Nicole Menthen
Building an Art Class Community – Nicole Menthen
Life at a high school is often experienced by its students as a place of great social pressure, caused by the pressure to be successful, and having to deal with prejudices and opinions of peers. As an art teacher, I experience that, due to the existence of social boundaries, students of my advanced art class do not feel comfortable enough to express themselves in making art, in being authentic – expressed by the 18th century Romantic-Essentialist, Philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau as ‘being true to oneself’.
In this research I introduce a different, more social way of learning and working based on shared learning among students and teacher. I developed a method of playful, art-based, group check-ins for creating new spontaneous connections. The concept of this method is based on the reflective power of students, while showing vulnerability in sharing identity through storytelling and dialogue. In this way, students can empathise more easily with others, which is more likely to lead to connections, thus also generating more authenticity in making art.
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