Access to Art Through Viewer Response

Debby Noble

This study was based on collaboration between a school division consultant with an extensive background in art education and a Grade 4 teacher in a 400-pupil elementary school in northern Saskatchewan. Their goal was to improve art education pedagogy so as to enhance students' access to art. Together they explored how a generalist elementary teacher can facilitate student access to visual art through the implementation of an instructional model for viewing and responding to works of art.

Two boys and two girls were selected from the Grade 4 classroom to participate in the research over a ten-week period. A timetable was created that featured one art response lesson per week for the whole class. The artwork to be viewed during these lessons was carefully selected. Qualitative data on the students' responses were gathered from the four students through interviews and student journals. Data on their responses were also collected from notes, classroom observations and journal entries made by the researcher and the teacher and from notes of their discussions during meetings and semi-structured interviews. The project took the form of modified action research as the researcher and teacher met regularly to plan, reflect on and modify art lessons and materials.

The instructional model selected for implementation throughout the project was the seven-step viewing process included in the Saskatchewan Arts Education curriculum. This model recognizes that response to art is based on a transaction between the viewer and the work. The teacher uses a process to guide this transaction in the classroom that focuses students on the following steps: preparation, first impression, description, analysis, interpretation, background information and informed judgment. However, in the course of this research project, the seven steps neatly listed in the curriculum document were transformed into a fluid, dynamic form that was used to illuminate the way for teacher and students as they encountered art. It was found that response to art did not follow a predictable sequence but flowed in many directions between the viewers and works of art.

Analysis of the oral and written responses of the four students participating in the project revealed that the response activities comprising the viewing process supported the development of knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for students to gain access to art. The viewing process was recognized as a recursive process of and discovery of, and through, art. Four themes were identified as factors affecting student access to art: the time allocated for the steps in the process, the opportunities for students to make personal connections to the art viewed, the extent of social interaction among viewers, and the need for instructional flexibility that takes into account the fluid nature of viewer response. Response activities that promote interpretation and understanding of art develop cumulative knowledge, take a constructivist approach, feature a wide range of art works, and include adequate time for response in a variety of modes.

Analysis of the date from the teacher's experiences implementing the viewing process in her classroom indicated that attitude, training and experience were all factors that contributed to the level of comfort with art education that supports risk-taking and professional growth. The availability of sufficient support for the teacher in her implementation efforts is an important theme in the data. Professional development opportunities, including resource materials and access to consultant services, supported the teacher in helping students to access art. The teacher noted that the new provincial Arts Education curriculum is "really new to a lot of teachers." There should have been more time to experiment with one strand at a time, to sort of ease into it . . . All four strands at once is a lot and it's a lot to expect teachers to implement it all."

The study concludes with specific action recommendations for teachers, administrators and consultants in fostering art programs that facilitate access to art.

Excerpt from a Group Interview with Students

Brandi:
Did you get it in Toy Story when he says, "Look, I'm Picasso!"?

Jack:
Mr. Potato Head.

Brandi:
I finally got it!

Interviewer:
You got it, excellent, on Toy Story ­ that's a good point. Sometimes if you don't know what they're talking about, you miss it, right? But since you guys have heard about Picasso, you got the joke.

Brandi:
They move the eyes and everything around. Mr. Potato Head says like "I'm Picasso".

Jack:
I saw that part but I didn't hear the Picasso part.

Above: T. Gallagher. Illustration. Taken from Murdo's Story by M. Scribe. Permission granted by Pemmican Publications. Winnipeg, Manitoba. 1985.