An Affiliate of the National Art Education Association

CSTAE Newsletter

Summer 2000

CSTAE Dialogue:  Featuring Dr. Kenneth Marantz

Greetings from the CSTAE Newsletter,         The CSTAE Newsletter continues as a forum for DIALOGUE among art educators as it welcomes commentary from those in general education and community. We seek interviews with Social Caucus members to find out what their art and science of teaching looks like in theory and practice, and the implications for and impact on students, faculty, administration, community, and the field. We welcome all input you may have to offer in this DIALOGUE. We anticipate that some ideas may be challenging and controversial as they tackle sensitive issues and beliefs about "the truths" we hold for life and our chosen profession. The CSTAE Newsletter encourages that any dialogue remain a professional and respectful expression among the diversity of ideas and beliefs that art educators and the constituency hold. The CSTAE Newsletter reserves the right to editorial staff review for any publications. Please include your name, address, phone, and e-mail address and send commentary for "CSTAE Dialogue" to:          Dr. Shirley Hayes Yokley-Witzel, CSTAE Newsletter Editor         Middle Tennessee State University         PO Box 25         Murfreesboro, TN 37132         Phone: 615-893-9634 (h)         E-mail: syokley@mtsu.edu One of our first solicitations for commentary for the CSTAE Newsletter was to Dr. Kenneth Marantz, Professor Emeritus of Art Education at The Ohio State University. Dr. Marantz continues to share his energy and experience with the field. The following commentary and questions are a point of departure for others to enter a DIALOGUE with Dr. Marantz with the intent that many valuable ideas can be shared via this newsletter. We welcome your input. Having asked Dr. Marantz to come up with five questions that he would find valuable, I share, with permission, his comments and invite your response to his questions. Please comment and/or devise more questions of your own for the readership. Dr. Marantz's communication follows:     Shirley, You asked for some "words of wisdom" and here are a few sent in between some active scratching of a host of mosquito bites. They are particularly mean this year and make any form of garden work a hazardous adventure. Art teaching has a long history and is as ancient as art itself. But "art education" as a field of academic study is a relatively recent phenomenon. For the sake of argument, let's say that American academicians began plowing the art teaching field some half century ago - why not use WWII as a frame of reference? Like any living organism, or human institution, it has evolved, grown with the members who have chosen to make a career in the visual arts. Only relatively recently have a few of the pioneers begun to die off and with their lost leadership, what was once a focused field of inquiry basically puzzling over the various aspects of teaching art to children with a heavy emphasis on teacher preparation has, in those almost 60 years, "suffered" from a condition that resembles urban sprawl. While our bread and butter still derives from preparing art teachers, we've had the luxury of indulging in a wide diversity of speculative investigations loosely termed "research." One has only to scan the NAEA newsletter to note the fragmented interests, the most recent now in the birth-pangs dealing with the "built environment." One might view this institutional Balkanization as a sign of vigor, of a healthy stretching of the field's muscles. Yet, as with our nation's parallel multi-cultural strivings, are we also losing hold on our common core? To cite an ancient cliche: "Will the real art education please stand up." (A side bar: I have Ohio State University's list of dissertations for that time period, since the first one in the mid 50's. Just reading the titles is proof enough of the scattering of interests.) You suggested that I submit 5 questions as if the decimal system is holy writ. I'll simply begin listing them and stop when I've run out of inspiration. No special order....         1) How important is a definition of ART for the Caucus' operations? Do         we set some sort of limits to what we will deal with? Is "visual" one of         these?         2) A great number of current art teachers still consider themselves to be         "artist/teachers". What implications about ourselves as a field can we         draw from this condition?         3) How do we define "social theory"? How do we make it clear that our         focus is on whatever we determine VISUAL ART is?         4) From the universe of academic fields, which are our closest relatives?         Do they perceive us as relatives?         5) In what ways do we claim relationships between the activities of the         Caucus and the mundane activities of (many) K-12 art rooms? Do we have         evidence for such claims?         6) How do we differ from the other NAEA fragments like the multi-culture         affiliate?         7) Why has membership in the Caucus remained so relatively small over the years?         8) Is one of our mission goals to affect the workings of the mother         Association, i.e. NAEA? If so, how do we expect to do so? These are some notions which may, or may not, stimulate responses. But there should be some incentive for responding, or maybe the internal rewards of engaging in conversation about some commonly shared concerns will suffice. If nothing else, using the "chat room" device ought to sharpen meetings at NAEA.  Ken Marantz    The CSTAE Newsletter is grateful to Dr. Marantz for his contribution to this issue of the CSTAE Newsletter. You may offer comments and questions by accessing our  interactive transmission mechanism via the following address: (http://www2.tltc.ttu.edu/kkb/disc2_welc.htm). If you have a response to Dr. Marantz, or further comments or questions about social theory and art education that you would like featured in the next issue of CSTAE DIALOGUE, please forward to the current CSTAE Newsletter Editor:  Shirley H.Yokley-Witzel (syokley@mtsu.edu). Thank you. Salutations, Shirley

Select a Newsletter Item:

Coordinator's Message, Karen Keifer-Boyd

2000 Annual Business Meeting Report, Kim Cosier

NAEA News Columnist Request, Dennis Fehr

2000 CSTAE Executive Board Meeting Minutes, Kim Cosier

Journal of Social Theory:  Call for Writing and Images

CSTAE Dialogue:  Featuring Dr. Kenneth Marantz

CSTAE Web site requests

Postcards With an Edge

NOTE:  Call for CSTAE Proposals for 2001 NAEA Conference

Send Newsletter Electronic Submissions to: Shirley Hayes Yokley-Witzel
syokley@mtsu.edu

CSTAE

Members

Journal

Gallery