Rationale
In speaking with my peers who do not come from a visual arts background it has become clear to me that there are many educators who approach art education with a great deal of insecurity. Whether they feel they lack creativity, skill or a background knowledge of the content, there are many reasons why someone might feel reticent in trying to build visual arts activities for students that incorporate curricular expectations and are relevant to the study & practice of art.
This page exists in part as a resource for educators who find themselves in this situation.
For my own part I have a strong grounding in the Euro-centric and primarily Christian cannon of Art History but I lack a real knowlege and understanding of both traditional and contemporary First Nation Peoples Art in Canada. I began trying to build this activity to help familiarize myself with at least one aspect of Canadian Aboriginal Art. The finger masks I ended up deciding to focus on are made and used by Inuit people in Canada and the United states. They are used in traditional and ceremonial dances.
To be frank, based on my own biases and tastes, I have generally not put much emphasis, in my classes, on flearning about what some might call Folk Art, or Craft. I am currently undergoing a change of heart with respect to the value I place on learning about traditional and contemporary Folk Art.
In his essay: Folk Art And Art Education: Paradox Or Partnership?, Canadian artist, teacher and scholar Dr. Harold Pearse discusses the importance of examining and making folk art in Art Education, linking it with important aspects of Post Modern ideology:
Just Because a Particular kind of art exists, does that mean that it should be included, or even referred to, in the school curriculum?
Perhaps not, but I would like to make the case that folk art deserves a place in the art curricula of Canadian schools. Folk art. like
the art of groups marginalized by virtue of race, religion, gender, class or sexual orientation, has become recognized for its significant
contribution to the postmodern sensibility. A major postmodern tenet is that diversity is to be valued. Another is that the indigenous art
of regions is as significant as that of major centers. Both views underline the importance of constructing personal and collective identity.
Folk art provides a particular perspective, one uncluttered with artifice and convention, on the experience of living in this country rarely
attended to in mainstream art. 1
Ultimately the rationale behind this activity is to help me and any other educational facilitators develop a level of understanding and comfort with the traditions, ideas and process of teaching about and making Inuit Finger Masks. My covert side motivation is to involve myself to a greater degree in a relationship with Canadian folk art.
1 Harold. "Folk Art And Art Education: Paradox Or Partnership?" Readings in Canadian Art Teacher Education. By Kit Grauer and Rita L. Irwin. London, Ontario: Canadian Society for Education through Art, 2001. 237-44. Print.
This page exists in part as a resource for educators who find themselves in this situation.
For my own part I have a strong grounding in the Euro-centric and primarily Christian cannon of Art History but I lack a real knowlege and understanding of both traditional and contemporary First Nation Peoples Art in Canada. I began trying to build this activity to help familiarize myself with at least one aspect of Canadian Aboriginal Art. The finger masks I ended up deciding to focus on are made and used by Inuit people in Canada and the United states. They are used in traditional and ceremonial dances.
To be frank, based on my own biases and tastes, I have generally not put much emphasis, in my classes, on flearning about what some might call Folk Art, or Craft. I am currently undergoing a change of heart with respect to the value I place on learning about traditional and contemporary Folk Art.
In his essay: Folk Art And Art Education: Paradox Or Partnership?, Canadian artist, teacher and scholar Dr. Harold Pearse discusses the importance of examining and making folk art in Art Education, linking it with important aspects of Post Modern ideology:
Just Because a Particular kind of art exists, does that mean that it should be included, or even referred to, in the school curriculum?
Perhaps not, but I would like to make the case that folk art deserves a place in the art curricula of Canadian schools. Folk art. like
the art of groups marginalized by virtue of race, religion, gender, class or sexual orientation, has become recognized for its significant
contribution to the postmodern sensibility. A major postmodern tenet is that diversity is to be valued. Another is that the indigenous art
of regions is as significant as that of major centers. Both views underline the importance of constructing personal and collective identity.
Folk art provides a particular perspective, one uncluttered with artifice and convention, on the experience of living in this country rarely
attended to in mainstream art. 1
Ultimately the rationale behind this activity is to help me and any other educational facilitators develop a level of understanding and comfort with the traditions, ideas and process of teaching about and making Inuit Finger Masks. My covert side motivation is to involve myself to a greater degree in a relationship with Canadian folk art.
1 Harold. "Folk Art And Art Education: Paradox Or Partnership?" Readings in Canadian Art Teacher Education. By Kit Grauer and Rita L. Irwin. London, Ontario: Canadian Society for Education through Art, 2001. 237-44. Print.