On planning my object based micro-teaching session, I began reflecting on the conversations and ideas I’d had on the course so far and decided to highlight 2 things. Something I’d learnt from my MA – the conversations with peers throughout a course are always the most memorable part. Secondly, how can I best use my visual arts experience to teach when aesthetics are seemingly unimportant?
I have begun to read about Kant’s theory of aesthetics triggered by one of the reading materials 1, this is definitely an area of research I’d like to pursue. Through the endless administrative and formulaic feedback, it’s difficult to locate where my experience as an illustrator has any use on an illustration course. However, if I were to go by Kant’s theory:
“In order to play the judge in matters of taste, we must not be in the least biased in favor of the thing’s existence but must be wholly indifferent about it” 2
…would he argue my experience would act as nothing more than irrelevant bias? Although I agree in terms of values of communication something has to be said for awareness of industry expectations? My approach to the PGCert so far is to remain Socratic to instigate useful conversation therefore querying this with my peers could be a useful start.
How could I instigate this conversation around an object though? My initial idea was using a DVD case. By listing its uses as an object, you could potentially list the use of its contents (film / entertainment / education / gaming etc etc) and eventually, potentially visual culture as a whole? However, I also ran the risk of it turning into a ‘101 Uses For A Dead Cat’ 3 territory, so the idea was abandoned.
I was recently very impressed by a student citing her body as a geographical site of study. Inspired by this non-linear approach I opted for simply ‘conversation’ as my object. Specifically, a conversation prompted by my previous enquiry: What is the value of my experience as a practitioner in visual culture if aesthetics are purely subjective?
Throughout all my teaching practice, even in schools, I believe the most useful opportunities for learning have come from more casual one-to-one conversations. The best ideas come in moments of ‘positive constructive daydreaming’ 4 i.e., times when you are most relaxed. So, it stands to reason relaxing the structure and hierarchy of an activity can sometimes instigate more creative outcomes. It’s easy to overlook how for some students the studio environment can sometimes be a place of stress that is actually detrimental to their creativity.
In practice, the activity I believe was relatively successful. It was definitely more useful for members of the group with experience in assessment and from a visual practitioner’s background. As a starting activity for opening up this area of study overall it was an interesting start as I had no real expectations as to how it would go.
Bibliography
1: Callender, J.S. (2005). The Role of Aesthetic Judgments in Psychotherapy. Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, 12(4), pp.283–295.
2: Kant, I. (2018). Critique Of Judgement. S.L.: A & D Publishing.
3: Bond, S. (1988). 101 Uses for a Dead Cat. Potter Style.
4: Singer, S.B.K. and J.L. (n.d.). The Origins of Positive-Constructive Daydreaming. [online] Scientific American Blog Network. Available at: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/the-origins-of-positive-constructive-daydreaming/.