ABSTRACT THEORIES IMPACTING ART FOUNDATIONS COURSE DESCRIPTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES Alyson Pouls, Ph. School of Art and Design Northern Illinois University, 2017 Richard Siegesmund, Director Traditional art foundations models focus on teaching freshman level art students strategies of visual composition through the use of the elements and principles of design. These visual qualities are presented as the fundamental basis for all art compositions. Rooted in the early 20th century modernist concept of formalism, the elements and principles purposely divorce art from narrative, social, or cultural influences, in favor of standardized visual regulations, repeated exercises, and technical skills.
However, K-12 art educators, higher education art education faculty, and foundations faculty agree that visual and technical skills must be supported by a conceptual element, central to the artist’s voice, reflecting an ever changing and evolving personal and social discourse in support of democratic practice. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the impact of Modernist formalism and Postmodern art theory on written foundations curricula in the United States, by gathering course descriptions from 97 public and private colleges, to locate formal, technical, and conceptual language imbedded within art foundations. Based on aesthetic theories suggested by Ranciere, Foucault, Dewey, and Efland, this study results in practical, applicable suggestions for a transformed art foundations curriculum that weaves together concept, skill, and visual qualities for a relevant foundations paradigm. NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY DEKALB, ILLINOIS DECEMBER 2017 THEORIES IMPACTING ART FOUNDATIONS COURSE DESCRIPTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES BY ALYSON POULS © 2017 Alyson Pouls A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY SCHOOL OF ART AND DESIGN Doctoral Director: Richard Siegesmund ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I could not have completed this dissertation without the help of my brother, Dr.
Steven Pouls, and his wife, Esther Pouls. The transportation help and the endless encouragement has made it possible for me to live this dream of completing my doctorate, and I cannot thank them enough. DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to the many students I have taught, my loving and patient husband Perry, and my late mother Deena, who always encouraged me to reach for the stars. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………….…… ix LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………….…… xii LIST OF APPENDICES……………….
12 Problem and Purpose…………………. 18 Research Questions and Sub-Questions……………………. 20 Significance of the Study. 25 Organization of the Study…………………….……………………… 27 v Chapter Page Introduction.
27 Aesthetics and Democracy………………………………. 31 History, Purpose, and Evolution of the Stand-alone Art College in the U. 38 Formalism and the Bauhaus Legacy…………. 40 Art Education in Public Schools: Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE).
49 Advanced Placement (AP) Portfolio Assessment……………………. 50 Art Foundations Now: Curriculum…………………. 53 Professional Organizations: Foundations Now………………………………. 55 Curriculum for Democracy…………………….
61 Research Questions and Sub-Questions……………………. 65 Sampling Strategy: Purposive…………………. 67 Sample Group 1 Criteria…………. 68 Sample 1 Search Protocol.
69 vi Chapter Page Sample Group 2 Criteria…………. 73 Sample 2 Search Protocol. 77 Data Collection Processes: College Art Foundations Course Descriptions…. 80 Phase 2: Web Research/Document Analysis…………………….
82 Chi-Square Tests………………………. 84 Content Analysis Validity……………. 89 Summary of Collected Data……………………. 90 Content Analysis Coding…………………….……………… 91 Findings: Sub-Question (a)………………………………….
95 Findings: Sub-Question (b)………………. 97 Findings: Sub-Question (c)…………………………………. 99 vii Chapter Page Results for “Type” and “Region”: Formal (FF)………….………………… 99 Results for “Type” and “Region”: Technical (TT)………….……………… 101 Results for “Type” and “Region”: Conceptual (CC)………….…………… 101 Sub-Question (c) Findings: Interaction Effects………………………. 102 Results for “Type” and “Region” with Interaction: Formal (FF)………….… 102 Results for “Type” and “Region” with Interaction: Technical (TT)………… 103 Chi-square test for curriculum type (F/T/C/FT/FC/TC/FTC) by “Region”………….
INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS………………………….…… 109 Organization of the Chapter.… 110 Interpretation of the Findings. 110 Similar Results between State and Private Colleges……………………. 111 Regional Differences in Conceptual Language……………………….… 115 Cause of Regional Differences……………………. 115 viii Chapter Page Curriculum Models….…… 121 A Rancièrian Theoretical Curriculum Model……………….……………… 122 A Foucaultian Theoretical Curriculum Model……………….……… 126 A Deweyan Theoretical Curriculum Model………………………………… 129 Towards a Democratic Post-Modern Curriculum Model…………………… 132 Building a Spiral Curriculum…………….… 137 Suggestions for Future Research…………………………….
154 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Definitions of Categories…………………………………………. Example Index of College and University Collected Information……………. Sample of Sorted Data…………………………….
Variables Used for Comparisons and Format of Results……………………. Codes for Curriculum Types……………………………. Public Colleges Results……………………………. Private Nonprofit Art Colleges Results………………………….
Public and Private Colleges Combined Results……………………………. Sample Group 1: Public Colleges and Universities With Largest Population per State Offering Visual Art-Related Bachelor Degrees With NASAD or Regional Accreditation………………………………………………………………. Sample Group 2 : Chart of Private Nonprofit Schools With Bachelor’s-Level Art Programs by State With NASAD or Regional Accreditation…………………………… 160 C1. Raw Data Counts: Public Schools…………………………….
Raw Data Counts: Private Schools……………………………. Region 1-Northeast: PUBLIC COLLEGES: 9 STATES/9 COLLEGES…. Region 1-Northeast: PRIVATE COLLEGES: 9 STATES/9 COLLEGES…. Region 2-Midwest: PUBLIC COLLEGES-12 STATES/12 COLLEGES…….
Region 2-Midwest: PRIVATE COLLEGES-12 STATES/12 COLLEGES………… 186 x Table Page E5. Region 3-South: PUBLIC COLLEGES- 17 STATES/ 17 COLLEGES…. Region 3-South: PRIVATE COLLEGES- 17 STATES/ 16 COLLEGES…. Region 4-West: PUBLIC COLLEGES-13 STATES/13 COLLEGES…….
Region 4-West: PRIVATE COLLEGES-13 STATES/9 COLLEGES…. Presence of Formal (FF) Curriculum……………………………………. Type 3 Analysis of Effects for FF Probability…………………………. Analysis of Maximum Likelihood Estimates for FF…………………….
Contrast Estimation and Testing Results by Row for FF………………. Type 3 Analysis of Effects for TT Probability…………………………. Analysis of Maximum Likelihood Estimates for TT……………………. Contrast Estimation and Testing Results by Row for TT……………….
Type 3 Analysis of Effects for CC Probability…………………………. Analysis of Maximum Likelihood Estimates for CC………………………. Contrast Estimation and Testing Results by Row for CC…………………. Type 3 Analysis of Effects for FF………………………………………….
Analysis of Maximum Likelihood Estimates for FF With Parameter Intercept…… 197 F13. Contrast Estimation and Testing Results by Row for FF Regional Comparison. Type 3 Analysis of Effects: Wald Chi-Square Probability Modeled is TT=1…. Analysis of Maximum Likelihood Estimates for TT With Parameter Intercept…… 199 F16.
Contrast Estimation and Testing Results by Row for TT Regional Comparison. Type 3 Analysis of Effects: Conceptual Probability modeled is CC=1.……… 200 xi Table Page F18. Analysis of Maximum Likelihood Estimates for CC With Parameter Intercept. Contrast Estimation and Testing Results by Row for CC Regional Comparison.
Midwest region, p-values………………………………………………. Northeast region, p-values…………………………………………………. South region, p-values…………………………………………………. West region, p-values………………………………………………….……… 211 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1.
Data collection procedural model………………………. Model of foundations curriculum for 97 colleges………………………………….…… 106 LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix Page A. SAMPLE GROUP 1: PUBLIC COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES WITH LARGEST POPULATION PER STATE OFFERING VISUAL ART-RELATED BACHELOR DEGREES WITH NASAD OR REGIONAL ACCREDITATION. SAMPLE GROUP 2: CHART OF PRIVATE NONPROFIT SCHOOLS WITH BACHELOR’S-LEVEL ART PROGRAMS BY STATE WITH NASAD OR REGIONAL ACCREDITATION……………………………….
RAW DATA COUNTS: PUBLIC SCHOOLS. RAW DATA COUNTS: PRIVATE SCHOOLS. RAW COUNTS OF REGIONS WITH PERCENTAGES……………. UNITED STATES PRESIDENTIAL VOTING RESULTS BY REGION.
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION In the visual arts, art foundations represents a common practice in higher education of baseline requirements for bachelor’s degrees. Delivered in the first year of college instruction for art, design, and art education majors, these introductory courses are meant to train students to use and master fundamental visual and technical skills when creating and critiquing artwork. These ideas are generally rooted in the concept of formalism, a “twentieth-century theory of art that privileges considerations of compositional elements and principles above all else: Subject matter, narrative, symbolism, cultural, political and religious references are deemed distracting, irrelevant, and to be ignored” (Barrett, 2011, p. Thus, from a formalist perspective, visual qualities of art are universal, discoverable, and applicable to all visual art, regardless of culture and time-period.
Therefore, they offer great appeal as a series of entry level courses to the discipline of visual art. Formalism was heavily influenced by well-known early 20th century art critics Clive Bell and Roger Fry. Bell (1913) and Fry (1909) contended that viewers’ aesthetic experiences occur only when their minds are unencumbered by reality, where, unhinged by the drudgery of daily life, the mind may freely open to an emotional sensibility, which fosters aesthetic experiences. The life of the artist and the viewer, the story of the work, the cultural connectivity, or the visual narrative is irrelevant and is, in fact, distracting from the artwork 2 itself.
Only through arranging the visual qualities of art in specific, universally pleasing ways can one’s imagination experience the power of the true aesthetic experience. Artists must learn and apply these visual rules to their works to reach their singular purpose of using these principles correctly to elevate the viewers’ emotions to a heightened state of perception. All art, no matter what culture or time-period, can be analyzed according to these visual qualities, often referred to as the elements and principles of design (Bell; Fry). As historian Arthur Efland (1987) explains in his landmark study of the curricular evolution of art education, in 1919, Germany’s Bauhaus School of Design formalized college freshman level curriculum based in part on the formalist ideal that compositional excellence and technical skills are basic and universal in visual art.
The Bauhaus’s “first year course” curriculum focused on repeatedly practicing exercises to strengthen the art students’ mastery of these visual and technical skills. Once teachers from the Bauhaus School, forced out of Germany by the Nazi regime, relocated to faculty positions in the United States, this curriculum gained widespread popularity in college art programs. The term foundations was ultimately adopted by college art departments to reference the idea that this curriculum teaches aspiring artists the fundamental basic universals needed to effectively master their craft. Almost 100 years later, first-year art students continue to learn these universal compositional and technical skills, demonstrating the firmly rooted influence of formalism on college art foundations curricula.
Formalism has been critiqued for purposely divorcing art from daily life and denying the relevance of subject matter and cultural context on art. For example, leaders and scholars in the field of art education argue that “the purpose for teaching art is to contribute to the 3 understanding of the social and cultural landscape that all individuals inhabit” (Efland, Freedman, & Stuhr, 1996, p. Furthermore, the National Art Education Association’s (NAEA, 2013/14) standards for art teacher preparation agree that teacher education programs in the visual arts should teach teachers how to help students, “Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art” (Anchor Statement #10), and “Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural and historical context to deepen understanding” (National Visual Arts Standards, 2014). Within this context based conception of art education, art is intrinsically tied to the time it is created, the culture it is within, and the experience of the artist or community from which it comes.
The formalist model firmly ignores experience, context, and culturally imbedded meanings within art works and can thus fail to address the needs of today’s art students who tend to prefer to view the world through personal and social contexts to contribute relevant ideas to our culture. If instruction in the visual arts is to be relevant to a broad number of students, and not an arcane set of skills that only a select few have the interest to master, then art foundations practitioners cannot continue supporting a curriculum that disconnects art from lived experiences. To remain relevant to contemporary students, art foundations curriculum must evolve to include a multiplicity of perspectives, aesthetic judgments, varied forms, and contextual meanings. While some colleges have taken steps to re-imagine the foundations curriculum, it is unclear how prevalent these changes are.
Further, there is little research on the extent of the impact that formalism, or other art education theories, has on the current foundations curriculum. The lingering impact of formalism is anecdotal. This study seeks to fill this gap in research through an examination of written data gained by gathering foundations course 4 descriptions. The purpose of this study was to compare foundations course descriptions among state and private art colleges in the U.
to examine evidence of art theories within written course curriculum. This study resulted in an empirical research foundation and theoretical framework for an integrated, postmodern approach to art foundations written curriculum in higher education art programs.