Walkers philosophical questions

Questions about art

Aesthetics deals with what society considers art and why they consider it art
What is art? When is it art?
Are their commonalities that all art works share?
Is there a universal standard or definition of art
Does that definition of art change over time and throughout the world
Other questions are concerned with specific forms of art what is sculpture? What makes
photography different from a painting?
Aesthetic is not only concerned about art in visual form but also in the form of music,
dancing, singing, literature, and theatre
Do all artwork have expressive properties?
Does every artwork carry with it certain attitudes or feelings?
Do artworks always tell us about the culture in which they were produced?

Questions about the maker

Some questions are on the maker, the activity of the maker, the making, relationships
between makers, and the actual making
Western art we have a tendency of separating art as a special kind of object or activity
The artist is creating art with the intention to create art. Is that the case for all artists?
Are all artists trying to convey or express emotions through arts? Do all artists share
certain things in common?
In western world we believe the artists perception of the world is linked or reflected in
their art work. Whatever is being portrayed in their art represents their morals, beliefs,
value and significance.

Questions about the artist

Could an artist that is unaware of his surrounding make good or great art? (asked by
Piagens about Koonings artwork when he was diagnosed with Alzheimers)
Kooningss later paintings were questioned for how much involvement there was from
his assistants
To which an extent does an artist must be in full charge of their mental and physical
capacities in order for work to be considered authentic?
Mental state of an artist effects quality of art work? Alcoholism or depression?
A lot of art imitates works of schizophrenics
Some consider insane artist as heroes on the fringe
Borderline between crazy and inspired?
Questions about viewing art

Based on a true story film/ Why mention the fact?

To make viewers not question what they are watching?
Is there a need to mention it is based on a true story?
Film should be so authentic that people know its real?
Knowing a film is history coming to life can be an essential part of a films mystique

Questions about perceivers

Perceiver and their relationship to the work

What role does prior experience plays in the role of perceiving art?
How do our experiences construct meaning of an artwork? How can our experiences lead
to possible interpretations?
Are interpretations true? Is there more than one interpretation if so why?
People have beliefs about ways in which they respond to and use artwork
Do we believe there is a way in looking at art correctly or incorrectly?

Questions about context

Some questions deal with the world-social, historical, political and temporal context to
understand how and why the artwork was made
How does the social/historical context influence the process of making or the artwork
itself?
To what extent does the socio-historical context affect the way the perceiver responds to
the artwork?
What is or should be the role of the artwork in culture?
What is and should be the relationship between art and morality? Is there a relationship?

ASSUMPTIONS (reference)

1. Children have belief about arts

-children have beliefs about making, perceiving, and responding to art
-the role of art
-some beliefs are more deeply embedded than others
-all children are influenced by their beliefs when creating art and looking at art created by
others
2. Children raise questions about art
-they sometimes wonder whether something considered art by others is in fact art
-they may question abstract art as good quality art because of their beliefs and the fact
that it does not look realistic
 -children often believe art should make you feel good or happy not sad and therefore
discredit art that makes them or looks sad
-children may think that art showing bad things happening condones bad behavior/ art in
their belief should have a positive effect
-children may also believe that artwork cant be messy/ they might consider theyre work
messy and therefore think it isnt worth merit
-children constantly ask philosophical questions
3. Children can and should reflect on their beliefs
-one of the most important academic goals is to broaden childrens experiences and
conception of the world
-art provides opportunities for students to reflect on their beliefs and their questions about
art
-challenge their perception by showing them art work that falls outside their conceptions
of art or by exposing them to thinking that does not correspond to their own
-another academic goal is to develop critical thinking skills
-art can provide the opportunity for students to think critically about art related matters
through examination
4. Children can and should discuss their views with others
-children can benefit from reflecting on their beliefs and questions about art but they can
further benefit by discussing their beliefs and questions with others
-children can widen their perspective when sharing their beliefs because they can see how
not everyone shares the same beliefs and think differently
-they can either change their belief when they see another perspective makes sense or
find that even after looking at alternatives, their beliefs do not change but they respect
others perspectives
5. When engaging in philosophical discussions, children can and should develop their skills
in reasoning
-children must be able to develop listening skills in order to engage and discuss
-they need to be able to make distinctions, identify assumptions, offer carefully
constructed reasons for their views, raise carefully constructed questions about others
views, and imagine alternative solutions
6. Critical thinking skills can be transferred between areas of the curriculum
-the development of reasoning skills is an overreaching goal of education
-critical skills taught in other areas can be used within an art program
7. Engagement in philosophical inquiry is integral to engagement in the study of art
-students make objects that connect to their experiences, ideas and dreams
-children respond to their own work and works of other to help them understand
themselves and their relationship to the larger world
-consider artwork in social-historical context to interpret their meanings and judge their
merit
 -what we create is connected to our beliefs
-response to our art and arts of other is also connected to our beliefs
-without opportunity (for students) to reflect critically on their beliefs on arts, students
view art-making as simply manipulating art materials and art viewing as thoughtless
reactions to artwork

The odyssey years reading 2-4

QUOTE: The odyssey years are not about slacking off. There are intense competitive pressures
as a result of the vast numbers of people chasing relatively few opportunities. Moreover, surveys
show that people living through these years have highly traditional aspirations (they rate
parenthood more highly than their own parents did) even as they lead improvising lives.

I agree that at this moment and time those in their twenties are having a more difficult time
transitioning from teenager to adult. I would say that we are living in a really competitive culture
where not many opportunities are available. Therefore many young adults cannot become
independent at the ages their parents were. There is also a lot more debt students are facing as
they leave college. They cannot marry or move out as soon as they would want to. With a huge
debt and few job opportunities to face, many young adults have to stay at home for an extended
amount of time. Its not an ideal situation for the parent or their daughter/son, to stay home after
a certain age. I think these young adults want to accomplish milestones their parents
accomplished by 30, but have no other choice. This demographic wants to accomplish all the
traditional goals and aspirations that generations ago aspired for but are not provided the same
options as those from past generations. I think millennials as we are called, are judged far too
harshly. We are perceived as lazy and babied by our parents, when in fact its society that has
limited us or set our path in such a way. I think the fact that more women are earning degrees
shows that we arent as lazy as people judge or conceive us to be.

Deep-seated culture reading

Keifer-boyd discusses the idea of how our social ideologies influence how physical
environments are arranged. Our cultural understanding of time and space determines what we
choose to see and how we define our understanding of relationship between things and ourselves.
The way schools are organized, students sitting in a chair in front of the teachers desk, shows
hierarchal relationships. Children are taught to speak when asked and raised their hand. The
education system is very routine and not realistic. Children are therefore made to feel like their
role is to follow, and they learn that their voice is not important as the teachers. Having students
sits and the teacher stand to teach has deep-seated cultural implications.

People in different cultures have different understanding of space and time. How we
perceive time influences how we value it. Time is represented by how cultures divide it into
units, recorded and used for human activities. Nonverbal communication is also transmitted
through objects. For example a chair, it represents where most people make their decisions
throughout life. A chair within a space can influence ones decisions. In western culture a chair
has human body parts such as arms and legs. The way a chair looks can also be telling of status
and cultural norms and values. In the Victorian age chairs were draped with fabric to hide the
part of the chair that were human parts associated with arousing emotions.

Chairs are very common in workplaces, there are beauty chairs, dentist chairs, and
electric chairs all representing different part of western culture. Chairs represent occupations and
statuses as well as power relationships. There is the chairman whom has high status and has a
powerful position.

In the reading there was an experiment done with students, they were asked to sit in
different places. Some turned their seats around, some made their noses touch the blackboard, or
sat under the table huddled together in awkward positions. After choosing a place to sit the
teacher explained that in certain cultures like in Japan it would be inappropriate to sit on the
board because it could be the table used for Japanese tea ceremonies. Students began to
understand that what they know and do is culture specific. The students also were able to see
how sitting in a high chair was empowering to some, but a fearful position for others.

From reading this article I remember how rigid my classrooms were arranged. We had
assigned seats and the teacher was always in front. I think this allows the teacher to have
authority and that can be good because it teaches students to respect the teacher but it makes the
student role feel constricted. The teacher is always given the role of leader and status in the
classroom, therefore students feel like their voice does not matter. I never realized how the
positioning of teacher and student influences how we behave in the classroom. I wish that as a
child my teachers would have given me more freedom to choose where to sit. There was no room
to experiment or sit in a space that made me feel comfortable. I just had to sit down where I was
told to.

When I become a teacher I will pay more attention to how I arrange my classroom. I will
also allow my students to get out of their seats more often and walk around the classroom. I was
never allowed to leave my seat and I think that is so boring. I would want my students to be able
to explore the classroom and sit in different places around the classroom to change it up and not
get stuck in a routine. I want a little more spontaneity in my classroom. Reading time is a perfect
time to allow students to read independently, in a spot or corner in the classroom where they feel
comfortable instead of just having them sit in their chairs. I would definitely incorporate that in
my class. I would also switch it up and sit behind students or sit next to students in class
discussions to make my students feel at an equal level to me.

3 quotes:

Each of us perceives each setting, which is comprised of time, space, communication, and meaning
differently. Evaluations in educational settings are usually on the teacher's terms, that is, based on the
teacher's sense of how students should act and what they should be Iearning in a specific space and
time.

Chairs often denote power like "seat of power", "'seat of justice,'" Of" "seat in Parliament. The word
"'pharaoh" originally meant throne, and later became associated with Egyptian rulers (Stone, 1'176,
p.38}. The Madonna and child icon was known throughout the High Middle Ages as the throne of
wisdom." The Madonna is seated on a throne, but is also herself a throne. Of course there is the sexist
term "chairman" that is typically situated in a specific space in relationship to the other chairs which
committee members occupy, and denotes the highest position in the group.

Our focus on chairs was only one example of material culture. Some other foci could include
entranceways, containers, or docks. The objectives were: (a) to experience how it might feel to be in a
different cultural context (b) to examine the social nature of chain and the cultural issues embedded in
the ways people "sit (c) to examine the four variables of space, time, communication, and meaning
reflected in the organization of the designed environment and the designed objects(particularly chairs)
within the natural environment (d) to create a chair considering spare, time, communication, and
meaning that expresses aspects of oneself; and (e) to respond to other people's chairs, through creative
writing and/ or dialogue, emphasizing how or what temporal, spatial, communication, and / or meaning
variables are suggested or expressed.

Ganesh reading

In the reading Ganesh explains that teachers need to be aware of the shifts that have
occurred in the education system. We have to be more aware of students culture, religion
amongst other identities to serve our diverse group of students. Ganesh discusses the idea of
multicultural education but he says we have to go beyond that. We have to examine the many
categories such as American, western and foreign. We have to beyond the outdated
inclusion and assimilation model and stop perceiving it as 2 groups, us and them. I agree that our
educational system has to be less Eurocentric and integrate other cultures and perspectives in
order for our new coming students to feel comfortable and actually learn. I do not see much
diversity in our education especially when it comes to literature. I think its important to read
material on different ethnic, racial, cultural and religious groups. Our curriculum is very
unwelcoming to new coming students. I also agree in that the biggest issue is viewing our
immigrant students as a separate entity, us and them mind set.

The emergence of the internet has created a shift in education as well. Students have
become accustomed to visual information. They have become familiar with visual symbols and
learning. The internet has allowed access to a plethora of information which can be beneficial
and detrimental to students. Its beneficial in that it serves as educational tool for research but it
can also be distracting to students because of the vast websites and applications available.
Therefore teachers have to find a way to monitor students activity online and make sure they are
working on the task assigned. Ganesh also mentions how there is an unevenness in information
on the internet, there are both reliable and unreliable sources that students may be looking at.
Teachers must then teach students how to filter useless or unreliable sources. Students have to
learn to tell the difference between an untruthful or true source. The internet can be a useful tool
of technology as well as a distraction and access to an overwhelming amount of inaccurate
information.