This blog on Texas education contains posts on higher education, as well as preK-12 policy accountability, testing, bilingual education, immigration, school finance, race, class, and gender issues at both the state and national level. It also represents my digital footprint, of life and career, as a community-engaged scholar in Texas.
Simply beautiful. "Art and Activism" will get taught this spring by Dr. Isabel Millan at Kansas State University. This would be a great class in the context of a Mexican American/ethnic studies class. Art and Activism always go hand in hand. Inspired... Angela
We have so much talent in Texas. I'm happy to share these images and story by and about Dr. Santa Barraza, respectively, that appear in the Javelina Today, the Magazine of Texas A & M University-Kingsville.
She is the quintessential Tejana artist and teacher, widely respected for her many contributions, most especially her artistic representations of indigenous, pre-Columbian icons, themes, and folklore.
To these, I add a photo I took of one of her pieces in a colleague's home in California that graces her living room wall.
Thank you, Santa, for your inspirational work that continues to enrich, deepen, and nourish our sense of selves as people native to this continent, to these very lands that we have inhabited for literally hundreds of years.
I hope that someday UNESCO will recognize the unparalleled strength, beauty, and power of your work as a World Heritage contribution to humanity.
Harvard professor Ellen Winner is featured in this piece on the importance of the arts in education. I think that this is a beginning, important statement that arts are important to culture regardless of any "non-arts" benefits and that all civilizations are prized on the basis of their art. Dr. Winner further makes the "creative class" argument, if you will, that art engenders the "artistic creators of the
future," as well as the "innovative leaders."
These are good liberal arguments, but there are clearly other important concerns. Let's start with equity. Arts for the wealthy is not in jeopardy while the arts for the poor and disenfranchised is. Another is fairness. Art by the poor frequently gets appropriated (stolen) and monetized by the wealthy, undermining the productions of community artists. Relatedly, identity and representation, and thusly, power, politics, and cultural integrityare profoundly at play.
To justify the arts in liberal terms, risks their portrayal as a luxury when for our communities, these looming issues of equity and fairness make them squarely about survival as our Austin Chican@/Latin@ artists and community are often quick to note. That is, when your community is constantly subjected to marginalizing forces like gentrification, job insecurity, and poverty, artistic productions are a meaningful, historic way to find a place on the seemingly always contested American landscape and in so doing, to write oneself into history in a way that both honors this heritage and renders it visible, complex, and powerful. Much to consider here.I am happy, in any case, to at least see some attention accorded to this matter, particularly when our arts programs (like physical education) in many of our low-income schools are getting abolished. This tragedy of policy, politics, and political will symbolizes the ways in which so many of our children are systematically deprived of essential content areas like the arts that breathe identity, intellectual depth, and a sense of what it means to be human, into the curriculum. For all of this, too, we must continue to struggle.
"Cultures are judged on the basis of their arts; and most cultures and
most historical eras have not doubted the importance of studying the
arts. Let's assume then, that the arts should be a part of every child's
education and that they are given serious treatment as is the case with
mathematics, or history, or biology. Let's remember why societies have
always included the arts in every child's education. The reason is
simple. The arts are a fundamentally important part of culture, and an
education without them is an impoverished education, leading to an
impoverished society. Studying the arts should not have to be justified.
The arts are as important as the sciences: they are time-honoured ways
of learning, knowing, and expressing." -- Ellen Winner, Lois Hetland et
all, "The Arts and Academic Achievement"
With the sciences increasingly gaining in importance, this is an
interesting juncture in which to review the state of the arts in
education, along with their importance, relevance and influence on
students.
"When schools cut short the time reserved for the arts
and reallocate the time for some other 'important' subject, they may not
just be losing their ability to produce the artistic creators of the
future, but also innovative leaders who can improve upon the world they
have inherited," say Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland, both experts on arts education.
What
is the role of the arts in moulding a person? The question assumes
great significance today in the backdrop of a culture - including in
India -- in which arts are seen as unimportant, perhaps even a waste of
time, as compared to 'strategic' subjects. This trend has raised the
hackles of education experts across the world, who argue that arts can
indeed contribute tremendously to the overall development of a student
and should not be ignored at any cost.
According to research, students who study the arts show improvement in
their capabilities in other areas as well, including in the sciences,
math and reading.
According to various research studies, students who study the arts show improvement in their capabilities in other areas as well,
including in the sciences, math and reading. Practicing the arts
develop imagination, innovative thinking and creativity, thus adding
value to non-arts academic outcomes as well.
However, experts
like Ellen Winner point out that it is dangerous to classify arts
education as secondary or supplementary in comparison with the "super"
non-arts subjects. Doing so puts the arts in a weakened and vulnerable
position.
"Arts educators must build justifications on the
relevance and significance of these subjects based on what is inherently
valuable about the arts, even when they contribute secondary benefits
other than purposeful orientation. Just as we do not (and cannot)
downgrade history and overrate mathematics, we must not allow
policy-makers to justify the isolation or inclusion of the arts for the
sake of other academic subject matters," Winner says.
According to
Winner, the arts are the only school subjects that have been challenged
to demonstrate their usefulness. If we deprioritize physical education
and give more attention to science, the results will only prove to be
detrimental. Perhaps, with more attention to the potential of the arts
to foster transfer (of knowledge applicability in other spheres), we can
begin to understand their importance better. But even when the
relationships are understood, the justification for arts programmes must
be based on their inherent merit.
Image: www.ellenwinner.com
The arts are good for our children, irrespective of any non-arts
benefits. They must be considered as an integral part of a well-rounded
education.
The
arts can help a person cultivate a way of thinking that is not possible
in other disciplines. The same might be said of athletics. What if
coaches begin to claim that playing baseball increases students'
mathematical ability because of the complex score- keeping methodology?
Once researchers put such a claim to test, they will only find that it
doesn't hold true. In such a scenario, would school boards take a hard
stand against baseball by cutting the budget for the game? Of course
not. Because irrespective of the positive academic effects of baseball
on students, schools believe sports are inherently good for kids.
We
should make the same argument for the arts: the arts are good for our
children, irrespective of any non-arts benefits. They must be considered
as an integral part of a well-rounded education.
Winner sums it up best in the paper "The Arts and Academic Achievement":
"Let's bet on history. Of course, we do not know for sure what is the
best education for children to ensure that they will grow up to lead
productive and happy lives. But the arts have been around longer than
the sciences; cultures are judged on the basis of their arts; and most
cultures and most historical eras have not doubted the importance of
studying the arts.
Let's assume then, that the arts should be a
part of every child's education and that they are given serious
treatment as is the case with mathematics, or history, or biology. Let's
remember why societies have always included the arts in every child's
education. The reason is simple. The arts are a fundamentally important
part of culture, and an education without them is an impoverished
education, leading to an impoverished society. Studying the arts should
not have to be justified in terms of anything else. The arts are as
important as the sciences: they are time-honoured ways of learning,
knowing, and expressing."
A version of this article was published in Education Insider magazine
"Icons and Symbols of the Borderlands" is one of the most powerful art exhibits I've ever seen. Hats off to curator and former Austin-ite, Diana Molina, for doing such an excellent job in pulling all of this exquisite, hard-hitting work together.
The exhibit is at the Centennial Museum at the University of Texas El Paso and runs through January 16, 2016. Among the featured artists are Cesar Martinez, Antonio Castro, Margarita Cabrera, Mery Godigna Collet, Delilah Montoya, Benito Huerta, Richard Armendariz, Delilah Montoya, Andy Villarreal, Lydia Limas, Oscar Moya, Luis Gutierrez, and Diana Molina herself.
Read below the El Paso Times review of the exhibit.
Luis Carlos Lopez , El Paso Times 12:37 a.m. MDT October 4, 2015
The Rio Grande. La Virgen de Guadalupe. Pancho Villa. Matachines.
Some
images have shaped the El Paso region throughout its history,
says artist Diana Molina, curator of the upcoming Juntos Art
Association exhibit “Icons and Symbols of the Borderlands.”
“Who
are those cultural figures that we've seen and we've grown up with?" she
asked as she surveyed some of the art that will be featured at the
Centennial Museum and the Chihuahuan Desert Gardens at the University of
Texas at El Paso.
"The artworks are symbols of the Borderland," Molina said. "They reach across time and across continent."
More
than 60 pieces will be on display for the “Icons and Symbols of the
Borderlands” show. They will be available for purchase, with prices
ranging from $800 to $10,000.
Molina,
who is executive director of Juntos, used one of her own paintings —
one that combines the flow of the Rio Grande with green and
gold color — to illustrate that the exhibit is meant to represent the
broader history of the border region, from the arrival of the Spanish to
the importance that religion and landscape play in the shaping of the
region's identity.
Her "Serape XX" is a collage using of what she called basura, trash
— discarded beer labels and candy wrappers. "Some people see the
river," Molina said, pointing to the stream of Dos Equis wraps. "It's
just an abstract depiction. People see many different things in it."
The piece is listed to sell for $7,700.
Among
other noted artists in the exhibit are César Martínez and Gaspar
Enríquez. Some of the artists will talk about their work
before an opening reception Oct. 10.
The exhibit will be on
display through Jan. 16 at UTEP's Centennial Museum. It will feature
artists from the Juntos Art Association, which was founded in 1985
and aims to promote cultural awareness through the arts.
“I’m excited more now than with any Juntos shows that I’ve ever been involved in,” Molina said.
The
exhibit will feature a lecture series from October through December.
They will offer short films and themed discussions on topics such as
“Día de los Muertos” and “La Virgen de Guadalupe.”
"Our
museum serves many different functions. First and foremost it's a
natural history museum of the Chihuahuan Desert, so that's what our
permanent galleries are about. With our changing galleries, we do like
to focus on border life and culture as well as the Chihuahuan Desert,"
said Maribel Villalba, Centennial Museum director.
"This show was a wonderful opportunity for us to showcase the border life and culture."
Luis Carlos Lopez may be reached at 546-6381; lclopez@gannett.com; @lclopez4 on Twitter
I just returned from Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico and feel inspired to share this video and a few thoughts.
This is theEstudiantina de Guanajuato. The troubador tradition began in the late middle ages in Europe and this is perhaps the first or only of its kind on the American continent. They sing songs of chivalry and courtly love that so much of Mexican music like "Cielito Lindo" sung here, lends itself well to. From what I recall living here in 2007-08, they perform at least once a week here in the center of the city after which like Pied Pipers of Hamelin, they walk, play guitar, and sing from here up the callejones or passageways or alleys on stone, cobbled streets that extend upwards into the city. This is called la callejonada and is quite a physical challenge.
Essentially, the center of town is the lowest point of the city with the rest of the city elevated, nestled in a mountain. I've seen callejonadas easily to the tune of 50 or more students and young people, generally, that assemble organically and in the moment to celebrate life, song, and tradition. Such joy and happiness is expressed and regularly shared with all and adds magic to Guanajuato's overall picturesque beauty. Worthy of note is that some of Mexico's greatest, world renowned artists, including Diego Rivera, Javier Solis, and Jose Alfredo Jimenez come from Guanajuato.
Beginning this coming weekend is the much-anticipated Festival Cervantino that takes place annually in Guanajuato over a three-week time period in one of the world's greatest arts, music, theater, and dance festivals. It is attended by thousands that emanate from all over the world. The Cervantino is always breathtaking and an organizational feat for a program that always promises to be of very high caliber in and of itself. (Note: If you don't understand Spanish, go to this link in Google and get a translation).
As I think of the role and importance of art in our lives—and specifically, the passion for the arts that Guanajuato embodies and gifts to the world—I am reminded of its potential to promote both unity in diversity and a shared sense of humanity that suspends at least for the moment, the craziness of a world that often seems to be out of control.
I just came across this really nice piece (see below) on Guanajuato from the San Francisco Chronicle that captures well what makes Guanajuato so special. Put Guanajuato on your bucket list. You will not be disappointed. Angela Valenzuela c/s
Squished
in the Sierra Madre northwest of Mexico City, Guanajuato was once the
wealthiest city in Mexico. Spanish conquistadors arrived soon after
taking Mexico City, drawn by endless veins of silver in the hills
surrounding a narrow, serpentine valley.
As in nearby San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato retains its colonial-era beauty, albeit on a less manicured scale.
