What can a fish teach us? Well, if you are working with Gateway to the Arts’ teaching artist Wendy Osher, a creative exploration of “fishiness” can teach quite a bit about engaging students through arts integration.
Wendy recently led a half-day professional development in-service with the K-12 art, music and physical education specialists from the Wilkinsburg School District. Their afternoon began with a hands-on/”fins”-on experiential exploration – actions that initially left some teachers with a few raised eyebrows and others anxious about their own “artsy” and aquatic abilities.
Yet, as Wendy led them through activities that included brainstorming their personal associations with fish, painting their paper-covered tables with expressive watercolors inspired by Debussy’s La Mer (The Sea), drawing of fish from memory, and then drawing with a live Betta Siamese fighting fish as a model, the educators embraced the exercises, later citing how surprised they were at how much they enjoyed and gained from the in-service.
The techniques Wendy used are designed to aid in deriving personal meaning from a work of art—in this case, the wood block print File Fish by Ohno Bakufu (generously donated by Joy Borelli-Edwards of the Borelli-Edwards Gallery in Lawrenceville). Using an essential overarching question, Wendy led the teachers through activities leading up to the careful attending to (observation) Bakufu’s File Fish. The educators then made their own fish prints before observing the work of art for a second time—at this point having a personal understanding of the painstaking artistic process involved in creating a masterful print. Through all of these activities, the educators were experiencing how Inquiry, Art-making, Attending, Context and Reflection—the core elements of Gateway’s Arts in Education Partnership —provide a framework for presenting (using) a work of art as a text for learning. Known as aesthetic education, this process of arts integration is based on the renowned Lincoln Center Institute model that began in New York City in the 1970s.
“Wendy Osher's workshop was hands-down the BEST, and most meaningful workshop that I have ever participated in,” said participant Barb Beadle “It was relevant—exciting and above all FUN for all who attended!”
It’s precisely this reaction—the excitement, inspiration and sharing of tools you can use—that makes arts integration so successful for students of all ages. These creative teaching and learning strategies help students sharpen their abilities to observe, analyze and interpret through active learning focused on an anchor work of art. Benefits include cross-cultural awareness, tolerance for the viewpoints of others and development of higher order thinking skills.