I am a veteran art teacher of over thirty years nearing the end of my career. This work is a reflection on how my experiences in art education have shaped my practice.
The aesthetic of this work is based loosely on, or influenced by, several sources.
The aesthetic of this work is based loosely on, or influenced by, several sources.
The German Art Historian Aby Warburg’s Mnemosyne Atlas, an assemblage of black and white photographs of Renaissance Florentine art works, maps, manuscript pages, newspaper, and magazine cuttings. They are juxtaposed to create a scholarly exploration of the way that historical art based in Western antiquity re-emerges to inform and shape cultural practices in later times.
Jasper Johns’ 1986 series ‘The Seasons’. He was in his mid-fifties (approximately my age now) when he started the work which took seven years. He revisited themes, imagery, and motifs from his artistic life and work over the preceding three decades, reflecting upon the passage of time and the ephemeral nature of memory and perception.
Similarly, the Japanese American artist and activist Yoko Ono revisits themes that recur and repeat over decades using language, objects, music, and film. Ono the artist is like a teacher, creating a conceptual system of instructions in which the audience, like the pupil/student, is encouraged to respond creatively.
Art & Language challenged and subverted concepts of what art might be through intellectual and theoretical writings, discussions, and art works. Art & Language informed my decision to use post-it notes in my work. They are arranged systematically according to the Basic Visual Elements in Art and Design familiar to UK National Curriculum art teachers, using colour and pattern, to create an aesthetic. Members of Art & Language (notably David Bainbridge) were my Art College degree course Tutors in the 1980’s. I feel a sense of closing the circle.
This research is a sort of detective’s board helping me to disentangle and make sense of it all. As pedagogy is about teaching and learning I have two mysteries to solve:
What did I teach? What have I learnt?
Jasper Johns’ 1986 series ‘The Seasons’. He was in his mid-fifties (approximately my age now) when he started the work which took seven years. He revisited themes, imagery, and motifs from his artistic life and work over the preceding three decades, reflecting upon the passage of time and the ephemeral nature of memory and perception.
Similarly, the Japanese American artist and activist Yoko Ono revisits themes that recur and repeat over decades using language, objects, music, and film. Ono the artist is like a teacher, creating a conceptual system of instructions in which the audience, like the pupil/student, is encouraged to respond creatively.
Art & Language challenged and subverted concepts of what art might be through intellectual and theoretical writings, discussions, and art works. Art & Language informed my decision to use post-it notes in my work. They are arranged systematically according to the Basic Visual Elements in Art and Design familiar to UK National Curriculum art teachers, using colour and pattern, to create an aesthetic. Members of Art & Language (notably David Bainbridge) were my Art College degree course Tutors in the 1980’s. I feel a sense of closing the circle.
This research is a sort of detective’s board helping me to disentangle and make sense of it all. As pedagogy is about teaching and learning I have two mysteries to solve:
What did I teach? What have I learnt?