Objects in the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear

• In Event: Capitalizing Art Education: Mapping International Histories

Abstract

Objectives:
This paper charts some patterns of practice that animate how art schools theorize their purpose in response to cultural contexts, educational imperatives and institutional circumstances. Art schools have the responsibility of educating artists and art teachers and these roles have, at times, been interdependent, and in many cases entirely separate missions. Never far from crisis or presumed redundancy, art schools have a curious history that is informed by contemporary cultural perceptions of the time and the indeterminate status of art practice. Specifically, this paper takes a visual look backwards at some patterns of practice that have influenced the development of art schools within university settings with the goal of identifying a less distorted path ahead.

Theoretical Framework:
There are several new environments of theory and practice being opened by creative and critical research that have particular relevance for those interested in re-examining past histories. For instance, ‘digital humanities’ (Burdick, et al., 2012) is an emerging collection of interdisciplinary practices that is developing new approaches to research using digital technologies. Access to new methods of analyzing and visualizing complex historical data and re-configuring discipline boundaries are giving a new impetus and rigor to addressing questions about our knowledge of the past and how it relates to issues of contemporary life.

Modes of Inquiry:
The capacity of computer technology to deal with massive amounts of data has given rise to an industry of ‘data mining’ where computational processes are used to discover patterns in large data sets. For those involved in the arts it is well understood that when ‘discovery’ is a goal, much more than logic is brought into the picture. Similarly, data mining approaches use a combination of quantitative methods and qualitative principles to ‘discover’ things. Mapping is a common term that refers to strategies for integrating and transforming information into useable form. In a literal sense, mapping is a process for defining spatial location and positioning, however, when the interest in ‘position’ refers to broader issues such as perspectives and practices parameters expand. As a result, different types of information can be ‘mapped’ and this opens up considerable possibilities for re-imagining how knowledge can be interpreted.
Although the strategies used in this paper take their primary source from data mining, mapping and visualization, less formal means are presented in this paper than those who use data analytics (Yau, 2011), because the purpose is to illustrate possible ways of thinking about historical moments and their implications for current practice.



Results:
The information generated will be presented in the form of a ‘curated exhibition’ that will feature a series of visual analogues about the ‘art school.’ Using a range of graphic strategies different comparative analyses of historical trends will be made to explore dominant patterns of practice and corresponding institutional relationships. Questions about the role of the artist and the art educator in past and present institutional settings will be raised and suggestions for current challenges and responsibilities made.

Author

• Graeme L. Sullivan, The Pennsylvania State University