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Department: The Department of Art Education Abstract:
My interest in the transformative potential of creativity has come about through my experience in the areas of artmaking and
art-education. Over the years certain recurring issues and their inter-relation continue to fascinate me creatively and pedagogically.
As
an artist I have noticed maladies of the profession such as melancholia, depression, despair, loneliness, and the death drive which
are
counterbalanced in part by some enduring and redemptive quality in the creative process. As an educator I have encountered the art
student
suffering from ´unusual moods´ that supersede the simplicity of visual problems and listened to colleages interpretations or
frustrations
when faced with the difficulticulties of ´mental illness´ in the pedagogical encounter. I have heard artists dismiss teachers lacking
personal insight into the inherent anxiety integral to creativity, while others claim inner turmoil as irrelevant to purely aesthetic
considerations and training. It seems many educators thread a fine line between over involvement with their students mental health , or
the
alternative of abandoning students to their fate, as they feel inadequately trained to tackle what are essentially psychological
problems.
Mental illness, breakdown, substance addiction and suicide persist as hazards, even inevitable expectations within the creative
professions.
Recurring psychological difficulties amongst students frequently place the art-educator in a postition where s/he is faced with
demands
that far exceed the boundaries of regular pedagogical training. When the art teacher/mentor occupies an important formative role in
development of the artistic personality should s/he be more adequately prepared to meet more than the aesthetic problems of the
student?
Materials: Printed document |