Bayview Beach Resort, Batu Ferringhi Beach, Penang, Malaysia

27-30 September 1999

Whatever Happened to the 26th Bee? (A discovery of individual art thought.)

Adele Flood

FELCS/SECE, RMIT, Melbourne, Victoria

Abstract

The fundamental importance of art is that it echoes or reflects the natural world of which we are a part. It allows direct unselfconscious experiences; experiences that involve reflective selfconsciousness, language symbolisation and abstraction. Dewey believed that artistic perception and understanding are rooted in human convention and values:

No matter how ardently the artist might desire it, he cannot divest himself of meanings funded from his past intercourse with his surroundings, nor can he free himself from the influence they exert upon the substance and manner of his present seeing (1934).

It is generally accepted that feeling and knowing are both central to the creative process and the emotions we feel will impart particular understandings of the situations. Because feelings may be inappropriate the maker must learn when to trust them. The maker will be required to exercise judgment and often will be required to reject or accept elements from within the selected symbolic representation. Knowing involves the direct interaction of the maker with the environment and the re interpretation of that environment into a pictorial form which will contain meaning for the viewer. 'Instead of straining too hard to discover his inner self, the student should objectively study the outside world.' (Ehrensweig, p142.1967)

Current ideologies have a tendency to remove the human element from learning. Somehow we have lost sight that behind the product is a thinking and feeling human being.
Education should focus on the child (or any learner) as the organiser of their own learning with the teacher a facilitator in this process or journey of discovery. This paper will illustrate how the visual arts provide the opportunity for all learners to express and explore the world in creative and exciting ways.