“The Big Picture: Our Artmaking Past and Educational Future”
Brown Bag Lecture Presented by TCNJ Assistant Professor of Art Education, Dr. Carolina Blatt-Gross
Friday, October 14, 2016, 12:30-1:30PM in the Mildred & Ernest E. Mayo Concert Hall (Music Building)
Because students spontaneously exhibit aesthetic and rhythmic acts in the classroom and human beings across the world have engaged in the arts for thousands of years, this body of research explores the possibility that artful behavior represents an inherent and significant human proclivity. Based on an ethological understanding of art (that is, as a behavior rather than an object) and informed by educational neuroscience, anthropology, psychology, educational research and arts education, this presentation investigates the tensions between the human predisposition and the physical and mental limitations of traditional formal education, ultimately seeking to understand how artful behaviors might represent an intrinsic part of human nature with the intent of bridging the gap between our natural inclinations for learning and the methods utilized in mainstream education.
