Thursday, September 17, 2009

Ten Lessons the Arts Teach

From The Arts and the Creation of Mind, by Elliot Eisner
  1. The arts teach children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships. Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it is judgment rather than rules that prevail.

  2. The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution and that questions can have more than one answer.

  3. The arts celebrate multiple perspectives. One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world.

  4. The arts teach children that in complex forms of problem solving purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity. Learning in the arts requires the ability and a willingness to surrender to the unanticipated possibilities of the work as it unfolds.

  5. The arts make vivid the fact that neither words in their literal form nor numbers exhaust what we can know. The limits of our language do not define the limits of our cognition.

  6. The arts teach students that small differences can have large effects. The arts traffic in subtleties.

  7. The arts teach students to think through and within a material. All art forms employ some means through which images become real.

  8. The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said. When children are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them feel, they must reach into their poetic capacities to find the words that will do the job.

  9. The arts enable us to have experience we can have from no other source and through such experience to discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling.

  10. The arts' position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young what adults believe is important.


SOURCE: Eisner, E. (2002). The Arts and the Creation of Mind, In Chapter 4, What the Arts Teach and How It Shows. (pp. 70-92). Yale University Press. Available from NAEA Publications. NAEA grants reprint permission for this excerpt from Ten Lessons with proper acknowledgment of its source and NAEA.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Billy X Curmano


Billy X and his group gave a rollicking, rowdy, rambunctious, brash, loud, moving, evocative, memorable performance on Saturday night (6/6/09).

The thought-provoking evening began with a selection of music - a free jazz mixup from long time collaborators the New X Art Ensemble featuring the Amazing Tess Toster Tones. This tasty introduction was followed by a screening of “live art” videos reviewing Billy's art practice. The classic videos were selected from Billy's archives and included "Performance for the Dead", "Tiger Cage on Wheels", "Swimmin' the River" and short clips of "Greetings from the Mississippi to the Arctic Sea" and "The Greyhound Tour" as well as other enticing glimpses of Billy's early art.

D.L. Hunt, Steve Smith and Billy X. formed New X as a link between performance art, classical music and free jazz. It is arguably the longest running free jazz collective in the region. The unit expanded as other musicians were drawn to the artistic freedom New X offers. They don’t embalm jazz or play hug-your-bunny cute insipid pop. New X is an eclectic blend of music, sound and improvisation rapped around words and odd tones. Reviewers have compared them to Lionel Hampton, Eric Dolphy, Ornette Coleman and the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

For more on Billy X and his art visit his website - www.billyx.net

Sunday, May 31, 2009

New Website for Winona Arts Center

The Winona Arts Center has a new website. The website has information on the events, exhibits, classes and workshops held at the center as well as information about the center and its history. There is a section on the Winona Film Society and their offerings at the center.

Visitors to the site can become a member and/or register for classes and workshops online, paying through PayPal.

If anyone is interested in having an event at the center, or putting their event on the local arts calendar on the WAC website, send an email with full details to contactus@winonaarts.org.

The website redesign was completed by Monta May, WAC board member and Mary Coughlan, WAC trustee.

Billy X. Curmano Winona Arts Center June 6

The Winona Arts Center presents a screening of “live art” videos and free jazz in the main galleries on Fifth and Franklin Streets in downtown Winona at 7:30 p.m., June 6. The classic videos are culled from pioneering performance artist Billy X. Curmano and will include “Performance for the Dead” and several shorts followed and interspersed with free jazz from long time collaborators the New X Art Ensemble featuring the Amazing Tess Toster Tones.

The award-winning artist entered the international arena with universal subject matter. He was buried alive for 3 days with all the trimmings including an Italian wake, New Orleans-style jazz funeral and an international postal exhibition on the theme of death. He explored water issues with a trilogy that included swimming the length of the Mississippi River, fasting in Death Valley and traveling to the Arctic Circle on public transport.

The videos and other tracks from these performances have gone to major collections like the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. He’s been featured on the “City Pages A list” in Minneapolis and as Mary Beth Crain reported for a Los Angeles “LA Weekly Pick of the Week” article:

“Curmano calls 'Adventures with Billy' 'a slightly satirical journey documenting art as life and life as art.' I call it an uninhibited blend of courage, charisma and chutzpah, the sort of thing you either love or hate but definitely aren't allowed to regard with, God forbid, neutrality.”

D.L. Hunt, Steve Smith and Billy X. formed New X as a link between performance art, classical music and free jazz. It is arguably the longest running free jazz collective in the region. The unit expanded as other musicians were drawn to the artistic freedom New X offers. They don’t embalm jazz or play hug-your-bunny cute insipid pop. New X is an eclectic blend of music, sound and improvisation rapped around words and odd tones. Reviewers have compared them to Lionel Hampton, Eric Dolphy, Ornette Coleman and the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

Recession pricing: $5.00 - More information is available at www.winonaarts.org or www.billyx.net