STAR-POST (Art) January 2020 FINAL_STAR Post Art Jan 2020 | Page 76

Grace Cheng’s work Moonrise in aedge
2019 surfaced her experiences juggling
motherhood and teaching work and
expresses art making as a form of
escapism.
above of their teaching work, not just by colleagues but also by themselves.
While the teacher-artist model creates a win-win situation for an individual’s
personal development, it also becomes a burden to bear.
In order to resolve these challenges, I propose that the definition of an “art
practice” could be reimagined in a way that is infused into, rather than on
top of the teaching practice. What does it mean to practice? Our current
frame of art practice is production-focused and revolves around individual
expression through art objects . Yet in Postmodernism, where the death
of painting and sculpture gives way to conceptual and socially-engaged
art making processes, perhaps the act of teaching art in itself has already
become an artistic action. Joseph Beuys once exclaimed, “Teaching is
my greatest work of art.” In teaching students how to think about art, art
teachers are modelling not just how to be an artist, but also how to be an
art critic, a theorist, an appreciator and more. This transmission of artistic
disposition can be seen as a way to practise art. By reframing how we look
at art, de Duve’s predictions might already be a reality.
References:
Day, M. (1986). “Artist-Teacher: A Problematic Model for Art Education”: The
Journal of Aesthetic Education. 20(4), 38-42.
Lynn, D. (2017). “Art Teachers’ Perceptions of the Relationship between
Personal Artistic Creative Work and the Practice of Teaching”: Educational
Studies Dissertations. 126.
Smith, W. (1970). “The Teacher as Artist”: The Journal of General Education.
22(3), 209-211.
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A semicolon is used to join 2 or more ideas (parts) in a sentence, indicating that
those ideas are of equal position or rank. In the context of a;edge 2020, the
semicolon signifies giving equal importance to both traditional and contemporary
art forms. It also shows how the art forms can come about together seamlessly to
create a new form of artistic expression. How they might, when combined, birth a
new and more meaningful idea that reflects the lived experience of our time.
a;edge 2020 will be on view at the SOTA Art Gallery between 4 to 13 Mar 2020.
This exhibition is brought to you by our team of art teachers!
Guest Curator Tan Wee Lit Teacher-Curators Zaki Zulfakar Ang Kok Yeow
Teacher-Programme
Managers Tan Shun Ru Lee Gim Fang
Teacher-Designers Muhammad Razali Poh Shu Hui
Visual Arts Faculty,
SOTA
Lead Teacher (Art)
Marsiling Sec
Art Teacher
Xinmin Sec
Assistant Year Head
CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ Sch (Sec)
Art Teacher
Zhenghua Pri
Subject Head
Lianhua Pri
Art Teacher
St. Stephen’s School
There will also be a series of teacher-led programmes such as curators’ tour,
sharing of artistic processes and art-making sessions lined up. Register your
interest with this LINK and look out for more details on our a|edge Facebook page!
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