LIFE PAINTING PORTFOLIO
Mathew Douglas Seal-Mayr
B.A., University of California, Santa Cruz, 1999
PROJECT
Submitted in partial satisfaction of
The requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
in
EDUCATION
(Curriculum and Instruction)
at
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO
SPRING
2010
© 2010
Mathew Douglas Seal-Mayr
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
ii
LIFE PAINTING PORTFOLIO
A Project
by
Mathew Douglas Seal-Mayr
Approved by:
__________________________________, Committee Chair
Lorie Hammond, Ph.D.
__________________________________, Second Reader
Tom Monteith, MFA.
_____________________________
Date
iii
Student: Mathew Douglas Seal-Mayr
I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University
format manual, and that this thesis is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to
be awarded for the thesis.
__________________________, Associate Chair
Rita Johnson, Ed.D.
Department of Teacher Education
iv
___________________
Date
Abstract
of
LIFE PAINTING PORTFOLIO
by
Mathew Douglas Seal-Mayr
This Project is an Alternative Culminating Experience for a Master of Arts in
Education: Curriculum and Instruction with an Elective Emphasis on Arts in Education.
It follows Pathway I: Artist as Educator. To develop expertise as a painter the author
worked with instructor Tom Monteith in two painting courses at the California State
University, Sacramento. Working with Monteith improved the artist’s expertise as a
painter working from life with a focus on color and form. The project culminated in the
works produced, as well as the development of the artist’s perspective on art making.
Development of growth in the area of painting was assessed in the analysis of groups of
drawings and paintings from a 20-image portfolio.
__________________________________, Committee Chair
Lorie Hammond, Ph.D.
_____________________________
Date
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Figures .................................................................................................................. viii
Chapter
1.
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 1
Statement of the Problem .................................................................................................... 1
Purpose of the Study ........................................................................................................... 1
Context of the Project ......................................................................................................... 2
Procedure ............................................................................................................................ 2
Guiding Questions .............................................................................................................. 3
Research Methods ............................................................................................................... 3
Analysis and Application .................................................................................................... 4
Significance ........................................................................................................................ 4
Terminology........................................................................................................................ 4
Limitations .......................................................................................................................... 5
2.
REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE ................................................................6
Introduction......................................................................................................................... 6
Theories and Practices in Arts Education ........................................................................... 7
The Legacy of the Maya and Contemporary Metaphysical Research .............................. 15
Momentum for Liberation Through Education ................................................................. 21
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 29
3. THE PROJECT ....................................................................................................................... 31
Introduction....................................................................................................................... 31
vi
My Personal History as an Artist ...................................................................................... 31
Tom’s Wild Ride ............................................................................................................. 33
Assessment of Figures 1-4 ................................................................................................ 34
Assessment of Figures 5-7 ................................................................................................ 39
Assessment of Figures 8-10 .............................................................................................. 45
Assessment of Figures 11-13 ............................................................................................ 49
Assessment of Figures 14-16 ............................................................................................ 53
Assessment of Figures 17-20 ............................................................................................ 56
Summation of Works ........................................................................................................ 63
4.
REFLECTION ....................................................................................................................... 65
Introspection ..................................................................................................................... 65
Reflections of an Artist ..................................................................................................... 65
Reflections of an Art Educator ......................................................................................... 67
References ...................................................................................................................................... 69
vii
LIST OF FIGURES
1.
Studio Interior Drawing ................................................................................................... 35
2.
Seated Female Figure Drawing ........................................................................................ 36
3.
Seated Male Figure at Table Drawing .............................................................................. 37
4.
Seated Female Figure on Platform Drawing ..................................................................... 38
5.
Seated Male Figure Painting on Yupo .............................................................................. 40
6.
Reclining Female Figure Painting on Yupo...................................................................... 42
7.
Seated Female Figure Painting on Yupo .......................................................................... 43
8.
Large Heads and Pallets of Bricks Outdoor Painting ....................................................... 45
9.
Male and Female Figure in Canoe Painting on Yupo ....................................................... 46
10.
Life Studio Final Painting ................................................................................................ 48
11.
Negro Bar Outdoor Painting on Yupo .............................................................................. 50
12.
Auburn Canyon Bridge Outdoor Painting on Yupo.......................................................... 51
13.
Auburn Canyon River Rocks Painting on Yupo ............................................................... 52
14.
Freeway Overpass Outdoor Painting on Yupo ................................................................. 53
15.
Freeway Overpass at Old Rail Yard Outdoor Painting ..................................................... 54
16.
Delta King to Ziggurat Building Outdoor Painting ......................................................... 55
17.
Auburn Canyon with Delta King and Ziggurat Painting .................................................. 57
18.
Encampment Beneath Overpass Painting ......................................................................... 59
19.
Still Life Abstraction Painting .......................................................................................... 60
20.
Outdoor Painting Final on Yupo ............................................................................61
viii
1
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Statement of the Problem
Increasing expertise in life painting has contributed to the author’s professional
growth as an artist and art educator. The author worked with a mentor painter, Tom
Monteith, and enrolled in two semester-long, upper division courses at California State
University, Sacramento. These courses also served as two of the electives required of
students pursuing a Master of Arts in Education: Curriculum and Instruction. The central
objective of the project for the author was to become a more successful artist by
developing his practice of working from life, drawing and painting based on direct
observation of subject matter. This project served as an opportunity for the artist to
acquire a higher level of mastery with painting and specifically the role color played in
his work.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the author’s project was the development of artistic expertise in
the area of life painting. The drawings and paintings produced for Monteith’s courses
serve as evidence of the growth achieved through the project’s duration. For the purpose
of assessing the project, significant paintings were selected and compiled into a 20-image
portfolio. Reproductions of the selected figures were included in the text with their
analysis in groups of three to four. In addition to the art works in the 20-image portfolio
and the growth they represent, this study documented the author’s evolved perspective on
new possibilities for his own work and that of his students.
2
Other paintings of significance, produced during the project, but not reproduced
or discussed in this text, have been published on the artist’s personal website,
iheartcardboard.com (http://www.iheartcardboard.com). The images published on the
artist’s site allows readers access to a greater number of paintings. The reproduction on
the artist’s website are also larger and at a higher quality of resolution than those included
in the text.
Context of the Project
The context of the author’s coursework for the life-painting project is the Arts
Sculpture Lab (ASL) and outdoor locations throughout the City of Sacramento. The Life
Studio course taken from Monteith met inside the ASL building, located on California
State University, Sacramento campus. The Outdoor Painting course occasionally met at
the ASL building, although the majority of class meetings took place at the painting sites.
Outdoor locations were mostly within the City of Sacramento at various locations along
the American River. On two occasions the class met in the county of Auburn, north of
Sacramento.
Procedure
Besides the written component of this project, its products are the paintings themselves. A digital portfolio, composed of photographed works produced during the life
painting courses, was the initial documentation form of the project. The academic
analysis of 20 selected works became the center of this project and, once approved and
completed, was published and made available to readers by the California State
University Library. The artwork from the 20-image Life Painting Portfolio, along with
3
the rest of the drawings and paintings initially documented in the digital portfolio has
been made accessible to readers on the World Wide Web.
Guiding Questions
The research component of this project addressed three distinct fields of study all
linked by a central investigation. The first question was a consideration of how theories
and practices in the arts in education offered contributions to the development of the
educational system in the United States of America. The primary concern that guided this
section was how increased arts education in national curricula supported a more complete
education for young learners. The second direction the author took the research was the
legacy of the ancient Maya presented by contemporary metaphysical researchers. The
inquiry pursued in the third section considered the work of two social theorists from
Brazil and one from American history to formulate the qualities of a complete education
and the prospects of an evolved global consciousness for human kind.
Research Methods
The most significant objects for the investigation of developed expertise in the
practice of painting were the paintings produced for the project. As the author progressed
through his coursework with Monteith, artworks were stored in an actual portfolio. Once
the coursework was completed, selected works were photographed and published on the
World Wide Web. The intent behind publishing the work on-line in addition to the 20image portfolio included in the text was to provide the reader access to larger and higher
resolution reproductions of the author’s artwork.
4
Analysis and Application
Drawings and paintings published in the Life Painting Portfolio were analyzed for
evidence of growth in the author’s practice of working from direct observation. The role
of color was a central focus of Monteith’s courses and was also a primary component of
the analysis of the art works produced. Following the completion of this project the
author’s development of expertise in painting has been directly applied in the author’s
practice as an artist and as an art educator.
Significance
Dedication to an intensive study of painting from life with an emphasis on color
and form resulted in significant growth in the author’s practice of art making. Devoting
himself to a project of such significance also contributed to professional growth as an art
educator. Students of art taught by an educator who has pursued significant work as an
artist have benefited through the effectiveness of the instruction they receive and the
access they are granted to the subject through the specialized perspective of the educator.
Terminology
Working from life is a phrase used frequently in the text, sometimes with a verb
other than working proceeding from life, as in the phrases drawing from life and painting
from life. Working from life was meant to designate the act of making art from direct
observation of a subject. When a different verb was used instead of working, like drawing
or painting, it was meant to designate which practice of art was practiced.
The terms quantitative and qualitative were used in various sections of the text in
relation to different fields of study, such as education, science, and the philosophy of
5
consciousness. Quantitative was used to relate the approaches of either a mental
perspective or actual program of action that placed value on measurement, collection of
numeric data, and mathematical analysis. Qualitative was used to relate to the approaches
of actual programs of action, or a mental perspective that placed value on the
identification of essential characteristics which leads to the development of criterion for
comparative analysis.
Limitations
The only limitation placed on this project was the result of the economic recession
in California during the project. One studio session was cancelled during both of the two
semesters of coursework completed for the project as a furlough imposed on all
California State University faculty. The furloughed class meetings were the unavoidable
result of cuts in the California State University’s budget.
6
Chapter 2
REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE
Introduction
This literature review began by pursuing an investigation of the distinct
approaches to education, defined by the terms quantitative or qualitative, in the history of
education in the United States of America. The conclusion reached by the end of the first
section was that increased art education offered a more complete education in the United
States. Art education represented a move towards the value for a qualitative approach,
away from the established dominance of the quantitative in standard curriculum. In the
second section of the review the past and future of human consciousness was considered
to better comprehend the process by which the quantitative approach to conceptions of
time, space, and one’s experience achieved domination over qualitative conceptions. The
research concluded in the third section with an examination of the educational practices
developed by two radical theorists from Brazil. Their models provided hope for the
development of educational programs that celebrated a qualitative approach to education.
Lastly the third section of the review concluded with an American author who published
work at the same period in United States history as the theorists discussed in the first
section. His writing also served as inspiration for qualitative educational practices,
especially poignant due to the intellectual climate of his time, one in which supporters of
the quantitative trends established dominance.
7
Theories and Practices in Arts Education
The state of the national education system stands to benefit from a more
significant inclusion of the Arts at all levels of schooling. The present day struggle over
the contents of national curriculum began in the late 19th century with the birth of
standard curriculum. Unfortunately, standardization of curriculum content and testing has
gathered strength since that time and is still viewed as the primary method for improving
education. The notion that our educational system has the capacity to develop in a new
way is the central focus of this section. A review of literature written by past and current
educational theorists solicits an understanding of how contributions, exclusive to the Arts
in education, are critical to the continuing success of the nation’s educational system.
One author who researched the controversies over curriculum in the late 19th
century is Herbert M. Kleibard. In his article, “Education at The Turn of The Century”
(1982), he noted that a number of committees appointed by the National Education
Association (NEA), exercised large influence over the content of national curriculum.
Individual citizens and interest groups had some influence over decisions made about the
creation of a national curriculum by challenging the committees’ conclusions. One of
these individuals, named G. Stanley Hall, challenged the very methods committees used
to reach its conclusions. “Hall attributed to various NEA committees the growing
tendency to count and measure everything educational” (Kleibard, 1982, p. 4). Hall was
extremely critical of a standard curriculum for the nation’s schools and, in his own study,
took a qualitative approach by documenting the contents of children’s minds to assess
learning (Kleibard, 1982, p. 3).
8
Another individual mentioned by Kleibard who significantly influenced the
controversy over our school system through his criticism of the NEA committees was
Joseph Mayer Rice. He rejected the methods Hall employed for researching education
and instead of seeking to define the qualities of a good education Rice performed two
surveys of schools as a quantitative method for researching how to improve them. “Rice
was seeking comparative data that would indicate why some schools were more
successful than others. In this respect Rice is the acknowledged father of comparative
methodology in educational research” (Kleibard, 1982, p. 7). The answer to the question
of what core contents are most valuable to a complete education was not uncovered by
his comparative analysis of survey data. Rather than questioning his methods of research
Rice turned his focus away from curriculum content and began criticizing the
performance of educators and administrators. “Rice’s genuine dismay and disgust at what
was going on in American schools in the 1890’s had evolved into a grim determination
that teachers and administrators must be made to do the right thing” (Kleibard, 1982, p.
7). Rather than reaching a conclusion on what educational contents constitute a complete
education Rice blamed the professionals working in the field of education for failing to
provide an education of value.
Another author who researched the contents of a standard curriculum is Donald
Arnstine. In his book Philosophy of Education (1967), in the chapter titled “The
Curriculum” he criticized research that relied heavily on scientific methodology when
attempting to determine ideal educational content:
9
No examination of knowledge in the abstract, and no examination of a society, or
of children, can produce a precise, fully rational and universally acceptable
selection of content for the curriculum. Selecting content before one knows who
will teach it (and who is to acquire it) is thus putting the cart before the horse. If
teachers are unprepared to teach the content that is given to them (because it is
part of some ideal curriculum), what follows cannot be a very good education.
(Arnstine, 1967, p. 363)
Arnstine viewed the job of educators as central to the success of students, yet his
perspective was the reverse of Rice’s in terms of the faith he placed on their ability.
For Rice the solution to student’s success was management of teachers and
administrators to ensure that the right thing, or rather the established curriculum was
taught properly. In addition to identifying the problematic nature of universal curriculum,
Arnstine discussed the capacity teachers possessed that a universal curriculum only
placed limits on: a responsibility for a student’s disposition towards learning. “Unless
knowledge and skills are presented in a context in which appropriate dispositions have
been formed, or are in the process of formation, they will not be acquired in any
meaningful sense” (Arnstine, 1967, p. 340). When an educator’s ability to foster a
student’s passion to learn has been limited by the demands of standardized curriculum,
enforced from the outside, it has actually deterred a student’s success as a learner.
Arnstine (1967) made a distinction between mechanical, short-term learning and
meaningful, life-long learning, and placed value on the latter over the former. Like Hall,
Arnstine was more interested in the content of young minds rather than the production of
10
comparative data used for the scientific measurement of student learning. He placed his
faith in the ability of teachers immersed in the context of actual schools to qualify what
constitutes valuable curriculum rather than outside authorities surveying the performance
educators.
He must have a tendency to see content as an aesthetic cue, as a prod to curiosity,
or as a cue to awareness of a problem, and to see it as supplying the material for
the pursuit of these initiating situations. To select appropriate content, the teacher
must view it as the natural passenger for the vehicle of his student’s thoughts- not
simply as a burden to be acquired and retained until examination time. (Arnstine,
1967, p. 370)
Arnstine’s research has identified that to properly select instructional content for a given
community of learners, all with unique dispositions towards learning, a teacher was the
only authority capable, based on their direct involvement with students learning.
In the quest to conceive of what a good education is, individuals with political
power or intellectual sway have taken responsibility for the structure national education
has taken. At this point in the review one recognizes the formation of two distinct camps
rooted in the history of standardized curriculum. The supporters of national education
standards have placed higher value on a quantitative approach to improving education.
Leading figures that promoted a qualitative approach to educational research discussed
above have celebrated a different conception of education than the supporters of the
quantitative methods based on the acquisition of meaningful and life-long learning. Both
groups share a concern for the continued success of the national educational system,
11
although they have not come to an agreement on the proper methods for educational
research and the assessment of student learning.
Elliot Eisner’s book The Kind of Schools We Need (1992) dealt directly with the
benefits offered by a more significant inclusion of the arts in education. In this collection
of essays Eisner also turned to the history of national education for an explanation of how
standardized curriculum and achievement testing reached dominance. One of the trends
he identified in Western educational systems is an epistemological bias favoring science
over other fields of study. In his criticism of the dominance of scientific study over all
other fields he carefully clarified his aim:
I am not urging a displacement of science for art, or math for poetry. I am not
arguing for the creation of a new privileged class, but rather a decent conception
of what our students are entitled to. Without opportunities to acquire multiple
forms of literacy, children will be handicapped in their ability to participate in the
legacies of their culture. (Eisner, 1992, p. 30)
From this perspective, inclusion of the Arts in education ensured greater equity in
education by providing a more complete education for all students.
Standardized tests are held to be unbiased and capable of assessing knowledge in
any area, although Eisner (1992) referred to experience in the arts, which lead him to a
different conclusion about testing. “From the arts I have learned that not only cannot all
outcomes be measured, they frequently cannot be predicted. When humans work on tasks
they almost always learn more and less than what was intended” (Eisner, 1992, p. 67).
12
Hall, Arnstine, and Eisner all recognized that quantitative methods of research and
assessment ignored relevant information about the subject of study.
One should not assume Eisner was against student assessments because he
advocated a more significant inclusion of the arts in education. On the topic of how to
improve the assessment of students he promoted his belief that different forms of
assessment were appropriate for different purposes. He also touched on how the current
move toward pluralist educational values was also calling for new forms of assessment in
education.
This growing pluralism is likely to open up the field of assessment still further
and will dramatically increase the array of data describing educational practice
and its consequences. Ironically, the richness of this array is likely to complicate
rather than simplify our understanding of schooling. For simple conclusions, one
wants simple data or data arrayed in a common metric. When neither the data are
simple nor the metric common, complexity is virtually inevitable. (Eisner, 1992,
p. 140)
This statement by Eisner implied that to achieve a better system of education an
uncompromising commitment to the development of more effective methods of student
assessment was required. His veiled criticism of quantitative research, specifically its
reliance on simplicity in data analyses, also suggested the challenging complexities of the
qualitative assessment of student learning.
Another staunch supporter of the inclusion of arts in education is the philosopher
and educational theorist John Dewey. In his book Art As Experience (1934) he delved
13
deeply into the phenomenon of human experience with the goal of advocating the arts
through his conception of aesthetic experience. Dewey (1934) defined the features of an
aesthetic experience as distinct from an everyday one when he wrote,
A piece of work finished in a way that is satisfactory; is so rounded out that its
close is a consummation and not a cessation. Such an experience is a whole and
carries with it its own individualizing quality and self-sufficiency. It is an
experience. (Dewey, 1934, p. 37)
His description of an experience as a consummation favored meaningful, life-long
learning over the type of short term learning that test taking has engendered through its
objectives.
Dewey also provided a description of what distinguishes an aesthetic experience
from an everyday experience in which he stated,
Thus the non-esthetic lies within two limits. At one pole is the loose succession
that does not begin at any particular place and that ends- in the sense of ceasingat no particular place. At the other pole is arrest, constriction, proceeding from
parts having only a mechanical connection with one another. There exists so
much of one and the other of these two kinds of experience that unconsciously
they come to be taken as norms of all experience. (Dewey, 1934, p. 41)
Philosophy provided the structure of Dewey’s theory and his aim was to awaken others to
the capacities within their experience of living. In the arts he recognized an approach to
human experience that produced a “felt harmony” between one’s self and nature (Dewey,
1934, p. 45).
14
Having reached this point in the section, various strings require cohesion to form
a unified whole. Kleibard (1982) in his research of the curriculum controversies of the
late 19th century presented a battle between Hall and Rice based on different methods of
researching education. Hall criticized the standardization of curriculum and reliance on
measurement and quantification in the assessment of learning. Opposed to that position
Rice promoted both approaches that Hall criticized. Rice raised the quantitative approach
to educational research and reform to the national level and held educators responsible
for student performance. Arnstine (1967) performed his research in the 20th century and
found flawed logic in the approach Hall had criticized a century earlier. Arguing against a
standardized curriculum enforced by outside authority Arnstine supported the authority of
teachers to encourage the disposition of students towards life-long learning. Both Eisner
(1992) and Dewey (1934) produced theoretical frameworks that supported a turn towards
qualitative methods of educational research and assessment as well as a more significant
inclusion of the arts in education.
Related to the epistemological superiority granted to the sciences in Western
culture the relevance of the arts to young people has been overlooked and misunderstood.
The aesthetic experience Dewey (1934) describes was the same long-term, meaningful
learning Arnstine (1967) formulated as the central objective of education. Eisner (1992)
eloquently advocated for a curriculum that employed the arts as the only method by
which students developed literacies crucial to full participation in society and culture.
These theorists brilliantly recognized opportunities provided exclusively by the arts in
education. Through their research and its publication they advocated for an educational
15
system that valued relevant and continuous learning for students above standards and
comparative data they produced.
The Legacy of the Maya and Contemporary Metaphysical Research
Stepping back from the context of national education in the United States of
America, the author considered the history of human consciousness for a wider
perspective on the quantitative and qualitative trends in education. Theories from
contemporary thinkers concerned with speculations of tragedy or utopia in the year 2012,
nicknamed the 2012 phenomena have been reviewed in this section for the reader to
examine. Many authors who have published books in this genre studied the ancient Maya
extensively for its legacy of astronomical and technological achievements. The purpose
behind research on the legacy of the Maya was to illuminate the cultural trends in
contemporary global society to achieve an informed understanding humanity’s potential
for tragedy, harmony or something in between.
As a leading author in the genre Daniel Pinchbeck’s book, 2012: The Return of
Quetzalcoatl (2007) served as a comprehensive text on various authorities publishing
work on the phenomenon. His quest to investigate what humanity may expect in 2012
constituted the guiding question of his book and brought him around the globe into direct
contact with a wide spectrum of representatives from diverse cultural and spiritual
groups. Through this work he identified a common undercurrent within the array of
perspectives he encountered on his travels and made it the central topic of his book’s
introduction.
16
This book advances a radical theory: that human consciousness is rapidly
transitioning to a new state, a new intensity of awareness that will manifest itself
as a different understanding, a transformed realization, of time and space itself.
By this thesis, the transition is already under way-though largely subliminally-and
will become increasingly evident as we approach the year 2012. According to the
sacred calendar of the Mayan and Toltec civilizations of Mesoamerica, this date
signifies the end of a “Great Cycle” of more than five thousand years, the
conclusion of one world age and the beginning of the next. (Pinchbeck, 2007, p.
1)
Far from the conclusion that an apocalypse is inevitable the authorities Pinchbeck
reported on promoted a vision that 2012 marked a new beginning for humanity rather
than its fatal ending.
Jose Arguelles was a Mayan scholar Pinchbeck encountered early in the journey
his book documents. “If it wasn’t for Jose Arguelles- I would never have considered the
possibility that the chronovision of the Classic Maya might be relevant to our current
reality” (Pinchbeck, 2007, p. 196). Arguelles’ vision of a major transformation in human
consciousness coming in 2012 relied heavily on the legacy of Classic Mayan culture and
spirituality. Pinchbeck ascertained from his own research of Arguelles’ work that:
The basic goal of Mayan civilization, underlying their obsession with
astronomical orbits and vast cycles of time, was synchronicity, synchronization,
or what Arguelles calls “harmonic resonance.” Their “exquisitely proportioned”
number system was not primarily a counting code, but “a means for recording
17
harmonic calibrations that relate not just to space-time positioning, but to resonant
qualities of being and experience. (Pinchbeck, 2007, p. 199)
Arguelles believed that the Mayan conception of time, and his peculiarly modified
version of their sacred calendar, provided the essential new paradigm for humanity
(Pinchbeck, 2007, p. 198).
The language and terminology, included in the segments quoted from Arguelles’
research, recalled the previous section’s discussion of quantitative and qualitative trends
in education. Eisner (1992) credited the dominance of a quantitative approach in
education to the epistemological dominance of science and mathematics over other fields
of study. The legacy of the Classic Maya offered modern day education was how their
science and culture accommodated both quantitative and qualitative approaches without
the dominance of one over the other.
In The Mayan Factor (2009), Arguelles defined the main distinction between
Mayan science and modern science as the capacity to accommodate a qualitative
perspective.
Mayan science is based on principles of resonance. Our science, as originated in
the seventeenth century, is based on matter-that matter is the ultimate reality and
that it’s the ultimate knowable reality. Modern science however has come to
places where this is no longer clear. Modern science has gotten much closer to
where Mayan science begins. Mayan science assumes that the key factors in
universal operations are factors of resonance-vibratory cycles, or vibratory waves.
These waves reach certain condensation points and become matter- atoms,
18
subatomic particles, and so on. But the underlying nature of reality is vibration,
resonance. (Arguelles, 2009, p. 71)
The distinguishing feature of Mayan science according to Arguelles (2009) was that they
acknowledged aspects of human experience that could only be understood qualitatively.
In the paragraph following the quote above he proclaimed resonance is a quality
(Arguelles, 2009, p. 71). For Arguelles the Mayan legacy served to support his belief that
human consciousness contained a latent potential to develop.
Another radical thinker that Pinchbeck (2007) introduced is Jean Gebser, a
German best known for his work in philosophy of human consciousness. After Pinchbeck
painstakingly studied this text to comprehend Gebser’s complex model for the evolution
of human consciousness he reported:
According to Gebser, we have passed through a number of “consciousness
structures,” each one a profoundly different realization of space and time. “Man’s
coming of awareness is inseparably bound to his consciousness of space and
time.” He defines four previous stages-the archaic, the magical, the mythical, and
the mental-rational-and argues that we are currently on the verge of transitioning
into a new stage, which he calls integral and aperspectival, characterized by the
realization of time-freedom and ego freedom.” (Pinchbeck, 2007, p. 206)
Gebser’s explanation of how a new form of consciousness suddenly arises was that after
having exhausted its possibilities and entered an ultimate crisis a previous structure was
followed by a transition, or mutation in consciousness (Pinchbeck, 2007, p. 207).
19
To better understand a mutation in consciousness one must first have identified
how the current phase has exhausted its possibilities. The origin of mental-rational phase
began with Greek thought and reached its peak with the invention of perspective in the
Renaissance (Pinchbeck, 2007, P. 211). During this period, mental-rational humanity
became not only obsessed with space, but possessed by the possibilities that developed
from our increasing ability to transform matter and shape physical reality (Pinchbeck,
2007, p. 211). Possessed by space and matter, mental man spatialized and quantified
everything, including time (Pinchbeck, 2007, p. 212). There are a plethora of metaphors
used in popular speech that reflect the mental-rational conception of time as material, or a
quantity to be manipulated.
The flaw identified in the conception of reality the mental-rational structure
operated on was that, “time, understood in its essence, is not comparable to spatial
extensions, quantities, masses, or economic units. In fact, to conceive of it in this way is a
deformation” (Pinchbeck, 2007, p. 212). Through Pinchbecks analysis of Gebser’s
research he concluded that a deformed conception of time was at the root of the current
consciousness structure and the ultimate crisis it was undergoing. “So long as we think
that we can master such intensities as time by forcing them into a system, the intensities
will simply burst them apart” (Pinchbeck, 2007, p. 215).
The final scholar to be discussed on the topic of evolving human consciousness is
Johan Calleman (2009). Like Arguelles his study of Classic Maya culture lead to his
belief in an approaching transformation in human consciousness. Through his research
Calleman discovered that the structure of Mayan pyramids provided a framework for his
20
theory of evolving consciousness. In his own text Pinchbeck (2007) summarized
Calleman’s thesis:
The nine levels of the most important Mayan pyramids-the Temple of the
Inscriptions in Palenque, the Pyramid of the Jaguar in Tikal, and the Pyramid of
Kukulcan (Quetzalcoatl) in Chichen Itza-represent a model of time, from the
origin of the universe to the upcoming phase-shift, in which each step, or
“Underworld,” is twenty times more accelerated in linear time than the one
preceding it. (Pinchbeck, 2007, p. 240)
Pinchbeck’s comment on Calleman’s work recalled Gebser’s theory of a transformed
conception of time experienced through its qualities rather than in quantities.
In Calleman’s “The Nine Underworlds” (2009) he elaborated on how the nine
levels of the pyramids mentioned above represented Mayan spirituality.
Each of the Nine Underworlds of Mesoamerican mythology is another “creation”
generated by a cycle 20 times shorter than the one upon which it was built. This is
why the most important of the Mayan pyramids were all built as hierarchical
structures with nine levels. (Calleman, 2009, p. 82)
Calleman had discovered that the hierarchal structure of the pyramids was connected to
the upward progression of consciousness through nine distinct phases. He wrote that,
“Every new level serves to develop a higher frame of consciousness. Thus, each
Underworld is associated with a certain frame of consciousness” (Calleman, 2009, p. 84).
Calleman’s analysis of the distinction between lower and higher levels of
consciousness paralleled Arguelles and Gebser’s description of an evolved
21
consciousness. Each of these theorists predicted a shift from conceptions of time and
space in which quantitative approach dominates into one that accommodates for
qualitative aspects of experience.
Creation thus brings about the evolution of the cosmos through nine distinct
Underworlds, going from the lower Underworlds, where the evolution of
consciousness is manifested in physical ways-such as galactic matter and
biological species- to the increasingly more ethereal or spiritual expressions of the
higher Underworlds. (Calleman, 2009, p. 86)
Rather than supporting the potential for human tragedy the theorists reviewed promoted
the development of latent potential within human experience.
Pinchbeck’s (2007) book presented theorists who identified the source of
imbalance in our world as the result of a flawed conception of reality. These theorists
characterized the recent past of human history as one dominated by a set of materialist
values that have lead to conflict and struggle. The future each of these authors based their
research on is one in which an approach to experience that has opened to its latent
possibilities, or its resonant qualities was valued.
Momentum for Liberation Through Education
In the previous section the distinction between the quantitative and qualitative
approach in educational practices from the first section was echoed by the ambitious
theoretical discussions of radical theorists who recognized the same conflicting
perspectives culminating in the evolution of human consciousness. Those theorists have
identified western society as a culture in which the quantitative approach to experience
22
has reached a position of dominance. To unify the topics of the first and second sections
of this review it became critical to research contemporary educational programs that
operated on a qualitative approach to experience and assessment. One is presented with a
situation in which the objectives of society are in conflict with the objectives of
education, and thus a liberated individual. The educators and their practices reviewed in
this final section have provided hope for such a synthesis in the form of frameworks for
educational models and the assessment of student learning. They have demonstrated to
their students and their readers how dispositions towards education and liberation have
been synthesized in educational practices centered on solving problems taken from one’s
direct experience.
The first theorist to introduce in this section is Ubiratan D’Ambrosio; a Brazilian
who works in a field of research he founded called Ethnomathematics. His book
Ethnomathematics: Link between Traditions and Modernity, (2006) was the first
authoritative text on Ethnomathematics published in English. In the introduction he
defines the scope of his field as:
The mathematics practiced by cultural groups, such as urban and rural
communities, groups of workers, professional classes, children in a given age
group, indigenous societies, and so many other groups that are identified by the
objectives and traditions common to these groups. (D’Ambrosio, 2006, p. 1)
Viewing the practice of mathematics as deeply integrated in culture he viewed the global
dominance of Western mathematics as a subordinating force that threatened individual’s
connection to history and cultural identity. To recover this connection D’Ambrosio
23
proposed a transformation in mathematics education. D’Ambrosio suggested that western
mathematics be removed from its position of dominance in exchange for the study of
multiple approaches to mathematics so that the dignity of a learner was restored to the
individual. D’Ambrosio (2006) stated, “Recognizing and respecting an individual’s
roots… is the most important aspect of Ethnomathematics” (p. 30).
In his text D’Ambrosio (2006) also contextualized his Ethnomathematics program
within human history and modern society. He commented that, “Throughout nearly three
millennia, transitions between the qualitative and quantitative can be noted in the analysis
of facts and phenomena” (D’Ambrosio, 2006, p. 18). Like Gebser (1956) and Calleman
(2009), D’Ambrosio (2006) identified an epistemological emphasis on a quantitative
approach to reasoning throughout modernity as well as a recent shift towards qualitative
reasoning. On this he stated that, “More recently, we see an intense search for qualitative
reasoning. This trend is in step with the intensification of Ethnomathematics, whose
qualitative character is strongly predominant” (D’Ambrosio, 2006, p. 19). His theory that
qualitative reasoning was essential for a new organization of society was posited on the
premise that it permitted individuals to exercise criticism and analysis of the world we
live in (D’Ambrosio, 2006, p. 32).
The objectives of the program of Ethnomathematics included goals that reached
far beyond the classroom and conventional expectations of an education in mathematics.
He discussed the far-reaching goals of his field as components of its spiritual dimension,
absent from the dominant quantitative approach to mathematics education. Through this
spiritual dimension an individual was allowed a synthesis between their experience and
24
participation in culture. When such a synthesis of one’s spiritual and material identity is
absent the results are devastating to an individual’s creativity.
If this could be identified as only part of a perverse process of acculturation,
through which the essential creativity of being [verb] human is eliminated, we
could say that school is a farce. But in truth, it is much worse, because in a farce,
once the show is over, everything returns to the way it was. In education, reality is
substituted by a false situation, idealized and designed to satisfy the objectives of
the dominator. The educational experience falsifies situations with the object of
subordinating. And nothing returns to the real when this is over. The cultural roots
of the student, which are part of his identity, are eliminated in the process of an
educational experience guided by the objective of subordination. This elimination
produces a social outcast. (D’Ambrosio, 2006, p. 58)
In addition to restoring the roots of the contemporary individual the goals of his program
also included world peace and the defense of the non-existence of excluded people
(D’Ambrosio, 2006, p. 55).
A fellow scholar and research partner of D’Ambrosio, also from Brazil, who
discussed the subordinating forces of dominant educational models in developed
societies, is Paulo Freire (2007). Similar to D’Ambrosio (2006), Freire viewed
educational practices as either a liberating or subordinating force in the experience of a
learner. Distinct from D’Ambrosio’s focus on the role of mathematics in education,
Freire’s work is primarily concerned with literacy. One of his major contributions to the
25
field of education is the “banking” concept. He discussed how a learner in the dominant
educational approach is suffering from “narration sickness” (Freire, 2007, p. 91).
Narration (with the teacher as narrator) leads the students to memorize
mechanically the narrated content. Worse yet, it turns them into “containers,” into
“receptacles” to be filled by the teacher. Education thus becomes an act of
depositing, in which students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor.
(Freire, 2007, p. 91)
Just as D’Ambrosio identified a threat to individual creativity as a result of the dominant
education model Freire (2007) identified how the negative consequence of this model
lead to passive and under valued learners.
The reason why Freire (2007) found the “banking” concept of education to be so
threatening to a students’ progression into an adult participant in society related to his
conception of how learning occurs. He viewed inquiry as a central component of the
human experience, which the dominant model largely ignored.
For apart from inquiry, apart from the praxis, individuals cannot be truly human.
Knowledge emerges only through the invention and re-invention, through the
restless, inpatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world,
with the world, and with each other. (Freire, 2007, p. 92)
In this statement Freire identified the largest threat to an individual’s experience of being
human as limitations placed on one’s ability to form inquiries about it.
In relation to the debate between quantitative and qualitative approaches to
education and the social values it instills the “banking” model leans heavily towards the
26
quantitative. The narrative model of education established a clear emphasis on the
quantity of knowledge a student acquired. Specifically, the banking concept neglected to
acknowledge the student’s actual participation in his or her society and what knowledge
was relevant to that experience. Freire (2007) placed high value on an educational model
he defined as “problem-posing” (p. 92).
Those truly committed to liberation must reject the banking concept in its entirety,
adopting instead a concept of men and women as conscious beings, and
consciousness as consciousness intent upon the world. They must abandon the
educational goal of deposit making and replace it with the posing of problems of
human beings in their relations with the world. “Problem-posing” education,
responding to the essence of consciousness-intentionally-rejects communiqués
and embodies communication. (Freire, 2007, p. 92)
Both Freire (2007) and D’Ambrosio (2006) have outlined this synthesis, between one’s
experience and his or her developing understanding of it, as crucial to a liberated
individual’s full participation in society. In “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” Freire’s
problem-posing model of education was shown to promote life long learning to a greater
extent than the dominant educational system. He wrote that, “Students, as they are
increasingly posed with problems relating to them selves in the world and with the world
will feel increasingly challenged and obliged to respond to that challenge” (Freire, 2007,
p. 93).
The final theorist reviewed in this section brings the reader back to the context the
first section of the literature review began with, the origins of standardized curriculum in
27
the United States at the middle of the nineteenth century. In his essay titled “Selfreliance,” Ralph Waldo Emerson (2003) criticized the ways in which young people were
prepared for adulthood. He identified a conflict between the demands of modern society
and the need for individuals to liberate themselves from reliance on others. As with
D’Ambrosio (2006) and Freire (2007), Emerson viewed the lack of synthesis between the
needs of the liberated individual and the objectives of society as the largest threat to an
individual’s self-reliance.
Life only avails, not the having lived. Power ceases in the instant of repose; it
resides in the moment of transition from a past to a new state, in the shooting of
the gulf, in the darting to an aim. This is one fact the world hates, that the soul
becomes; for that forever degrades the past, turns all riches to poverty, all
reputation to a shame, confounds the saint with a rogue, shoves Jesus and Judas
equally aside. (Emerson, 2003, p. 280)
Through this statement Emerson (2003) identified a critical flaw within a quantified
approach to education. If education does not accommodate the dynamic nature of reality
and experience then it has not activated a student’s innate capacity to invent and re-invent
the world.
Emerson viewed the educational model of the United States to be one that valued
an imitation of the past rather than an exploration of the present. On this he wrote, “The
intellect is vagabond, and our system of education fosters restlessness. Our minds travel
when our bodies are forced to stay at home. We imitate; and what is imitation but the
traveling of the mind (Emerson, 2003, p. 288).” He continued with the statement that an
28
education based on imitation is damaging to an individuals realization of their full
potential. “Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present with the
cumulative force of a whole life’s cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another, you
have only an extemporaneous, half-possession” (Emerson, 2003, p. 288). A qualitative
approach to education connects students to their own gift by posing them with problems
unique to their experience. Being instructed through the problems of the past leaves
young minds unprepared for their own experience.
Emerson’s essay also included an extended discussion of how the complexity of
an individual’s experience was not accommodated by society, or its institutions. His
statement that “Every mind is a new classification (Emerson, 2003, p. 286),” directly
addressed the central conflict with the educational institutions in the United States
penchant to teach through imitation. He stated strong directives about the methods by
which students discover capacities unique to one’s self. “That which each can do best,
none but his maker can teach him. No man knows yet what it is, nor can, till that person
has exhibited it” (Emerson, 2003, p. 288). Emerson’s conception of the individual
reached his or her full potential required the same criterion as Freire’s problem-posing
model and D’Ambrosio’s program of Ethnomathematics. An individual must be liberated
from the subordination of the classification system of the dominant culture through an
education rooted in the qualities of student’s individual experience.
To conclude this final section of the literature review one has come to recognize
the conflict between quantitative and qualitative approaches to education as part of a
larger conflict within the evolution of human society and consciousness. It has been
29
identified that the educational practices supported by a quantitative approach were
concerned primarily with the material world and denied much of what constituted the
qualities, or spiritual contents of the human experience. D’Ambrosio (2006) bravely
promoted the spiritual aspects of his Ethnomathematics program as central to the need for
transformation in educational practice. Freire (2007) isolated the central flaw within the
dominant educational model to be the denial of students as active and capable
participants in their experience. Emerson (2003) posited a component of true learning to
be a realization of ones gifts in an explicitly spiritual sense. Ultimately, these theorists
provided hope that a shift within societies approach to education and political equality is
moving towards an evolved sense of values. These educators have certainly influenced
the practice of teaching and learning through their development of radical and promising
models that embraced a qualitative approach to one’s education and experience.
Conclusion
After having reviewed the history and present state of education in the United
States of America one recognized a movement away from, or at the least a questioning of
the dominance of quantitative approaches in the field. Increased emphasis on the arts in
educational curriculum was concluded to be a strongest support for incorporating
qualitative approaches to learning and student assessment. The Mayan researchers and
metaphysical theorists introduced in the second section elevated this movement in
education to the level of human history and the evolution of consciousness. The theorists
in this section confirmed that accommodating a qualitative conception of one’s
experience, and time in particular was critical to the overall success of humanity. The
30
third section of this review examined the work of Brazilian educators, and an American
poet to provide examples of how subject areas, other than art, such mathematics and
literacy, reinforce a transition from a quantitative to a qualitative approach to experience
in the field of education.
By the conclusion of this literature review there was an unexpected distinction
that revealed itself through the investigation of the shifting conceptions of education and
human consciousness. This feature was the spiritual dynamic of qualitative educational
approaches founded on an individual’s experience in the world. In particular the qualities
of one’s experience was the critical element in both art education, promoted by Eisner
(1992) and Dewey (1934), and the qualitative educational models in the areas of
mathematics and literacy, promoted by D’Ambrosio (2006) and Freire (2007).
31
Chapter 3
THE PROJECT
Introduction
Improving my expertise as a painter is the objective of my project. The two
academic painting courses taken with instructor Tom Monteith in the California State
University, Sacramento (CSUS) Art Department is the method by which this goal
reached fruition. Evidence for my improved expertise in the medium of painting is found
in the art works I produced during the project. To assist with a clear identification of
growth stages, the paintings are analyzed in groups of three to four figures. My analysis
of each figure group includes discussion of subjective successes, criticism from Monteith,
and how the group related to the achievements of the project.
My Personal History as an Artist
My experience making art began at an early age, although my education as an
artist was not academically rigorous until my studies as an undergraduate art student at
the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). Lower division art students were
required to take a range of courses. Through these courses I was exposed to a variety of
art theories and practices. I had demonstrated strong ability the area of drawing and
painting, yet was incredibly intrigued by abstraction, mixed media and collage. As an
upper division student I took the opportunity to passionately explore abstraction in my
art, working with non-traditional techniques and media. I had come to view my ability in
drawing and painting as a skill set that could to support the work that most interested me,
although I did not chose to work from life at that point in my development as an artist.
32
Following my work as a student at UCSC, I was able to acquire a job as a parttime Teaching Assistant (TA) in a drawing course for students whose major was not art.
The Lecturer who taught these courses mentored me through my earliest teaching
experiences. The opportunity to be a TA for several years was fortuitous, because I had
found creative involvement following graduation to be a definite struggle. My role as a
student had ended, yet working as a TA, I was able to advance my learning through
instructing others in the practice of life drawing. Encouraging others to value their
creativity and identify their success in a completely new field came naturally to me.
Teaching the basics of life drawing, supported by Terrell and her highly effective
teaching methods, I deepened my understanding of the fundamental concepts, materials,
and techniques related to life drawing. Despite my immersion into a new relationship
with life drawing through my TA job, I continued to experiment with non-traditional
methods of art making.
My preparation to become a professional educator finally led me away from my
work as a TA and back into the role of a student at California State University,
Sacramento (CSUS). After acquiring my single subject credential in art I took the
opportunity to continue academic study in CSUS’ Masters of Education program. The
coursework I completed for my credential program had not challenged me academically.
Since the beginning of my academic study of art, working from life was an expertise I
wanted to develop further. I had already acknowledged that improving my practice of
drawing and painting subject matter from life would advance my abstract work as well.
As an upper division art student and after graduating, I pursued the forms of expression I
33
was most passionate about, non-traditional ones. The central reasons I continued with
graduate work after completing my credential was to seek out more challenging
coursework and an opportunity to improve my expertise as an artist. This project has
culminated in my professional growth as both an artist and educator.
Tom’s Wild Ride
At the first class meeting in each of the courses taken with Tom Monteith, he
reviews his course syllabus with the class. The description and objectives for his courses
should be considered to better follow my discussion of work produced during the project.
He clearly states in the syllabus and through his reading of it that his course places
emphasis on direct observation and the use of color to make form. These two key themes
are frequently reinforced in slide lectures, painting feedback, and class critiques. In
addition to working from life and using color to make form, he identifies space and
illumination as additional guiding objectives of work done in class.
To present the complete picture of Monteith’s courses, I must describe what the
experience of being his student is like. A useful illustration of his unique teaching method
is my impression from the first class meeting I attended. He began class with a long
critique of a single slide, stating that he wanted us to discuss what was happening in the
painting without relying on interpretation. Most of the initial comments students
attempted to make did not satisfy his request because they included interpretations of
subject matter within them. Even the returning students, who had experience in his
classes, were struggling to speak about the work without their comments being criticized
for being too general, or based on an identification of subject matter. The critique became
34
so frustrating for me I began to wonder if he even knew what he was doing. I began to
doubt both his method and qualifications.
In the class meetings that followed the wild ride of the first day, I gradually
became aware of a method within what initially had felt like madness. The experiences I
had accumulated as an art student and educator facilitated me in my understanding of
what Monteith was asking for. My doubts related to his instruction were steadily replaced
by faith in his method and my belief that further study in drawing and painting from life
would improve my expertise as a maker of art. The uneasy feeling of confusion during
that first critique had briefly caused me to turn my frustration away from myself and onto
him. As I found him to be a qualified and committed instructor in the experiences that
followed the first day that frustration evaporated. I realized that I had experienced the
feeling that accompanies being truly challenged. This reminded me that I still had a lot to
learn in order to improve my expertise. Monteith’s method of removing the ground
beneath one’s feet in order to illustrate it wasn’t there was a critical factor in my success
throughout this project.
Assessment of Figures 1-4
When I began the Life Studio course with Monteith, I chose to draw because it
was the medium I was most comfortable working with. This group of figures represents
the initial three weeks of the course, when I was working with graphite and charcoal first
and then adding color with pastels. I had always been an ambitious artist when it came to
drawing still life, and the figure. I enjoyed the heightened pace required to record visual
information in a drawing. Developing these abilities in school and as a Teaching
35
Assistant was a comforting background to have when faced with the pacing in Monteith’s
classes. While reviewing the syllabus, he had mentioned we should anticipate an
experience like calisthenics in class. Given the large format, three feet by four feet, he
required for the almost every session it set a precedent, even for the returning students.
Figure 1. Studio Interior Drawing
36
Figure 2. Seated Female Figure Drawing
Figures 1 and 2 are both in charcoal and are representative of my strong ability to
achieve a sense of form and space working from figure and still life subject matter. On
the exercises that led up to these figures feedback from Monteith centered on developing
a sense of illumination beyond the mechanical description of forms in space. The way
this could be done was to find the brightest light in a scene and then to anchor the lighting
system of the drawing in relation to that “hot spot.” Monteith recognized success in
figure 1 with the brightest light values located in the lower left region of the composition,
37
establishing the system of illumination for the entire scene. In the composition of figure 2
the strong sense of illumination was present in the scene, but not achieved in the drawing.
The level of resolution showing form through the play of light and shadow is impressive,
but there is not a clear sense of the illumination that was present in the scene.
Figure 3. Seated Male Figure at Table Drawing
38
Figure 4. Seated Female Figure on Platform Drawing
Figures 3 and 4 were produced after I had been encouraged by Monteith to
introduce one warm color and then one cool color in addition to the black charcoal and
white chalk. Both drawings include a figure and arrangement of still life objects in a
scene illuminated with dramatic lighting. The quality of illumination achieved in figure 3
received praise from Monteith as well as my use of the red pastel with black and white
drawing media. Figure 4 is the second large format drawing I had produced in the course
and I added green pastel to the red, black, and white drawing media palette. The drawing
39
underwent one revision due to Monteith and his TA’s feedback. During a small group
critique they had identified an empty section of the composition that needed something in
it. I added the back of a drawing board on an easel into the upper left side of the
composition. That worked well in the drawing by helping to define the space and carry
the illumination through the scene.
Assessment of Figures 5-7
These figures represent my shift from the medium of drawing to watercolor
painting based on encouragement from Monteith. They also are my first experiences
using a specialized type of watercolor paper. Yupo is a paper designed for watercolor
painting, which Monteith distributes to students interested in trying it. It has a plastic
quality that is slippery and not very porous. When using watercolor on Yupo, it creates
incredible effects, similar to the appearance of paint floating in water.
40
Figure 5. Seated Male Figure Painting on Yupo
In figure 5, I was still working out how to use this new paper. I have always
embraced the effects that pigment suspended in water can produce on watercolor paper
41
and now with the Yupo paper those stunning effects could be amplified. In terms of
challenges using the Yupo paper, there were a few. The lack of pores in the paper added
an extra challenge in preserving satisfying parts of the painting. Without care entire areas
could be entirely lost with the slightest gesture, which does not occur with standard
watercolor paper. Also, being used to absorbent paper could be troublesome. One area of
figure 5, the student painting in the far-ground became too saturated and the pigment
prevented the white of the paper to read as illumination across the form. Figure 5 was
also critiqued for relying too heavily on the color blue to function as a dark value
throughout the composition.
42
Figure 6. Reclining Female Figure Painting on Yupo
43
Figure 7. Seated Female Figure Painting on Yupo
Figures 6 and 7 reflect my adaptation to the Yupo paper by allowing the white of
the paper work with the quality of illumination on the scene and avoiding over-saturation
44
of pigment when mixing colors. In figure 6, the use of blue for a dark value shadow was
avoided, although red became the color I leaned on too heavily. There were various red
hues present in the scene, but I had used the same hue of red for each of the different
forms. Monteith cautioned me that any overuse of a color results in a generic description
of the space and illumination of a scene. Mixing various hues of red for the different
forms, in different qualities of light, at different levels of depth would have produced a
more truthful account of the color information from the scene. Figure 7 contains a wider
palate of colors than the figures preceding it, yet it also received some criticism from
Monteith for using color generically. Despite the challenges I encountered in my
paintings related to my understanding of color Monteith used the term “relentless” when
describing my ambition to paint the entire scene and capture the sense of illumination.
It was after completing this group of paintings that Monteith’s individualized
criticisms and group discussions about using color began to crystallize for me. I was
somewhat familiar with color theory before this coursework, so I had understood what
Monteith meant when he discussed how warm colors advance and cool colors recede in
space. The experience and instruction I was getting in class pushed me to look color in a
scene differently. I began to look for how color shifted across forms differently under
different qualities of illumination. Monteith had purposefully been setting up the lighting
in the studio to result in views with more than one lighting system. Because the varieties
of color effects were in front of us to observe, we could find them and work on achieving
them in paint.
45
Assessment of Figures 8-10
The figures 8, 9, and 10 represent the culmination of my first academic term
working with Monteith. They are also the truest series of work produced during the
semester in the sense that they contain similar subject matter and mood in the painting.
Figure 8 is a painting that was produced outdoors, in the storage area parking lot behind
the Art Sculpture Lab (ASL) building. The large-scale moldings of women’s heads were
of particular interest to me when I was painting outside. In this painting one can see how
I attempted to identify and capture in paint the way that colors changed as they shifted
under light and shadow. In the treatment of the heads and the stacked palettes of bricks,
one can observe how I recorded colors shifting from a warm hue in light to their cool
compliment in shadow, from a yellow-orange to a violet-blue.
Figure 8. Large Heads and Pallets of Bricks Outdoor Painting
46
Figure 9. Male and Female Figure in Canoe Painting on Yupo
Figure 9 was the product of an assignment or “painting problem” that Monteith
gave the class in one of the last meetings of the semester. The problem was to incorporate
an object from the previous week’s outdoor painting into a painting of his still life set up.
There were also two models that day and each of them sat in a canoe for a long pose in
which we were expected to address the problem. I truly enjoyed this assignment because
it engaged me on a conceptual level in addition to the visual one. This enabled me to
make creative decisions about the composition. I found a way to incorporate the palettes
of bricks and the heads from the outside painting session into the indoor still life. The
47
result of combining the figures in the canoe, Monteith’s still life arrangement, and the
two elements from Figure 8 was phenomenal in terms of my enjoyment while painting
and viewing the art that resulted. Monteith’s feedback was that the painting was
convincing, if only for my ambitious combination of visual elements into the same
lighting system. The most exciting part of the painting for me was the mood that resulted
from the subject matter combinations and the eerie illumination from the indoor scene.
The feeling I got from the painting suggested that it was of a foreboding, post-apocalyptic
world of ruined sculptures with signs of a decayed industrial society. One of the
unresolved issues Monteith found in the painting was that the similar treatment of the sky
form in the upper right and left corners of the composition. He explained that without
“opening them up” a viewer is prevented an escape from the scene. I did not understand
his feedback completely, but I recognized the claustrophobic tension in the scene that
would feel differently if the sky opened up in one of the upper corners of the painting.
48
Figure 10. Life Studio Final Painting
49
Figure 10 was an additional painting problem Monteith assigned on the last studio
day of class. The problem he posed was to paint his still life arrangement and the figure
for a short amount of time and then turn the painting 90 degrees and work on it from the
new orientation. This process was to be repeated until each side had been treated as the
bottom of the painting. The option was to take the result in the direction of abstraction, or
to choose a side and develop the sense of space and illumination realistically. I was not
able to finish the painting that day in class, but was inspired to continue the work since it
dealt with subject matter and mood I had become interested in. The resulting painting still
held the mood of previous apocalyptic scene, but appeared more like a funeral scene with
a witness in the near-ground.
Assessment of Figures 11-13
Figures 11, 12 and 13 are all small format Yupo paintings produced in the first
few class meetings of Outdoor Painting. The works represent a painting experience in the
field under Monteith’s instruction. One can recognize a shift in the practice of color
mixing and application between them. Making the connection about complimentary color
relationships and the effects of illumination on color enabled me to make some vast
strides in my practice of making paintings. Another major understanding related to the
mixing and application of “neutral colors” was key to the progression of these three
works.
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Figure 11. Negro Bar Outdoor Painting on Yupo
51
Figure 12. Auburn Canyon Bridge Outdoor Painting on Yupo
Figures 11 and 12 reflect improvement in my ability to use color in a way that
successfully describes forms and the effects of illumination on them in an outdoor setting.
In figure 11, I was able to get the planes of the ground and the river to recede in space,
accurately placing the opposite side of the river in the distance, far back from the viewer.
The colors also tell the truth in my painting about how it felt to be at that location. I was a
bright and sunny spring day. In figure 12, the sense of depth and illumination achieved is
impressive as well. This composition showcases my successful use of dot shaped brush-
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marks to describe the visual impression of an expanse of river rock receding back to a
river with a bridge above it.
Figure 13. Auburn Canyon River Rocks Painting on Yupo
In figure 13, one can identify a dramatic shift in the intensity of the color palette
used. This is the result of my efforts to identify color relationships present at the location
to inform which colors I will need to mix and where to apply them in the painting. By
this time I began to study information on color theory outside of class and had learned
about “neutral colors,” achieved by mixing a color with its compliment. In each neutral
combination there are two directions it can lean towards. For instance, the complimentary
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colors purple and yellow can be mixed to produce neutrals in which either the purple or
yellow color will dominate to some degree. A form in light has a specific hue that will
shift towards its complement in shadow. Through my paintings and reflections about how
to improve them I learned to anticipate certain relationships between colors in different
qualities of illumination. I began observing these color phenomena when painting on
location and gradually developed my ability to lock down the color relationships in my
paintings. Figure 13 shows my early efforts to incorporate neutrals into my palette in the
treatment of the river rocks and the far bank of the river.
Assessment of Figures 14-16
Figure 14. Freeway Overpass Outdoor Painting on Yupo
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This group of figures is distinct from the previous outdoor works because I
continued work on them after the initial painting sessions at specific sites. Figure 14
displays my improved skill with the use of color as well as a high degree of resolution for
a painting on Yupo. Identifiable flaws in my painting of the freeway overpass structure
had motivated me to rework the painting outside of class. Through the re-working of the
painting I was able to retain the color relationships I had observed at the site and fix the
errors in my description of the framework underneath the freeway and the columns
supporting it. In this painting, I had finally recognized my ability exploit the Yupo paper
for its quality of yielding to dramatic re-working of problematic areas in a composition.
After its completion I remember being very satisfied with the results of my work. The
element of color in the painting successfully described the illumination and space of the
location. Overall, the tight descriptions of the elevated freeway and its recession in space
seemed to contribute most to the nervous feeling I had achieved in the painting.
Figure 15. Freeway Overpass at Old Rail Yard Outdoor Painting
In figure 15, one recognizes subject matter from the same location as figure 14,
yet the painting of the elevated freeway also contains elements of inventive abstraction.
The use of color and the degree of resolution in the painting of the location is not as
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impressive as figure 14. The use of color in figure 15 was too generic and thus tells a
viewer less about the forms, space, and illumination found at the location. The paper I
painted on was not Yupo, which made drastic re-workings problematic, especially in
terms of retaining color relationships. The resulting quality of lighting in the painting is
strange and inconsistent. The successful aspect of the painting for me is in the playful
abstraction of the many freeways undulating through the picture plane. Influenced by the
historic rail station, visible from the site, I added a train form heading up one of the onramps from the left side of the composition. The abstraction that results from the angles
and curves of the freeways combined with an uncanny sense of illumination generates a
satisfying sense of mystery about the world of the painting.
Figure 16. Delta King to Ziggurat Building Outdoor Painting
The long panel format of figure 16 was my first exploration of a composition that
included a 180-degree range of view. The West Sacramento River Walk is across the
river from the freeway site figures 14 and 15 were painted at. This location also provides
one with a view of several Sacramento landmarks. The range of view in figure 16, from
the left side of the composition to the right, spans from the Delta King, a historic steam
boat stationed across the river, across to the Ziggurat building on the River Walk side of
the river. I chose to paint this range of view based on my visual attraction to the specific
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landmarks and the breadth of space from one side of the river to the other. There was a
shift in illumination across the range of view that would add another level of interest in
the painting. The near bank of the river to my left was in shadow section, the Delta King
only visible through a break in the trees creating the shadows. To my right was the
Ziggurat building in full sunlight across brightly illuminated hills covered with grass. My
observations and preliminary painting done at the site made for an excellent start.
Unfortunately my attempt to complete the work afterwards left me dissatisfied. The shift
from the shaded area into sunlight was successful overall, but my attempt to strengthen
the shadows cast by the trees had become too purple, generic, and ceased to carry the
quality of illumination. The strongest part of the painting for me was on the right side
from the sun-lit grass leading up to the strangely pyramid shaped Ziggurat building.
Assessment of Figures 17-20
The last group of figures stands out from all the other works discussed in that it
represents the culmination of my work for this project, performed under Monteith’s
painting instruction. Figures 17-19 are paintings that Monteith assigned specific problems
for in class. Figure 20 is the largest painting produced during the project and served as
my final painting assignment in Monteith’s Outdoor Painting course. The problem
assigned for the final painting was to choose my own painting problem and produce a
large format painting to address that problem.
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Figure 17. Auburn Canyon with Delta King and Ziggurat Painting
The composition of figure 17 is a combination of landscape elements from figures
12 and 16. The problem assigned for this painting the same as the one that led to figure 9,
assigned in the first semester of work with Monteith. Beyond sharing the same painting
problem figures 17 and 9 also share similar qualities in terms of mood and theme. In both
paintings I invented a composition that combined signs of industrial society in a context
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overtaken by nature. These paintings can each be interpreted as apocalyptic in feeling, yet
this interpretation is countered by a human presence in the world of the painting.
Monteith’s main criticism of figure 17 is that it lacks the feeling of an apocalyptic setting
due to the over-use of the color purple as a dark value and the resulting mood of the
scene. His comment was extremely helpful because I had neglected to acknowledge the
critical role color played in defining the overall feeling of my painting.
During my work on figure 17, I was preoccupied with incorporating the subject
matter I had selected into the space and lighting system from the paintings of the canyon
in Auburn. I was very proud of my success in terms of that objective before Monteith
identified greater issues in my painting. The overuse of purple was a symptom of my
continued struggle with color mixing, specifically the use of neutrals accurately. In this
case the neutral I mixed with yellow and purple leaned more towards purple and I used it
too frequently. The same dark value used to describe shadows throughout a painting will
not tell the truth about a scene because color values change at different levels of space
and under different qualities of illumination. Monteith’s comment was critical to my
growth in terms of my objective to create engaging work that also satisfies my conceptual
interests. Identifying my oversight of how the mood of my painting was contradicted by
the colors used broadened my awareness to decisions required to making a painting.
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Figure 18. Encampment Beneath Overpass Painting
The problem assigned for figure 18 is also similar to that of figure 9. Monteith’s
instructions were to begin a painting of the still life arrangement he had set up and then
incorporate elements from one of our outdoor paintings. I found that of all my previous
work the imagery that fit the scene best and interested me the most was the freeway
subject matter from figures 14 and 15. The still life arrangement included a campfire
form in the center, created by Monteith using colored paper and a lamp. The still life
arrangement and the imagery I decided to introduce resulted in an encampment scene
beside an overpass. . I was satisfied with my response to the problem Monteith assigned
although; I leaned too heavily on a purple-yellow neutral as a dark value to describe the
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shadows in the scene. The lighting system that resulted in the painting was another early
morning system, as in figure 15. The abundance of blues and purples hues to describe
shadows and yellow-orange hues describing highlights is more believable in this painting
than figure 17 because of the clear depiction of a different time of day.
Figure 19. Still Life Abstraction Painting
Figure 19 is the only non-objective painting from the project included in the
portfolio. The problem assigned for this painting was the same as the one Monteith
assigned the first semester that I addressed in figure 10. I began the painting by working
from the still life arrangement. I chose to take it in the direction of abstraction after the
first time I rotated it 90 degrees to a new orientation. As a result the painting works well
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at all four orientations I worked on it. The most enjoyable part of this painting was
applying what I have learned about color from Monteith and making informed choices
about the direction of the abstraction. My description of forms in the space and the
quality of illumination was free, playful, and intuitive. Monteith’s comment about the
work was that the color became too muddy and lost some of their descriptive capacity.
Figure 20. Outdoor Painting Final on Yupo
The most ambitious and largest painting produced for this project is figure 20. It
served as my final painting for Monteith’s Outdoor Painting course. His assignment for
the final was that each student chooses one’s own painting problem based on the previous
work completed for the course. Wrestling over what with my painting problem should be,
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I hung up some of my favorite paintings to discuss with Monteith. In recent discussions
about my work Monteith had been pressuring me to figure out what I wanted to say in my
work. He explained that I should work towards uncovering the thing that is present in all
my paintings to inform future work, including the final assignment. Through the
discussion with Monteith about what to paint in my final the conclusion I reached was to
explore a composition in which river rock occupied more than half of the page. This
choice was based on my interest in river rocks because my treatment of the subject
generates a level of visual anxiety in the painting.
Recognizing my successes in this work should begin by acknowledging my subtle
use of color to achieve a strong sense of depth with the ground plane undulating through
a vast expanse of piled river rock. My use of color to describe form, space, and
illumination is also consistent with the feeling in the painting. The world I depicted in my
painting of the river rock scene matched the feeling of what it was like the day I painted
my source paintings. My description of the river rock piles and the ways that light fell
over their forms includes a number of color mixtures, yet none of them dominates the
others. The color relationships I observed at the location were successfully recorded in
the source paintings I produced. The many struggles I had with color mixing had taught
me a deeper understanding of color relationships and the many ways that color operates
in a painting. The color palette in figure 20 successfully describes the forms of the rocks,
the space resulting from the field of rocks receding, and the quality of illumination across
the scene at mid-afternoon.
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Monteith had worked with me to fix a problem in the painting before I considered
it completed. One area he identified as needing improvement to function within the
painting was the sky form. It was a problem in the final paining I had already identified
and been struggling to solve. I was at a loss as to how to solve it and worried it would not
get resolved before I turned it in. I had already received multiple comments and advice
from Monteith about how the sky form in previous paintings needed improvement. My
problem was that many of the skies I painted looked flat as a result of not getting the
color right. The technique I finally employed that achieved a satisfying sky form in figure
20 was the use of a blow dryer to speed the drying process of the paint on the Yupo
paper. In my previous attempts to master the sky form long drying time of watercolor on
Yupo paper had been troublesome. One of the unexpected side effects of using the blow
dryer to dry the sky faster were peculiar ghost like figures in the sky. These strange
wraiths added to the bizarre feeling of the location and introduced another level to the
mystery to the world of the painting. The greatest personal achievement in this painting is
the sense of mystery I achieved without apocalyptic imagery.
Summation of Works
In the first semester of work with Monteith my biggest area of growth was my
ability to identify different qualities of illumination in a scene. I also made advancements
in my understanding of the role of color plays in achieving multiple qualities of
illumination in a painting. I learned to anticipate the presence of a color’s compliment
when illumination on a hue shifts from light into shadow. The main lesson I took from
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this semester of work was that without identifying color relationships in a scene they will
not be successfully achieved in a painting.
The paintings that compose my second semester of work with Monteith reflect
further refinement of observation and painting skills related to color. The paintings
produced in the Outdoor Painting course represent a tenacious battle to master the use of
neutrals in my color palette. I also struggled with an overdependence on specific neutral
color relationships that contradicted thematic devices in some of my paintings. The final
painting produced at the end of the second semester is evidence of the success I achieved
through my work with color, having kept it consistent with the mood of the painting.
Figure 20 is an excellent culmination of my work for this project. It showcases
my newly acquired eye for identifying color relationships and my ability to use color
effectively to represent form, space, illumination, and feeling in my art. The river rock
painting is a powerful example of my work because the feeling of the painting remains
true to the world I painted and my message about it. Even when the material world has
become littered with an abundance of challenging terrain the spirit persists, someone,
somehow, finds a way to traverse the mysterious landscape.
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Chapter 4
REFLECTION
Introspection
Improving my expertise in painting, thereby increasing my capacity as an artist
and an educator, was the guiding objective of this project. The mastery I achieved in the
area of life painting is found in the works discussed and my evolved approach to art as a
maker. Reflecting on my experience with my project recalls Dewey’s reflection on “a
piece of work finished to satisfaction being so rounded out that its close is a
consummation and not a cessation” (Dewey, 1934, p. 37). My work as a painter did not
cease at the end of my two semesters of painting. As I write this, I have begun a third
consecutive semester of life painting with Monteith. Through my continued work as a
painter I have finally reached a suitable answer to the question of what I want to say in
my work.
Reflections of an Artist
Figuring out what it is I am doing, as a painter is a problem that Monteith posed to
me a few times towards the completion of my project. At the end of the Outdoor Painting
course, I struggled with the choice of an appropriate subject to satisfy the final painting
assignment. My solution at that time was to paint a large format painting with at least
two-thirds of the composition as river rock. The river rock theme was an approach to a
composition that Monteith identified as a visual devise to trigger an anxious reaction. In
many of the paintings I produced in the end of the Outdoor Painting class, I pursued
subject matter that satisfied my visual and conceptual interests; yet, the final painting
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stands out as the culmination of my project overall. Having identified the problem color
was causing in my work, when inconsistent with the visual theme of a painting, I was
able to address it. My large-scale river rock painting surpassed my expectations for the
assignment, yet my ability to say what I am doing in my work still required further
articulation. The clues that finally led me to a satisfactory response to the problem of my
purpose as a painter has only come to me during my third of coursework with Monteith.
Regardless of my success with that assignment, I continued to struggle with my
maturing approach to painting. Somewhere between the demands of writing up my
project and continuing to study painting in another Life Painting course I came to a
realization. I could find visual elements to serve my interest as a painter with any subject
or location. The sense of anxiety that resonated in imagery of apocalyptic narratives and
sublime natural features can be achieved in other subject matter through the manipulation
of color and the quality of illumination. The most practical knowledge I acquired about
color is that it operates on many levels, simultaneously in a painting. An expression I
remember Monteith using in classes about color was that it must do “heavy lifting” to
work effectively. His expression summarizes how color must provide visual information
in a painting, uniting: the hue of subject matter, the space the subject occupies, the quality
of illumination on the subject, and the feeling of being present at the scene.
Monteith’s emphasis on form, space, and illumination in relation to color was a
critical component of his instruction’s effectiveness. His insistence that each of his
students develop an approach to painting unique to one’s individual experience of making
art was central to my growth as a painter. Being asked to solve problems without a
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prescribed method for doing so helped me to develop an ability to identify and address
challenges that arose in my work. Acquiring my own solutions to issues in my work has
resulted a strong sense of self-reliance and problem solving ability as a painter.
My answer to the question of what I want to say with my work as a painter is still
celebrating its infancy. The statement I would like to say in my artwork parallels the
message I sought to articulate in my review of relevant literature and the write-up of my
project. The undercurrents within my paintings of apocalyptic narratives and sublime
landscapes suggest that heightened anxiety is a defining quality of the world in my
paintings. I do believe that one’s experience in the material world has become more and
more riddled with anxiety. I also believe that spirituality offers humanity a release and
revival from the demands of material survival. The hopeful side of my perspective on life
surfaced presence of human figures in the decayed world I painted. The anxiety ridden
visual themes of my work are counterbalanced by the message of a persistent spirit,
carried through the darkest of worlds by our shared humanity.
Reflections of an Art Educator
Through this project, I have received confirmation from my direct experience as a
student that the problem-posing teaching method is a highly effective, qualitative
approach to education. If not for the many opportunities in my two semesters of painting
to learn from the problems posed through my painting, I never would have made so many
discoveries related to my practice of painting. The literature review of this project
addressed the theories of Eisner (1992) and Dewey (1934). Both theorists support
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significant inclusion of arts in education as a means to offer learning experiences
centered on the benefits of problem-posing methodology.
The Brazilian educational theorists Freire (2007) and D’Ambrosio (2006) were
also discussed in the literature review as supporters of problem posing. These educators
and activists value this method because of their use of problems as opportunities for
educational curriculum. Freire viewed the economic or political struggle of a community
as a way to inspire literacy education towards a relevant purpose. D’Ambrosio’s program
of Ethnomathematics is also a problem-posing methodology that promotes the celebration
of cultural heritage and global harmony as the only reasonable objectives for education.
Both theorists favor a qualitative approach to education because they recognize that a
student’s disposition towards learning is directly related to one’s experience in the world.
Returning to the discussion of how consciousness evolves-from the second
section of the literature review-one must consider that the critical edge students will
require in the future is unprecedented. The freedom to develop self-reliance and approach
the problems encountered in life with a tool kit of experiences for support is an advantage
all future learners deserve. With the dominance of the quantitative approach to
assessment and teaching methods it has become difficult to incorporate student’s
experiences into their education in relevant ways. Teaching in the area of art I get to
create a variety of opportunities for my students to explore the qualities of their
experience. My experience from this project has reinforced my teaching objectives to
encourage my students to develop self-reliance through the use of problem-solving
methodology and promote life long learning through my own experience.
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