ChapterPDF Available

Art work as a “secret power opening”: A Finnish and Gambian collaboration in researching perspectives, essences, and positions in visual art education

  • February 2018
  • In book: Sand & Indigo – A Finnish and Gambian collaboration in art pedagogy (pp.15-51)
  • Publisher: Academy of Fine Arts, Uniarts Helsinki. Vaasa: Fram
  • Editors: Pitkänen-Walter, Tuula Jääskeläinen
Authors:
Tuula Jääskeläinen at University of the Arts Helsinki
Tuula Jääskeläinen
Tarja Pitkänen-Walter at University of the Arts, Helsinki, Finland
Tarja Pitkänen-Walter
  • University of the Arts, Helsinki, Finland
Download full-text PDFDownload full-text PDF
Read full-text
Download citation

Abstract

This article presents a study researching a Finnish and Gambian collaboration in art education during the years 2015-2017. The study was conducted in an intercultural context during visual arts workshops in The Gambia. The main aim was to explore new art pedagogical perspectives, methods, and learning environments for the development of an art school, and for advancing the learning and teaching of the visual arts. Qualitative research methodology, memory work, and interviews were used in the collection of data from Finnish and Gambian students, teachers, artists, and local people about their memories and experiences, as connected to learning the visual arts. The results suggest that a transformative approach to the process of art students’ learning – emphasizing passion and freedom as vitalizing actants in realizing art, and utilizing meaningful people to encourage artists’ motivation – should be supported and strengthened, both in visual art pedagogy and in everyday life. https://shop.unigrafia.fi/tuote/sand-indigo-a-finnish-and-gambian-collaboration-in-art-pedagogy/ Keywords: art education: art school; intercultural learning; visual art pedagogy
jaaskelainenpitkanenwalter20
18.pdf
Content uploaded by Tuula Jääskeläinen
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Tuula Jääskeläinen on Mar 01, 2020
Content may be subject to copyright.
jaaskelainenpitkanenwalter20
18.pdf
Content uploaded by Tuula Jääskeläinen
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Tuula Jääskeläinen on Apr 30, 2019
Content may be subject to copyright.
A preview of the PDF is not available
... The memory-work method was well suited to that research project. An article "Art work as a 'secret power opening': A Finnish and Gambian collaboration in researching perspectives, essences, and positions in visual art education" was published at the end of the three year project (Jääskeläinen & Pitkänen-Walter, 2018). ...
Individual becomes collective becomes individual: Collective Memory-Work as a reciprocal and continuous learning process for hybrid artists
Article
Full-text available
  • Feb 2020
Jääskeläinen, T. (forthcoming). Individual becomes collective becomes individual: Collective Memory-Work as a reciprocal and continuous learning process for hybrid artists. In R. Hamm (Ed.) Special Issue “Collective Memory-Work”. Other Education: The Journal of Educational Alternatives, 9(1). Abstract: Collective Memory-Work is a method that aims to question and change the general ways of thinking that lie behind our theoretical assumptions. One of the principal ideas in memory-work is that individual persons actively participate in their own formation as social beings and parts of existing social structures. In this way, the individual becomes the collective. The Collective Memory-Work approach was originally developed within a feminist framework, but it has been widely adapted to more general contexts, including the arts. In this article I reflect on my experiences as a learner in the light of memory-work’s potential for, and challenges in, bringing the individual into the collective and then back from the collective to the individual. At the same time, I present the role of arts in my experiences of using the memory-work method. Finally, I discuss the potential of Collective Memory-Work as a reciprocal and continuous learning process for hybrid artists, enabling them to develop their identity as artists and introduce their artistic methods and products into collective learning processes in order to meet the growing needs for creativity, collaboration, change, and well-being in society.
Plot – A Space for Transformation in the Intercultural Research Process
Chapter
Full-text available
  • May 2018
https://www.waxmann.com/waxmann-buecher/?no_cache=1&L=1&tx_p2waxmann_pi2%5Bbuch%5D=BUC125409&tx_p2waxmann_pi2%5Baction%5D=show&tx_p2waxmann_pi2%5Bcontroller%5D=Buch&cHash=4bf5e98832e30421075c3e1bb3bdfac5
How about equality and equity in higher music education? A theoretical framework for researching quality of music teaching and learning
Conference Paper
Full-text available
  • Jun 2017
While quality development has an important role in higher education in Finland, its connection with equality and equity in teaching and learning music is not often mentioned. Most of the discussions about equality in education have focused on how to equalize access to and participation in education, but there are disagreements about what the very concepts of equality and equity mean in education. When striving to achieve equality in higher music education, the use of learner-centered pedagogies may promote an engaging and satisfying learning experience. We illustrate a more holistic approach in teaching and learning music by adapting the equality-equity model developed by Espinoza (2007) to give an overview of dimensions of equality and equity with reference to the different stages of the educational process at the music university level. Constructivist research and phenomenographic research in teaching and learning music suggest that the conceptions held by teachers and students about teaching and learning can be relevant factors in the pursuit of change in educational practices. On this basis, we develop a theoretical framework and suggest some remedies for the research of teaching and learning in music universities aimed at developing more holistic quality in higher music education.
Why art cannot be taught: A handbook for art students
Book
  • Jan 2015
Elkins traces the development (or invention) of the modern art school and considers how issues such as the question of core curriculum and the intellectual isolation of art schools affect the teaching and learning of art. He also addresses the phenomenon of art critiques as a microcosm for teaching art as a whole and dissects real-life critiques, highlighting presuppositions and dynamics that make them confusing and suggesting ways to make them more helpful. Elkins's no-nonsense approach clears away the assumptions about art instruction that are not borne out by classroom practice. For example, he notes that despite much talk about instilling visual acuity and teaching technique, in practice neither teachers nor students behave as if those were their principal goals. He addresses the absurdity of pretending that sexual issues are absent from life-drawing classes and questions the practice of holding up great masters and masterpieces as models for students capable of producing only mediocre art. He also discusses types of art--including art that takes time to complete and art that isn't serious--that cannot be learned in studio art classes. Why Art Cannot Be Taught is a response to Elkins's observation that "we know very little about what we do" in the art classroom. His incisive commentary illuminates the experience of learning art for those involved in it, while opening an intriguing window for those outside the discipline. © 2001 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. All rights reserved.
Identity formation and agency in the diverse music classroom
Chapter
  • Feb 2017
The music classroom in any country is increasingly affected by globalisation, immigration and ever-widening access to new media. This article examines identity formation in school on the collective and daily interactive level, as related to agency and as identities might appear and have been studied within the contextual frames of localised but increasingly globalised music classrooms. This examination is done by utilising Castells’ (2010) three categories of collective identities. In this context Castell’s legitimizing identities refer to the taken-for-granted nationalism and patriotism and the hegemony of classical music; resistance identities to the acknowledgment of actors in positions devalued by the logic of domination, such as youth or immigrants; and project identities of becoming to democratic identities that further progressive social transformation in and through music. Finally, the concept of a hybrid ‘music classroom community identity’ is constructed to serve as an educational guideline for identity work that relates to understandings of, as well as a need of vis-à-vis solidarity and ethical values in music education.
“Aesthetic Primitives”: Fundamental Biological Elements of a Naturalistic Aesthetics
Article
  • May 2015
Aesthetics, like other philosophical subjects, has historically made use of «top down» (mentalistic, analytic, and linguistic) methods. Recent discoveries in genetics, evolutionary psychology, paleoarchaeology, and neuroscience call for a new «naturalistic» or «bottom up» perspective. Combining these fields with behavioral biology and ethnoarts studies, I offer seven premises that underlie a new understanding of evolved predispositions of the brain/mind that all artists use to attract attention, sustain interest, and create, mold, and shape emotion. I describe aesthetic «primitives» in somatic and behavioral (as well as psychosensory) modalities, suggesting that these were present in early sapiens and continue to influence human art making and aesthetic response today. Keywords: Aesthetic Mind; Neuroaesthetics, evolutionary aesthetics, cognitive aesthetics, evolution of art.