Art Is Messy

Living and teaching in Asia painfully reminds me of how inadequate my knowledge of non-western art is. I can rattle off movements and artists from Europe and the Americas without blinking an eye, but given the same challenge with non-Western art, nothing but the sound of silence would fill the air.

While it is impossible for art teachers to cover art created by all the peoples of the world over thousands of years in their classrooms, I do think it is our responsibility to make more of an effort. Often times, art from places such as Africa, Asia, and the Middle East are included in the curriculum as “special multicultural units.” While this is a noble attempt to expand our students’ knowledge of art, it simply doesn’t cut it. Art from areas such as the ones mentioned above should be incorporated into all lessons done throughout the year. Wouldn’t a lesson on landscape painting be more effective if students compared and contrasted  European and Asia images of nature? How might a student’s understanding of pattern might change after looking at textiles from America and Africa?

In order to start filling in the holes of my own art knowledge, I am starting to compile a list of online resources. Seeing I live in China, my stop is Asian art. I came across a link to San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum on the Asian Region Art Educators website and thought this was a great site to share. The museum’s education section has a series of very informative and very free PDFs on art from all over Asia. They are worth checking out.

If anyone has other good Asian art resources, please send me the link and I will post it to this site for others to see.

This weather this past weekend was almost picture perfect. The fall air was crisp and cool. The sky was kind of blue. Not too shabby for a November weekend in Shanghai. David and I couldn’t let this weather go to waste so we set out to explore some of Shanghai’s contemporary art scene. We stopped in the M97 gallery on Moganshan Lu. This contemporary photography gallery is always a joy to visit. Their current show is called the Esquisite Corpse. It’s a photographic play on the famouse Surrealist game. Each photograph is linked to the photos next to it by some sort of visual element. It’s a good sampling of well known and up and coming Chinese photographers. I am particulary fond of Jiang Zhi, Lu Jun, and Yang Yi. I also really like the works of James Whitlo Delano.

In addition to the work, I absolutely love Steven, the gallery owner. He always spends a tremendous amount of time talking to David and I about art and life in Shanghai-two of my favorite topics!

Sorry for the long delay in between posts! I have spent the last few days being a tourist in NYC. After living there for 12 years it felt *really* strange not to be a resident. When I lived there I used to get annoyed at tourists who would spend countless minutes desperately trying to decipher subway maps in hopes of reaching final destination. Now, I’m sad to say that I am slowly turning into them. It took me a few seconds to recall which train to take to get to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. My New Yorker membership card should be revoked.

Despite the slight brain hiccup, getting to the Met was like riding a bike. When I walked in I was immediately greeted by familiar sights: the Greek and Roman sculptures, African carvings and Modernist paintings. In addition to my old favorites they had two special exhibits that I absolutely loved: Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy and J.M.W. Turner.

First, the fashion. I really loved this show! In addition to having the original costumes worn by the actors and actresses who played Spiderman, Superman and Cat Woman (by the way, Michelle Pfeiffer’s costume was TINY!), they also had avant guard fashion designers’ take on the superhero body. Designers addressed such issues as the mutant body, the graphic body, and the aerodynamic body, just to name a few. If you can’t make it to NYC, click here to read more about the show.

(Begin soap box speech here)…..I think incorporating comics into the art curriculum, while controversial to some, is a great way for kids to learn about art. All the formal art principles and elements are found in comics: movement, line, color, etc. By using a medium that addresses issues important to kids, it is my belief that students will be able to better access the work than if they were shown images that do not directly relate to their lives. (End soap box speech. Sorry about that!)

Now onto Turner! The Turner show at the Met is the first time that a large scale retrospective on the artist has ever been done in the States. The artwork that the Met showed were nothing short of stunning. As a long time admirer of Turner’s oil paintings, it was incredible to see his magnificent skies, complete with layers of pinks, blues, and yellows, up close and personal. His watercolors were equally as amazing. As a someone who loves the medium I would give anything to be able to paint with just a small fraction of his skill.

Before living in China I felt that I needed certain material things in order to be satisfied. Seeing how people live in impoverished communities throughout Asia has dramatically changed this viewpoint. When presented with limited resources, human do amazing and resourceful things.

The exhibit Design for the Other 90%, takes human ingenuity one step further. The Cooper-Hewitt describes the focus of the exhibit best:

“Of the world’s total population of 6.5 billion, 5.8 billion people, or 90%, have little or no access to most of the products and services many of us take for granted; in fact, nearly half do not have regular access to food, clean water, or shelter. Design for the Other 90% explores a growing movement among designers to design low-cost solutions for this “other 90%.” Through partnerships both local and global, individuals and organizations are finding unique ways to address the basic challenges of survival and progress faced by the world’s poor and marginalized.”

The show was originally exhibited at the Cooper-Hewitt in New York City, but is now currently at the Walker Art Center from May 24th to September 7th.

After reading about this exhibit I couldn’t help but think that this would be an incredible lesson for students of all ages to take part in. Not only does it provide a clear link between art and science, but it also addresses issue of social justice, race, and inequality.

I miss listening to public radio. Living in China you don’t have the opportunity to tune into your favorite episodes of Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me, This American Life, Speaking of Faith, or Prairie Home Companion while taking a leisurely Sunday afternoon drive. You miss so many interesting stories by not having a car. For example, if we weren’t driving up from Philly to visit family we would have missed Soterios Johnson’s piece about the Brooklyn Museum’s Coptic art collection. It turns out ONE THIRD of their collection is fake. So what is the Brooklyn Museum going to do about it? Have an exhibition of course. For those of you who like reading online articles click here for more information. For those of you who are auditory learners, check out the radio show.