Visual Culture Art Education Debate

Plenty of Room Left in the Art Bin…

Seven Principals for Visual Culture Education

According to Duncum, current K-12 art curriculum places far too much emphasis on the Elements and Principles of Art. He maintains that they hold importance in the formal qualities of images, but adds that they are inadequate to organize a curriculum which meets the needs of 21^st century students. He offers seven principals as a starting point - Seven new ways of understanding a world of unprecedented imagery.

Power – Key in that it intersects with most of the other principals.

All images:

      make a statement in regard to ideas, values, beliefs.

       serve interest for whom they were created.

       are interpreted.

Corporations produce the bulk of images, they benefit from the formation of status groups, and the images they produce reflect the ideologies of those in power.

Ideology – Referring to ideas, ideals, beliefs, values, and which the author claims are “ground in over time.” Ideology is the way individuals make sense of the world. Images can offer ideologies, which offend, offer support; they can be contradictory and contestable.

Representation – Closely aligned with Ideology and involves what images represent, how the representation occurs, and what is failed to be represented. Body language, the gaze, panning, and camera angle are part of representation.

Seduction – Appeals to our fulfillment of deep seated desires. Duncum says that Ideologies come wrapped in seductive form, making them difficult to resist.

The Gaze – How we look at images and the circumstances in which we look. Individuals bring with them a predisposition to see things in certain ways. Understanding the Gaze brings about an understanding of both self and society.

Intertextuality – All images relate to other cultural texts. Both the image maker and viewer make connections via associations -past and present, and offer opportunities for the exploration of Ideology, Representation, the Gaze, and Multimodality.

Multimodality – No image is purely visual. Word, music, sound, and text anchor meaning.

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Dear Paul Duncum,

      Where were you this year when I was locked in a conference room with six other elementary art teachers and the Fine Arts Coordinator, rewriting the art curriculum? It was a dreadfully boring experience: identifying Power Standards, deciding when line, color,____________ (fill in the blank with your choice of Element and / or Principle)would be taught, for how many sessions, what would be assessed, how and when. “Hey” I spoke up, “ We need to base our curriculum on Big Ideas and themes relevant to the lives of our students.” Mr. Duncum, I kid you not, I thought I was at great risk for bodily harm! My colleagues hemmed and hawed…."Too much work, we’ll be tying ourselves to something set in stone, we can’t move away from the elements and principles; the very backbone of art education.” I brought up Visual Literacy, Visual Culture, and technology. It was as if I were speaking a foreign language, one in which they expressed only a polite interest in. They then angled their chairs ever-so-slightly away from me and resumed the painful task. I felt saddened, but there is great power in numbers. The Coordinator offered no support. A retired administrator and former music teacher, he just wanted the job done, as quickly and quietly as possible.

       I feel quite certain that had I been armed with the ammunition of your seven principals I might have spoken-up louder, longer, and less readily accepted defeat!  It will be five years before we rewrite the curriculum, five more years to plan my attack. In the meantime, sir, and this will just be our little secret, I plan to do as I damn well please, my students deserve no less.

Your devoted follower,

S. L. Lamme