use art for self discovery but I do agree with a lot of what this article
is getting at. It seems clear to me that art education curriculums are still in the trial
and error phase of development. We readily accept that lessons need to be relevant
to students lives in order for them to have an impact but we are still struggling to
figure out how exactly to do that. Incorporating pop culture into the classroom
seems like the best idea but Toku raises the point that by making a comic book a
class assignment, we may end up depopularizing that form of expression. We as
teachers want our students to take the tools we give them and use them in their
own way but often times adolescent students take away only the rules and
restrictions and have a hard time finding freedom in them.

This article presents a struggle for American art educators. We can see
clearly that there exists a culture in which adolescents are embracing visual
expression on a deeply personal level. Knowing it is possible for our students to be
motivated, we need to figure out how. I don’t think we can show manga to American
students and expect the same kind of enthusiasm as is seen in Japan. It’s simply not
a part of our culture in that way. Comic books in general are going out of favor. Of
course it is worth the shot to incorporate the manga style of narratives into the
classroom but will schooling ever really be able to touch a child’s true interests?

Wilson, Child art after Modernism: Visual culture and new narratives.

I will admit that though I found this reading tedious, I also found it deeply
informative as to why we think the way we do about teaching art. More than
understanding how children make art, I have gained a better understanding of my
role in that art making process. Perhaps I am among the first generation of art
educators to be brought up in this postmodern pedagogy. I already accept and
understand that everything a child makes is informed by some part of culture. I
don’t feel like I am part of that revolutionary change in thinking but I am the result
of it.

Now that the educational climate has changed and we have a different
understanding of child art and art education, what are we supposed to be doing?
How do we include visual culture? How do we participate in the artistic development
of our students now that we acknowledge that we are in fact the creators of their
works of art? How do we responsibly influence our students; to give them tools and
technique and make it relevant and make it their own? I feel I have the same
questions Wilson asks yet no real answers yet. I’m hazy on the goals, I suppose. If it
is a child’s natural tendency to copy and reproduce what they see, should I want
student work to be similar? Should I strive for attractive finished products or
understanding of key concepts? Where is the boundary between not enough
guidance and too much?