Abstract
This chapter looks at socially engaged art to realize and explore pedagogical creativity. Socially engaged art is interested in creating art that can be viewed as a process to navigate a deeper understanding of individuals and society. As this process relates to pedagogical creativity, the social practice artist is engaging the participant in a creative activity or process that often calls for a reflective notion. The essential shift socially engaged practice offers is a variant on the reflective process from self to a community, social, and collective reflective practice. This process of engaging with the community is critical for gaining community participant input to direct the practice. When applied to educators, teaching through a social practice lens can offer students a culturally responsive curriculum. Remote and virtual experiences can offer diverse opportunities for creativity, engagement, and discourse.
TopIntroduction
This chapter will review different pedagogical experiences that are examples of socially engaged art. An overview of the literature in the field will lay the foundation to introduce socially engaged artwork as creative pedagogy using thematic approaches. Followed by examples of pedagogical interventions to illustrate how culturally relevant socially engaged art can create learning and value to the remote educational experience. Finally, the author will conclude with recommended guidelines and an analysis of the pedagogical experiences in a remote learning atmosphere.
Socially engaged art represents a process of collaboration, communities coming together to create something that would not otherwise occur, reflective of a time and space, cause and effect, and fundamentally a form of love (Paley, 1995). As pedagogy, socially engaged practice has the potential to be culturally-responsive in working with the community. The nature of socially engaged art and the process of creating communally can access a deeper understanding of experiences and needs. This practice is about “creating experiences for people'' and producing, individually and as a community (Lacy and Helguera, 2017). Viewing social practice artists as educators practicing pedagogical creativity opens up possibilities to new types of learning experiences. Learning by relating social issues and life incidents through art can render a more holistic educational practice (Gaudelius & Speirs, 2002). Teaching and learning in a creative practice can unite members of the community by applying personal interactions to increase constructs of knowledge and thought. Educators can realize the importance social and cultural influences factor into how people derive meaning from learning experiences (Leake, 2012). Viewing the classroom as a work of art promotes practices derived from performance and socially engaged practice, community organizing, and activism (Schmidt, 2020). The author created a Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) course emphasizing the importance of an artistic process prioritizing making as a socially engaged practice. Methods that encourage creating work while being immersed in that particular social struggle or issue due to one’s social status can contribute to a transformative outcome instead of maintaining structures of privilege (Sholette & Bass, 2018). Opportunities to create with groups, communities, and societies facilitate a positionality of empathy or compassion and less objectification. This was evident in the course as individuals discussed and created together on communal projects. Responding to social issues and practices that encompass each student was critical to this process. The course content emphasized visual and performing arts and remained specific to the focus students created for individual and group projects.
Purpose
The purpose of this chapter is to highlight that socially engaged art in an educational setting prioritizes process oriented collaboration, self-reflection, and transformative experiences (Paley, 1995). The second purpose is to emphasize the benefits of culturally-responsive curricular content and practice for the educator and students (Aronson & Laughter, 2016; Dee & Renner, 2017). More specifically, when partnered with socially engaged art, learning and teaching can be a more positive and meaningful experience. The third purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate the idea that educators are facilitators and artists of space that organize opportunities for inquiry of self and community through various examples of pedagogical creativity. In this chapter, remote learning is presented as a space for developing a socially engaged community through art practices.
To define: What are some of the characteristics of socially engaged art as creative pedagogy and its benefits? What attributes does socially engaged art contribute when working with a specified community? What are experiences of socially engaged art in a remote learning experience?
To frame: Educators as facilitators and artists of creative pedagogy using socially engaged art practices. Socially engaged art pedagogy ensures a more culturally-relevant practice when working with a community. The content is inherently dynamic and the outcome is unknown. Utilizing the online and remote learning classroom as socially engaged art practice.
To illustrate: Examples of socially engaged art pedagogy in educational spaces. The remote learning spaces include a Visual and Performing Arts Higher Education classroom for pre-service teachers.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Social Practice Art: Art that is concerned with the process of creating work and the relational aspects that occur in the scope of creating as the emphasis.
Culturally Relevant: Using cultural background and knowledge of participants as a means of empowerment.
Socially Engaged Art: Art that is created in various capacities to promote community and issues are the focus over a finished product.
Identity: Characteristics distinct to individuals including race, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, and where they intersect.
Creative Pedagogy: The creative process of teaching and learning.
Remote Learning: Teaching and learning occurring in a virtual setting and using various technology to assist with engagement, scholarship, and assessment.