My activism for the day
Sandra Doyle
On Tuesday I spent the morning with my niece's 5th grade class at the
Academy of Fine Arts in Philly. Unfortunately, they had very little time
there, but the guides were doing their best to fit in all the art lessons.
While with the class in one gallery, the guide pointed out an abstract
painting. She mentioned that it was about people standing around at a
party discussing art. She asked them to figure out what was different
about this painting as opposed to a more realistic painting of people.
The kids were making guesses and I asked "What do these people look like?"
(the artist had made all the people rather grotesque looking) One kid
piped up "They're ugly", another then added "And fat!"
"Does being fat make them ugly?" I asked. "No. The men in the painting are
ugly but they're not fat. In some cultures, and in past times, being
fat was a sign of wealth and prosperity. It was considered sexy and
feminine for women to be this big. So, the artist was using fat women
in this painting to represent wealth. He made all of them ugly to help
demonstrate his feelings about these people who talk about art and really
don't know anything about it."
Hopefully I communicated this well enough. One other thing I noticed, many
of these kids are likely not exposed very much to art. I saw some girls
giggling and blushing when they spotted a nude. My niece doesn't do this,
perhaps because she's being going to museums all her life with me & her
mom. Anyway, I'm just wondering how these kids got so conservative. Do
we, as adults, do that to them?
Sandra
Zenoink
In <5997bj$n...@netnews.upenn.edu> sdo...@mail1.sas.upenn.edu (Sandra Doyle)
writes:
Good for you, Sandra! It's great you had the chance to speak up here
and had the nerve to do so! I wonder what the guide would have said
without you there.
As for blushing and giggling around nudes, I think this is pretty
common for this age group, especially when IN a group! They are
starting to experience their bodies differently (starting to mature,
starting to be given "dances" by the school, even, but they are still
very young.)
My son is a sixth grader now and trying to be sophisticated. He's
certainly seen a number of art exhibits over the years, including some
nudes. But in a group setting, anything that hints of "sex" is still a
big giggle. It's like everyone is waiting for the others to define the
situation for them and none of the kids wants to take the risk of
defining sex as okay (somehow it is safer to laugh or be disapproving).
That's why it is important for there to be reasonable and responsible
adults around.
Kay