Teaching with Cultural Diversity

How can I teach art in ways that

makes my students take pride in

their own cultural identity while

gaining respect and appreciation

for the art and customs of other

cultures?Marvin Bartel

http://www.goshen.edu/art/ed/multiculturalart.html

Much of what we know about historic

cultures is through objects we are likely to

consider as art.

How can we teach about other cultures without

stereotyping them?

Hung Liu

Is it appropriate to make assumptions about a

culture that has no word for art?

For example, Native American cultures have no

word for art. They do not separate “art” from life.

Is it right to imitate what might be sacred or at least

traditional in another culture?Marvin Bartel

http://www.goshen.edu/art/ed/multiculturalart.html

The Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona

If I know an artist’s intentions, I can motivate my

students to create art based on similar intentions related

to the culture of the students in my class.Marvin Bartel

http://www.goshen.edu/art/ed/multiculturalart.html

Learn about artists as part of

a larger unit. Here a Days of

the Dead celebration honors

Mexican artists Diego Rivera

and Frida Kahlo.

School Wide Themes or Celebrations

Cilau Valadez Agustin Cruz Prudencio

John Dahlsen Totems

Look for contemporary artists who

integrate historical or cultural ideas.

Brian Jungen

James Mishler

One approach is to start with the cultures

represented in your school and community.

Another is to start with a theme or big idea and

show how it has been expressed in art from

many cultures and times. Try to include visual

culture and both contemporary and historic

artworks.

Know what you are talking about.

How to Get Started

Ernest Boyer’s Human Commonalities

All of us:

• experience the life cycles.

• work.

• use symbols.

• know time and place.

• search for a larger purpose.

• have an aesthetic response.

• seek social bonding.

• have a connection to nature.

The Symbol of the Hand

What can it mean?

How to Get Started

One approach is to start with the cultures represented in your

school and community.

Come up with a theme or big idea. This can be as simple as identity,

community, story, nature, ecology, cycles, etc. Keep concepts

simple. Consider how that idea is expressed in art. Look for many

art examples from different times, places, and cultures that will

appeal to students. Try to include visual culture and both

contemporary and historic artworks.

Think about how you will engage your students. How can you

present each lesson in an interesting way? Sharing a book,

showing and discussing an Animoto video, PowerPoint, or Prezi?

Search Out Your Own Multicultural Experiences

Join SchoolArts and CRIZMAC in Oaxaca, Mexico, or Santa Fe, New Mexico