Ahimsa Center K-12 Teacher Institute Lesson #1

1 West Final Lesson 1: Art Echoes Swaraj and the Begging Bowl Title: Art Echoes Swaraj and the Begging Bowl Ahimsa Center K-12 Teacher Institute Lesson #1 Lesson By: Maureen West, Central High School, Cheyenne, WY Grade Level/ Subject Areas: 9-12; Ceramics 1 and 2 Duration of Lesson: 2 Days 85 minute class periods separated by a period of 3-5 days. Day 1 Crafting Bowl and Story; Inviting Self-Reflection Day 2 Witnessing Transformation; Fire and Glaze; Reflection Content Standards: Wyoming Fine and Performing Arts FPA 11.1 Creative Expression through Production; Students, create, perform, exhibit, or participate in the arts. FPA 11.2 Aesthetic Perception; Students respond to, analyze, and make informed judgments about the arts. FPA 11.3 Historical and Cultural Context; Students demonstrate an understanding of the arts in relation to history, cultures, and contemporary society. Lesson Abstract: Gandhi s Hind Swaraj expresses his philosophical inquiry through his experiences with nonviolent social reform. Hind Swaraj remains relevant today as our contemporary society wrestles with finding balance between individual freedoms and social responsibility. Art bears witness to these undercurrents of social change and makes the invisible visible. Ceramics offers an aesthetic experience that invites our story while crafting a bowl that illustrates our dialogue for what nourishes us. By engaging in self-reflection we find voice for expressing what matters most. Through dialogue we can clarify our intent and strengthen our sense of purpose. Enduring Understandings: Art transforms experience. Artmaking is the visual expression of a personal dialogue between our self and our world. Aesthetics invites discussion around values such as truth and beauty. Guiding Essential Questions: What value do I see in Art for transformation? How does my experience influence my perceptions? How do my perceptions serve my community? What defines the boundaries between individual freedom and community responsibility? Content Essay: Art challenges us to a solitary journey as we imagine, express and craft our perceptions. Artists labor alongside self-reflection witnessing opportunities to comprehend our personal meaning. We test our expressions, craft our ideas and choose to make our thinking visible. 1

2 West Final Lesson 1: Art Echoes Swaraj and the Begging Bowl Exploring aesthetics in a high school art classroom invites each of us to reveal our personal truth within community; transcending art production in search of enduring meaning. Nonviolence through compassion welcomes a community learning to embrace their own hero s journey of selfawareness. We find a companion guide for this transformational journey of self-awareness in Gandhi s Hind Swaraj. Art and aesthetics echoes values-based education through Gandhi s vision of Swaraj. Gandhi s vision of a civil society rests on the vast majority of that society embracing nonviolence. Therefore, the basic level at which nonviolence trust, compassion, love, service, good conduct must be cultivated is at the level of the individual. Similarly, Gandhi s vision... rested on individual Swaraj, the rule over oneself or self-restraint. (Sethia, p. 5) On one hand our sense of freedom, perhaps even our democracy rests on how we conduct ourselves as individuals within our community. On the other hand inquiry into aesthetics offers a study in character education inviting Ahimsa through Swaraj into the art classroom. Gandhi invites us to question our own Swaraj through the lens of trust, compassion, and love in service of Ahimsa, Gandhi s concept for nonviolence. As a high school art teacher, I have noticed that adolescents working in a studio environment frequently invite critical thinking around the idea of identity. Who am I in this community? What am I noticing about myself and others? What is the value of art? I value authentic art-making as identity crafting because it invites selfreflection of our perceptions. As students become more confident interpreting our world and working in community they craft authentic art about what they believe to be meaningful. Is a hero s journey a quest for identity; a yearning for meaning through self-realization? If so, Swaraj is a hero s journey. In the arts classroom we trek between self and community working together to find what we value. Our identity evolves while navigating back and forth between observing and interpreting our response to our craft. The act of pinching clay shapes our awareness of inside and outside boundaries formed in clay. Pinching a clay bowl imitates humanity s first nourishing gesture; simply cupping our hands. When we contemplate a sense of well-being framed within the edges of the bowl we can imagine What nourishes us? Again, the issue of identity arises. This is craft as soul work. This soul work is Swaraj according to Anthony Parel and once this is realized, it becomes a powerful self-transforming inner experience. (Parel, p. 3) Thus, a simple clay form, in the image of cupped hands, invites a sense of well-being as nourishment. For a potter the bowl is both a fundamental form and a powerful self-transforming inner experience of mastering the craft of inside and outside. If Art making is an aesthetic experience of our learning; then, Art becomes an image in the likeness of the journey. The bowl echoes this selfreflective aesthetic journey for many potters. Sue Bender writes of bowl in Everyday Sacred. I had read M.C. Richards Centering years before. It was a book about clay and art and life. In it, Richards described Jean Genet, the French Playwright, who had said he wanted to roam the countryside like a monk holding a begging bowl; having filled it with what he needed for the nourishment in his life... All I knew about a begging bowl was that each day a monk goes out with his empty bowl in his hands. Whatever is placed in the bowl will be his nourishment for the day. I didn t know whether I was the monk or the bowl or the things that would fill the bowl, or all three, but I trust the words and the image completely. (Bender, p. 5) This means of transformation, the trusting of words and image, invites our craft to speak the language of our soul. Our responses arise through images of journey; from departing to arriving; from knowing to understanding; from beginning to end. We answer the call of Why this journey? by responding with story. 2

3 West Final Lesson 1: Art Echoes Swaraj and the Begging Bowl What invites expression of our identity from the inside out? Christina Baldwin, author of Storycatcher, Making Sense of Our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story places value in story. How we make our experience into story determines how we live our personal lives. What we emphasize and retell in our collective story determines whether we quarrel or collaborate in our community. What we preserve in larger human story determines what we believe is possible in the world. Story conveys what it means to be human; gives humanity its voice. (Baldwin, p. xii-xxiii) Catching story can be invited through forming a simple clay bowl; hands cupping clay, voices sharing story, both illustrating what was once invisible. Crafting a clay bowl nourishes our story; measuring our breath with call and response; testing beginnings and endings; stretching boundaries of inside and outside. The craft of storytelling invites a synthesis of our internal self with our outside world. In our art community when we invite conversation around our diverse viewpoints and beliefs, we craft new understandings. Marilyn G. Stewart poses the value of dialogue in Thinking through Aesthetics, the nature of dialogue could be described as one person s conclusions becoming another person s questions. (Stewart, p. 36) We form a compassionate community in harmony with itself through dialogue. Swaraj is a continual process of self-correction much like story telling which improves over time and through reflection. This dialogue of self-correction echoes Gandhi s value for Tolstoy s view that art is potent because of its potential for nonviolent expression and its capacity to speak of universal truth. Art is thinking made visible and as such may express our soul through Swaraj. Speaking of art, Gandhi stated that [through] the conception of art, there were two aspects that had to be taken into account: the inner form and the outer expression. All true art arose from the soul, and was an expression of its movement towards self-realization... whenever men begin to see beauty in truth, then true art will arise. (Parel, p.7) At the individual level, according to Gandhi, Swaraj literally means self-rule. Swaraj here connotes self-discipline, self-restraint, and self-control over one s passions such as greed and aggression. Swaraj as self-rule presupposes the agency of the spirit. In this sense, it is also the spiritual freedom of the individual that opens the door to self-realization the realization of one s higher self or pure self. This freedom is not given by any external power but acquired through one s spiritual strength. Not only is transformation necessary for internalizing non-violence, Dr. Michael Tobias during the Ahimsa Center Summer Institute for Educators K-12 Workshop noted that the core issue of significant compassionate change is adopting an unconditional heart. How does art cultivate an unconditional heart? The act of storytelling is a valued practice of bearing witness to events of the self and the world. Observation and reflection of these events inform our perceptions. Crafting our experience through Art and metaphor we can ultimately, change our perceptions because Art has the capacity for raising our consciousness about our interactions with our world. Tolstoy valued art and thought the infectious nature of the aesthetic feeling to be a powerful vehicle for nonviolent reform within community. Gandhi s Hind Swaraj echoes this dialogue with aesthetics and nonviolent reform. Art is actionable in expressing nonviolence. Perhaps through crafting a humble clay bowl and sharing story we bear personal witness to nonviolent gestures of change. We prepare ourselves for the observation and reflection necessary to make our thinking visible in the world. The act of creation synthesizes our experience with our values and beliefs. Using our values and beliefs as a guide for the work we leave behind and the work we hope to create invites innovation into our expressions of Ahimsa and Swaraj. 3

4 West Final Lesson 1: Art Echoes Swaraj and the Begging Bowl Bibliography: Baldwin, Christina. Storycatcher: Making Sense of Our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story. Novato, California: New World Library, 2005 Bender, Sue. Everyday Sacred: A Woman s Journey Home. San Fransisco, California: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1995. Costa, Arthur L. and Kallick, Bena. (ed.) Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind. Alexandria, Virginia: ASCD, 2008. Parel, Anthony J. Gandhi s Socratic Ignorance of the Arts. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cambridge University Press, Paper. 2006. Parel, Anthony J. (ed.) Gandhi: Hind Swaraj and Other Writings. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cambridge University Press, Paper. 2009. Sethia, Tara. Gandhi Pioneer of Nonviolent Social Change. Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson Education, Inc., 2012. Sethia, Tara. Gandhi, Sustainability and Happiness. Pomona, California: California State Polytechnic University Ahimsa Center, Seminar. 2013. Stewart, Marilyn G. (ed.) Thinking through Aesthetics. Worcester, Massachusetts: Davis Publications, Inc., 1997. Tharp, Twyla. The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003. Walker, Sydney R. Teaching Meaning in Artmaking. Worcester, Massachusetts: Davis Publications, Inc., 2001. 4

5 West Final Lesson 1: Art Echoes Swaraj and the Begging Bowl Day 1 Crafting Bowl and Story; Inviting Self-Reflection What am I Thankful for? ART Workshop Learning Targets: I can speak and listen respectfully with others. I can form new connections by sharing stories. I can reflect on my thinking through reading and writing. Invitation to Story Mini-Lesson 1 Mini-Lesson 2 De-Brief Opening Song of I Give Thanks http://www.kathrynmostow.com/ Welcome Be smart Today we are inviting author and potter Sue Bender to share story with us. From Everyday Sacred A Woman s Journey Home chapter Our Bowls, Ourselves, The Story of Three Bowls. Page 12-13. Noticing Pair/Share Protocol What do you notice about the story? Which bowl seems most like you today? Write your noticings on one side of the index card. Draw a line at the end of your noticings. Turn to your neighbor to share your noticings. Choose who will speak first. After listening to your neighbor, write their noticings on your card. Crafting Memory into Story Are you thankful for memorable moments? Noticing Pair/Share Protocol Reread the part of the story that speaks of the third bowl. Think of a time that bests illustrates when you were like the third bowl. Perhaps it is a time you are thankful for your experience. Turn to your neighbor to share your story. Choose who will speak first. Both the speaker and the listener are pinching a small bowl out of clay while sharing story. Now, the second speaker may share story. Again, both the speaker and the listener are pinching a small bowl out of clay while sharing story. Once the stories are complete there should be four clay bowls. Each person should have the gift of story in the form of a bowl they pinched while sharing story and the bowl their listener pinched. Noticing & Naming (See-Think-Wonder) Where am I? (in this artwork) Look closely at the two bowls of the same story. What is similar and what is different? What stands out in your mind about this experience? Does the bowl hold the memory of your story? Tell me where you are in this work of art by writing your thinking on the back of your index card. How have we filled this space with your identity today? What Habits of Mind served you well today? Day 2 Witnessing Transformation; Fire and Glaze; Reflection How does art express emotion? ART Workshop Learning Targets: I can speak and listen respectfully with others while sharing observations. I can create new options for my work by sharing ideas. I can reflect on my thinking through reading and writing. 5

6 West Final Lesson 1: Art Echoes Swaraj and the Begging Bowl Invitation to Story Observation and Reflection Draw to See; Draw to Know Draw a sketch of both of your pots; notice edges; notice shadows. Mini-Lesson 1 Mini-Lesson 2 De-Brief Noticing Pair/Share Protocol What do you notice about your drawing of the two bowls? Are your bowls similar or different? Can you identify the telling bowl or the listening bowl? How? What characteristics are you noticing? Do you remember the stories connected with each bowl? Note the main idea of the stories on your drawing. Which bowl seems most like you today: the telling bowl or the listening bowl? Write your noticings on your drawing. Your drawing is full of notes and connections that you have observed. Share these reflections with your neighbor. Now look at your neighbor s drawing and notes. On a sticky note write any questions that will help clarify the drawing. Pair- Share your observations and questions. Discuss: How does story connect you to each other? Today we are inviting author Christina Baldwin to share story with us. From Storycatcher: Making Sense of Our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story, Chapter One: Following the Beeline; How Story Connects Us. Page 3-7. Crafting Story into Pottery How do our bowls express the feeling of our story? Story is narrative. I think of narrative not as a path, but as three-dimensional space, or landscape; through which (by our choice of words) we can take a path. Bob Hughes On the back of your drawing write your thinking about this quote. How is story like a landscape? The clay has transformed from green-ware into bisque-ware; ready for glaze. How will glaze express the feeling for the story of each pot? How does color express emotion? How does glaze application affect the tactile feel of the bowl? How is the telling bowl different from the listening bowl? Pair-Share ideas for glazing your bowl. Select the best idea. Glaze each bowl to match the feeling of the story. How have we expressed the feeling of your story today? What Habits of Mind served you well today? 6