This week I learned more about cyberNet art, visual literacy, and visual culture. In the Kiefer-Boyd chapter I was most struck by her student’s experience with using Ka-Ping Yee’s website that reverses gender terms and pronouns on any website. This student spent a day doing this same thing. She spent a class period switching pronouns and terms as she took notes and time referring to her friends using opposing gender words. At the end of her experiment she was amazed at how much gender factors into our world.
The Lin chapter focused on visual literacy and how it can be taught using technology. Lin communicated with three tech-savvy art teachers to see what they were doing with visual literacy. It turns out that although the teachers were accomplishing similar goals in their classroom in regards to visual literacy but without a predetermined agenda. They were taking a more holist approach using skill students had already retained. Lin now argues that the concept of being visually or digitally literate in a global age is far too vague to be properly understood or assessed.
Finally, Bode’s chapter told a story about her experience with the Secoya people of the Amazon Rainforest and how their visual culture has changed with their slow introduction into the western world. Thanks to western visitors like Bode the Secoya now take on a more western practice of painting their visual world on canvas, a western practice. Although their subject matter and style of painting is mostly individual to their culture the introduction of electricity brought from solar panels has given them television. Bode was surprised to find a teenager of the Sacoya painting images of the statue of liberty and superheroes as a result of this new technology. How much longer until these people begin to use cell phones and computers? How will their visual culture be further affected through this process?
All three of these chapters brought me some profound observations. I am inspired by the regender cyberNet art that brought to her student’s attention how much gender plays into our society. Who knew that simply flipping pronouns could change a person’s perspective on the world. What I like about this lesson is how simple yet involved it is. The task of taking something small for a day and changing it to see what happens can be a profound learning experience and could potentially lead to some interesting art making.
Lin’s observations about visual literacy and how it is being achieved without any learning objectives or evaluation is fascinating. Art Education, like visual literacy, is such a broad and complex field of study. Sometimes, despite our greatest efforts, it is better to take a more holist approach and let the students drive the instruction and see where they end up. The more criteria you present them sometimes means the less freedom to express themselves you give them.
Bode’s chapter was horrifying is a very subtle way. Here, we have a people being impacted by globalization despite their isolated location. Due to the oil industries lack of respect for nature their way of life has been negatively affected. They are brought shoes and other goods to try and prevent further to the oil seeping though their soil. On the other hand, they have electricity and TVs and require oil paint and canvas to make art. Oil paint? TV’s? How does that work? They are trying to fight the effects of the oil industry while taking in byproducts of that industry. It makes my head spin. What is really going on here? What about the jet fuel being burned for these westerners to come down to the Amazon to bring these people the goods they require?
Bode confesses: “To document the experiences reported in this chapter, I contributed to releasing 3.7 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from the Delta Airline plane on which I sat comfortably aboard, munching peanuts.“
The Lin chapter focused on visual literacy and how it can be taught using technology. Lin communicated with three tech-savvy art teachers to see what they were doing with visual literacy. It turns out that although the teachers were accomplishing similar goals in their classroom in regards to visual literacy but without a predetermined agenda. They were taking a more holist approach using skill students had already retained. Lin now argues that the concept of being visually or digitally literate in a global age is far too vague to be properly understood or assessed.
Finally, Bode’s chapter told a story about her experience with the Secoya people of the Amazon Rainforest and how their visual culture has changed with their slow introduction into the western world. Thanks to western visitors like Bode the Secoya now take on a more western practice of painting their visual world on canvas, a western practice. Although their subject matter and style of painting is mostly individual to their culture the introduction of electricity brought from solar panels has given them television. Bode was surprised to find a teenager of the Sacoya painting images of the statue of liberty and superheroes as a result of this new technology. How much longer until these people begin to use cell phones and computers? How will their visual culture be further affected through this process?
All three of these chapters brought me some profound observations. I am inspired by the regender cyberNet art that brought to her student’s attention how much gender plays into our society. Who knew that simply flipping pronouns could change a person’s perspective on the world. What I like about this lesson is how simple yet involved it is. The task of taking something small for a day and changing it to see what happens can be a profound learning experience and could potentially lead to some interesting art making.
Lin’s observations about visual literacy and how it is being achieved without any learning objectives or evaluation is fascinating. Art Education, like visual literacy, is such a broad and complex field of study. Sometimes, despite our greatest efforts, it is better to take a more holist approach and let the students drive the instruction and see where they end up. The more criteria you present them sometimes means the less freedom to express themselves you give them.
Bode’s chapter was horrifying is a very subtle way. Here, we have a people being impacted by globalization despite their isolated location. Due to the oil industries lack of respect for nature their way of life has been negatively affected. They are brought shoes and other goods to try and prevent further to the oil seeping though their soil. On the other hand, they have electricity and TVs and require oil paint and canvas to make art. Oil paint? TV’s? How does that work? They are trying to fight the effects of the oil industry while taking in byproducts of that industry. It makes my head spin. What is really going on here? What about the jet fuel being burned for these westerners to come down to the Amazon to bring these people the goods they require?
Bode confesses: “To document the experiences reported in this chapter, I contributed to releasing 3.7 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from the Delta Airline plane on which I sat comfortably aboard, munching peanuts.“