HATCH: LESSON 7A REDEFINING AESTHETICS

Transcription

1 HATCH: LESSON 7A REDEFINING AESTHETICS Lesson Plan Overview: This lesson is designed re-examine artists understanding of aesthetics as it relates to art and Community Objectives: Facilitator will: Artists will: To deconstruct the Euro-American concept of aesthetics. To identify assumptions/pitfalls/ myths of art with community and a framework for addressing them. Introduce case studies. To demonstrate a framework for thinking about aesthetic quality as it relates to art with community. To identify questions and vocabulary that help define artistic excellence within artist s own work. Information Guide artists through an understanding of the Euro- American concept of aesthetics Contrast a Euro-American concept of aesthetics with art for change aesthetics principles. Demonstrate bias and misconception that artists may have to deal with when describing or conceiving their work. Illustrate concepts through case study analysis. Assign and model in-class exercise to enhance understanding of the course objectives Animatingdemocracy.org/aestheticperspectives, Aesthetic Perspectives Short Blog Horace Miner Nacimera essay Articulate their understanding of the differences between Euro-American aesthetics and art for change aesthetics Examine their own standards for evaluating excellence in community based art practice. Identify vocabulary and language to help contend with misunderstanding or bias toward their own community art practice. Synthesize learned concepts around aesthetics by analyzing case studies. Actively participate in class group exercise by reporting back values identified. Animatingdemocracy.org/aestheticperspectives Materials Required Laptop A/V (large monitor or projector) Worksheets Internet : Attributes of Excellence in Arts for Change- Part 1&2 required reading. Short Blogs Horace Miner essay Additional Resources Practitioner Guides Short Takes Animatingdemocracy.org/ aesthetic-perspectives Videos Facilitator Evaluations: Summative evaluation will provide the facilitators with feedback on the efficacy of the Verification (How will you know if they are learning?) Facilitator will observe active participation; note if there is a lull in the room or if artists seem to be disengaged or frustrated; recap the lesson and ask artists to recount concepts covered during the session. Artists will actively participate in the course discussion and exercises; demonstrate a mastery of vocabulary through integration into dialogue. Student Evaluations: Formative Evaluation Activities Lecture. Exercise In groups, explore case studies and discuss values and standards that stood out. Create a word bank of values that stood out and/challenged a hegemonic perspective. Case studies will come from Aesthetic Perspectives booklet. Lecture. Exercise In groups, explore case studies and discuss values and standards that stood out. Create a word bank of values that stood out and/challenged a hegemonic perspective. Case studies will come from Aesthetic Perspectives booklet.

2 HATCH: LESSON ONE DEFINING COMMUNITY Facilitator Agenda Homework Answer questions as they arise; send out the next lesson agenda(s) in advance (next day & a week out) Preparing for final presentation. Meet with group to further discuss..

3 HATCH: LESSON 7B APPLYING AESTHETIC ATTRIBUTES Lesson Plan Overview: In this Lesson, Artists will discover how to apply Aesthetic Attributes of Art with Community to their work. Facilitator will: Artists will: Objectives: To Introduce Aesthetic Attributes; To reinforce cultural competency; To help artists synthesize new information to their own work. To help artists pinpoint attributes that resonate strongly with their own work and others that deserve their attention. Lead exercise about cultural bias. Understand motivating concerns for expanding aesthetic excellence qualities Guide artists through exercise to introduce Aesthetic Attributes. Provide lecture and presentation on Aesthetic Attributes. Identify potential learning gaps. Be a resource for further inquiry. Participate in exercise to gain a better understanding of how cultural bias might affect their community work. Apply their understanding of how art in community can demonstrate rigor, process, and artistic integrity within their own work. Actively participate in peer and self-guided learning to become familiar with Aesthetic Attributes. Identify learning gaps though inquiry learning. Materials Required Laptop A/V (large monitor or projector) Worksheets Internet : Attributes of Excellence in Arts for Change Aesthetic Attributes Posters Additional Resources Practitioner Guides Animatingdemocracy.org/ aesthetic-perspectives Videos Facilitator Evaluations: Information Animatingdemocracy.org/aestheticperspectives; Albatross Exercise Inspiration: CARLA, Univ. of Minnesota; Aesthetic Attributes Posters Animatingdemocracy.org/aestheticperspectives; Albatross Exercise Inspiration: CARLA, Univ. of Minnesota; Aesthetic Attributes Posters Summative evaluation will provide the facilitators with feedback on the efficacy of the Student Evaluations: Verification (How will you know if they are learning?) Facilitator will observe active participation; note if there is a lull in the room or if artists seem to be disengaged or frustrated; recap the lesson and ask artists to recount concepts covered during the session. Artists will actively participate in the course discussion and exercises; demonstrate a mastery of vocabulary through integration into dialogue. Formative Evaluation Activities Exercise: Reacting to the Attributes ; Exercise: Family Vacation ; Exercise Applying Aesthetics to Your Art Exercise: Reacting to the Attributes ; Exercise: Family Vacation ; Exercise Applying Aesthetics to Your Art Homework Answer questions as they arise; send out the next lesson agenda(s) in advance (next day and a week out) Preparing for final presentation. Meet with group to further discuss..

4 HATCH: LESSON SEVEN AESTHETIC ATTRIBUTES Facilitator Agenda Time Item Notes 10:30am 30 mins Students Introductions; Homework Recap For standalone programs, facilitator would utilize this time for class introductions. For use within the Hatch Program framework, this portion of the lesson would be utilized for Homework feedback. As prep, students should have read Aesthetic Perspectives or AP Short Takes prior to class and at least skimmed the Companion Guides for their particular practice. 11:00am 20 mins Deconstructing Aesthetics 11:20pm 15 mins 11:35pm 10 mins 11:45pm 45 mins 1. What are aesthetics? 2. Misconceptions about Art for Change. Exercise: Albatross How do we evaluate quality and assign value through our own lived experiences? BREAK a. 2 Rounds of Exercise b. Discussion of Assumptions Culture, Experience and Aesthetic Preference a. Non-Euro American Aesthetic lens b. Euro-American Aesthetics lens c. Horace Miner Body Ritual of Nacirema 1. Community Art Aesthetics. 2.. Strengthening Community Art And Motivating Concerns a. Cultural Competency b. Process vs. Product c. Rigor d. Effective Community Intent Through Artistic Excellence This exercise demonstrates implicit bias based on lived experience. Reference article assigned prior to class by Horace Miner. Miner s piece is criticizing how anthropologists distance themselves when observing cultures. This allows a type of othering to occur and reinforces a Euro-American perspective. In Art for Change or community-based art, it is imperative that artists refrain from othering. We must understand our own cultural biases so we may begin the process of dismantling them along with White Supremacy Culture. Relates to Cultural Competency in Lesson 2 of Hatch.. 12:30pm 30 mins Exercise: Aesthetic quality applied to case study models - use short blog posts. Discussion: What are some of the difficulties that artists have struggled with? How have they applied or considered the aesthetic attributes? What contexts were the artists working in? What were some of the things you want to learn after reading Case Studies: Please ask students to make notes about what they want to learn based upon the presentation. Blog Posts should be printed out and distributed to small groups for reading. Links to all of these are available in Hatch course materials online. 1:00pm 30 mins 1:30pm 45 mins Lunch Break Exercise: Reacting to Attributes How do you currently consider this attribute within your own individual part work? Artists consider 2 attributes at a time, discuss. Whole group comes together - short discussion 15 min. Artists rotate every 5 minutes. During Hatch, they should consider this and add questions or thoughts to butcher paper, before rotating to next center. Comments should be made without negative judgement of what was completed in the past. This is not about what s wrong with what we are doing, but how can we expand our consideration to layer quality and meaning as deeply as possible into our work.

5 HATCH: LESSON SEVEN AESTHETIC ATTRIBUTES Facilitator Agenda Time Item Notes 1:45pm 1 hr 15 min 3:00pm 5 min Aesthetic Attributes Framework BREAK 1. How to consider Aesthetic Attributes. 2. What Are the Aesthetic Attributes? 3. What questions/ considerations are associated with each? 4. Discussion: 10 min to discuss how they could be use by non-artists such as funders, curators, etc. Why might this be important? This will be primarily a lecture to reinforce concepts learned in previous exercise. The lecture includes a visual presentation and a definitions worksheet with room for artists to take notes. 3:05pm 10min Quick Physical Activity to Refocus Exercise: Family Vacation Demonstrates working together to create a singular vision with differences of opinion and/or understanding of the vision. Could be Improv Exercise, Breathing Exercise or any short physical activity. Could also be skipped for time if necessary. For our purposes, we have chosen to do the Family Vacation improv exercise. 3:15pm 30 mins 3:45pm 15 mins Exercise: Worksheet Applying Aesthetics to Your Art In groups, Answer Applying Aesthetics worksheet. 30 minutes to work on, fill out and discuss. Questions: 1) Identify for potential for misunderstanding when utilizing a Euro-American centric lens to approach this work. What meaning, process or understanding might be lost? 2) What is the most important value that your project provides or embodies? What is significant about it? What are trying to achieve? 3) Which aesthetic attributes can help to strengthen the significance or purpose you are trying to achieve? 4) How would you communicate this aesthetic value to other stakeholders? Short Question and Discussion Discussion about navigating tension between community aesthetics and your own. Thinking about attributes of commitment, openness, communal meaning, and coherence. During this portion of Hatch, artists will answer the questions in relationship to their prompts and group project. For a non-hatch course, artists can do group work to discuss the questions with each artist applying the questions to his/her work. This can be a body of work or apply to a current project. Opportunity to gauge whether or not artist-participants are grasping lesson objectives and concepts. It also allows the facilitator to help close any learning gaps. 4:00pm 30 min Work on Group Assignment/ Open Discussion. This is specifically for Hatch artists. Time set aside for Hatch artists to work in their prompt group before their final presentation. If taught outside of Hatch, the previous segment with discussion will close out the 4:30pm End of day We often utilize a closing ritual to signal the end of a learning segment. This is optional and may depend on schedule.