Todd Johnson

2.26 On Crafting the Visual Response (Paper)

Todd Johnson – Webb School of Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

Abstract:

In this session I consider how encounters with art afford one an opportunity to construct meaning. Emphasis will be placed on the importance of the individual response to an art stimulus. Accordingly, this understanding will provide the foundation for how one articulates curriculum and instruction. Special attention will be placed on teaching artists and choice-based programming. I begin with a consideration of Andy Warhol from two diametrically opposed art world luminaries. The acclaimed critic Peter Schjeldahl writes eloquently of his love for Warhol’s ability to “clarify the age,” while the equally celebrated painter Sean Scully argues vociferously that Warhol is “a blinking sign that says nothing except ‘I want to be famous.’” Can each be right? Can one opinion be held above another? In doing so, does one diminish an appreciation of the other? What if I, an artworld satellite, were to hold still a third opinion? I contemplate this dialectic through the lens of Alva Noe’s contention that art “is not simply available; it is achieved rather than given.” Thus, it is in our attending to art that we enact its Latin root meaning “to stretch out toward.” Indeed, one must give oneself over to the art experience if one is to transform one’s own consciousness. The dilemma for the art educator then is how to structure the art experience to allow for undidactic meaning making. To do so I argue that the art educator must be more than simply that – they must ALSO be an artist. I conclude then by considering how it is that art making parallels the process of constructing meaning while simultaneously acknowledging one is not in total control of the messaging.