Professional Documents
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Martin Rosenberg and Frances Thurber
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Martin Rosenberg
Frances Thurber
Marilyn G. Stewart
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Martin Rosenberg and Frances Thurber
Follow an art teacher around for a day—and then Art Education in Practice provides the art teacher,
stand amazed. At any given moment, the art teacher museum educator, student, scholar, and layperson
has a ready knowledge of materials available for involved in art education with an overview of signifi¬
making and responding to art; lesson plans with cant topics in art education theory and practice. The
objectives for student learning; resources for extend¬ series is designed to meet the needs of art educators
ing art learning to other subjects; and the capabili¬ who want to know the issues within, the rationales
ties, interests, and needs of the students in the provided for, and the practical implications of
artroom. Often working with a schedule that accepting curricular proposals presented from a vari¬
requires shifting several times a day from working ety of scholarly and political perspectives.
with students in preschool to those in elementary, The emphasis of the series is on informed prac¬
middle, and high school, the art teacher decides tice. Each text focuses on a topic that has received
what to teach, how to teach it, whether students considerable attention in art education literature
have learned it, and what to do next. The need for and advocacy statements, but one that has not
rapid decision making in the artroom is relentless. always been accompanied by clear, concise, and
The demands continue after school as the art accessible recommendations for the classroom. As
teacher engages in assessment of student learning, new issues arise, books will be added to the series.
curriculum planning, organization of materials, and The goal of the series is to complement the profes¬
a wide range of activities within the school commu¬ sional libraries of practitioners in the field of art edu¬
nity. Although most teachers want to be aware of cation and, in turn, enhance the art-related lives of
and to integrate into their teaching new findings their students.
and developments within their field, they are
pressed to find the time for routine, extensive read¬
ing of the literature.
Editor's Introduction artists? Why, after all of the work we have done to
eliminate discrepancies in the way we treat our male
As I write this, I am traveling in a large commercial and female students, do we continue to accept and
jetliner piloted by a woman. In an era when a promote gender stereotypes? How does our teaching
woman has served as commander of a recent NASA practice reaffirm and promote ill-founded notions
Discovery mission, the idea of a woman pilot is by no about gender?
means surprising. I might not have noticed at all if I Martin Rosenberg and Frances Thurber localize
had not been thinking about the importance of gen¬ these and other questions as they ask readers to
der issues in art education. reflect on their own gender-related experiences, as
I vividly remember the very first time I learned children and as adults, in school and out of school, in
that the pilot of a flight I was on was female. I the art classes they have taught and those they have
found myself struggling with my assumptions and attended.
fears about whether a woman really could be as Because so much of what we believe and value is
good a pilot as a man. The image of a woman flying powerfully embedded in the images we carry around
the large commercial jetliner was inconsistent with with us, and because one of the best things we do as
the image I held in my head of a handsome airline art educators is assist our students in critically inter¬
captain found in advertisements, illustrations, and preting the meanings found in images, the authors
other potent image sources throughout the culture. highlight the unique opportunity that art educators
These images and what we learn from them have have to systematically address gender matters. As we
staying power capable of transcending our most move through their carefully constructed chapters, we
cogent, well-informed logic. encounter ideas about what we mean by gender
As anyone who has shopped for toys will attest, equity and how we can aim for it in curricular content,
what is male and what is female might as well be instructional strategies, and classroom management.
defined by color. One section of the toy department The authors have a long history of working
is pink—all pink. The other is a combination of together to assist teachers in making sound decisions
black, purple, and brown-green camouflage. about what and how to teach. I am very pleased that
Assumptions about who should play with which toys they have chosen to share the fruits of this fine work
are pervasive. Why, in the early years of the twenty- in a text that is part of the Art Education in Practice
first century, do we still carry around and promote series. Their perspectives as feminist art historian, on
false assumptions about gender roles? Why, after all one hand, and feminist art educator, on the other,
the strides we have made in terms of gender equity serve to enrich their vision about what art education
in athletics and the workplace, do we abide such can be and what art teachers can do to ensure that
messages? their students have strong, substantive, and unbiased
We might ask similar questions about what hap¬ experiences with art and visual culture, that they
pens in schools and art classrooms. Why, after all we become critical thinkers who value gender equity,
have learned about how women artists have been and that they develop deep appreciation for the
overlooked and how their artistic work has not been artistic work of all humans today and in the past.
recognized as valuable or significant, do we still find
programs that focus on the work of white male Marilyn G. Stewart
v
Copyright © 2007
Davis Publications, Inc.
Worcester, Massachusetts U.S.A.
ISBN 0-87192-745-4
ISBN-13 978-0-87192-745-3
10987654321
Printed in the United States of America
To Ellen, Matt, Val, and Amysue, as well as all other teachers
concerned about gender equity.
—Martin Rosenberg
left to me.
—Frances Thurber
Contents
ii
Acknowledgments xvi
Introduction. xvi ii
C h a p t e r 1
Understanding Gender: In Society, Schools, and the Artroom .... 1
Chapter
viii
The Pluralist Approach . 20
C h a p t e r ^2
Chapter /
How Do Art and Visual Culture Shape Our Views of Gender? ... 43
IX
Chapter 5
Transforming Curriculum to Foster Gender Equity 57
x
Consider Gender Within the Context of Multiculturalism. 71
Chapter C?
Reflective Exercises . 85
Action Exercises. 86
XI
Chapter. 7
Windows into Practice: Four Case Studies . 91
Chapter ^
Appendix—Worksheets. 138
Index.. 149
XIII
Acknowledgments I (Martin) would like to add an additional
acknowledgment to Leilani Lattin Duke, director of
This book is the fruit of our work, over many years, the former.Getty Education Center for the Arts in
in gender issues in our respective fields of art history Los Angeles for inviting me to serve as the Visiting
and art education. No one ever completes a project Scholar at the Getty Center in 1998-1999, when my
of this scope without the support of colleagues, research for this book began. I would also like to
friends, and family. We are grateful for our deep thank my good friends and fellow art historians
involvement in the Prairie Visions project in Mary Lewis, Mark Thistlethwaite, Beth Schneider,
Nebraska, one of the regional DBAE institute grant Linda Hults, and Bernard Barryte, whose interest in
projects supported by the J. Paul Getty Trust, since its my work has meant so much. My largest debt is to
inception in 1987, and we have made gender issues Dr. Ellen Fennick, my life partner and constant con¬
a particular focus of our work in that project. The sultant, and my children Matthew and Valerie, with¬
Prairie Visions Institute has given us a living labora¬ out whose constant support and understanding this
tory to explore our ideas about gender, art, and art monumental project could not have been accom¬
education, many of which are in this book. We have plished. Finally, words cannot adequately express my
benefited greatly from working very closely with col¬ good fortune at having my dear friend and deeply
leagues and friends Gary Day, Michael Gillespie, and respected colleague Frances Thurber as my co-author
Joanne Sowell of the University of Nebraska at and collaborator in the richest sense of the word.
Omaha, and many K-12 art educators and museum I (Frances) am very grateful to my long-time
educators across the state, including the Institute's friend and co-author Martin Rosenberg, for his vast
faculty, who all worked together to link theory to knowledge and sensitivity, and for collaborating in a
practice. We owe a particular debt to the four teach¬ most marvelous dialogue throughout the prepara¬
ers, Linda Jorgensen, Linda Weinert, David tion of this book. I also wish to personally thank
Manriquez, and Caroline Schmitz, whose curriculum Enid Zimmerman from Indiana University for her
work provided the case studies discussed in Chapter enduring friendship and her mentorship relative to
7. We also thank Sheila Brown and Martin Skomal our research in gender issues and art education over
for their leadership of the Prairie Visions project. the years. My sincerest appreciation also goes to my
Finally, we thank our university students, with whom family, who have supported my work.
we have shared these ideas over many years.
We offer our deepest appreciation to Marilyn
Stewart, who enthusiastically supported our concept
of a book on gender and art education from the
very beginning and helped us bring it to fruition.
We wish to thank our publisher Wyatt Wade, our
editor David Coen, and the other staff at Davis
Publications for their assistance in the completion of
this project.
XIV
Authors' Statement
used in class for gender bias, is a step in the right tions about gender differences. What does research
direction. The authors hope this book will inspire reveal about differences between males and females
you to embark on or continue your own voyage of in general, and in the art classroom? We discuss
XVI
common assumptions about gender differences and designing new activities, themes, and approaches,
examine them critically. and reframing existing curricula relative to gender
Chapter 2 examines considerations of, and and art education. The assumption here is that an
assumptions about, gender in society, in schools, and enhanced understanding of gender theory is only
especially in the art classroom. We also look at how worthwhile if it is translated by the reader into her
gender affects both the way we teach and what we or his classroom.
teach. The discussion includes a review of the special Chapters 6 and 7 explore a variety of behaviors
characteristics of art instruction that increase both by teachers and students, as well as environmental
the importance of issues of gender in the art class¬ factors in the classroom, which can promote a gen¬
room, and the range of possibilities for dealing with der equitable approach to art education. We then
these issues in a substantive way. offer an overview of four teachers who worked on
Chapter 3 presents key theoretical and concep¬ the construction of gender-inclusive art lessons. An
tual issues in relation to gender and art. We describe analysis of how each contributing teacher modified
important ideas in relation to gender in art instruc¬ or re-envisioned their art curriculum to explore,
tion and discusses how views about gender and art more effectively, issues of gender in his or her class¬
have evolved, particularly over the last thirty years. room is provided. Each of these studies focuses on a
We examine how gender shapes our views of art. different developmental level, K-3, 4-6, 7-9 and
This includes such issues as: how art is defined, who 10-12. Three of them were developed by art special¬
is considered an artist, what is considered important ists, and a fourth was designed by an elementary
art, and what perspectives in art and on art are classroom teacher who was interested in creating
valid. interdisciplinary lessons for her students.
Chapter 4 considers how images shape our con¬ Our last chapter provides concrete definition for
ceptions of gender; what assumptions society makes the ideal art classroom in which issues of gender are
about male or female subjects and points of view; treated in a rich and comprehensive manner, and
what we mean by describing certain art or qualities where both girls and boys receive an equitable edu¬
of art as "masculine" or "feminine;" and what cation. The authors also explore some of the poten¬
effects conceptions of masculinity and femininity, tial effects of inclusive curriculum on the teacher, on
which can be so strongly influenced by art instruc¬ the students, on other subject matter in the school
tion, have on students' lives and on society as a curriculum, and on the community.
whole. Finally, we include resources and appendixes that
Chapter 5 raises a variety of curriculum-related provide information and assist readers in obtaining
issues teachers need to consider in relation to gen¬ books and articles, as well as audiovisual and other
der and art education in order to create a gender- resources necessary to deal effectively in the class¬
equitable art classroom. We also consider how issues room with the gender issues raised in this book.
of gender relate to other important aspects of per¬ Resources include information about accessing rele¬
sonal identity, such as an individual's ethnicity, sexual vant images, reproductions, software, and Web
orientation, social class, or religious beliefs. The sources. A bibliography keyed to both artists and
chapter offers readers a variety of suggestions for gender issues including historical, biographical, theo-
xviii
retical, curricular, and critical materials is also
included, as are worksheets relating to gender and
art education.
You may think that gender is the clearest and most obvious concept one
can imagine. After all, there are boys and girls. In the words of the old cliche
"What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice and all things nice. What are
little boys made of? Snips and snails and puppy dog tails." Although most
people today understand the absurdity of this rhyme, people and society
often treat boys and girls as opposites. To the superficial observer, boys and
girls don't seem to look alike, act alike, think the same thoughts, or possess
2 Chapter 1
for girls, for boys, and for society as a whole. Current Gender Matters
research maintains that it is not.
"In almost every society and culture, boys are pre¬
A mounting body of evidence demonstrates that
ferred and privileged over girls. Son preference is a
the differing treatment and socialization of girls and
form of gender discrimination that begins at birth—
boys limits the possibilities for both. Many studies
or even before. It may be subtle, as when boys,
support the notion that the socialization process, a
but not girls, are encouraged to pursue advanced
major portion of which occurs in schools, has an
education ... It may be pronounced, as when girl
extremely detrimental effect on girls in terms of ful¬
children are physically neglected, or given smaller
filling their full potential. In fact, what teachers
shares of food, health care, or resources."
often describe as girls' strengths in the classroom—
Source: Joni Seager, The State of Women in the World
good behavior, desire to please teachers, and gen¬
Atlas, 2nd ed. (London: Penguin Books), 1997, 34.
eral attention to assigned tasks—actually work
against them in terms of obtaining equal, quality This may seem to be a statement that applies to
attention from the teacher. At the same time, boys' other cultures, but can you think of common, though
poor behavior often works in their favor, as they perhaps less severe, forms of gender discrimination in
monopolize much of the teacher's attention and our society? For example, do girls receive the same
••••**■
time.3 Research also indicates, however, that we may level of encouragement to enter the professions or to
have strapped our male children into an emotionally pursue careers in business or government?
>*4a
repressive "boy code" which often dooms them to Try This: With your students, make a list of roles that
failure in certain academic skills such as reading and adults are expected to play in society, such as: work¬
writing, and lack of success in their emotional and ing full-time, taking care of children, cooking, serving
»mU
behavioral growth.4 Conscientious teachers can in public office, taking care of the sick, etc. For each
actively participate in efforts to reduce gender role, ask students to write down whether a man, a
inequality. How do they begin? Sorting out some key woman, or either might most likely fill that role. Ask
concepts about gender issues will provide a common students to give reasons for their answers and discuss
base for discussion. their conclusions. You are likely to find that, as is
3
Understanding Gender: In Society, Schools, and the Artroom
Try This iors can be assigned to individuals based on whether
they are male or female. Gender stereotypes can
t-i Think back to your childhood. Write down a list of
have a number of different components: traits, role
your parents' expectations of you. Did you have a *
Depending on whether someone is male or female, boys. Regardless of the ways teachers' biases are
people tend to have strong, and very different, expressed, preset expectations narrow the range of
expectations about how they should dress, act, and acceptable behaviors in and out of the classroom for
relate to others. These expectations directly affect both boys and girls.
4 Chapter 1
Why should teachers be aware of gender issues? Gender Matters
Even if teachers never deal directly with gender
When the University of Michigan was founded in
issues in their curricula, the classroom is a prime site
1837, places were set aside for women, but none
for shaping our students' ideas about gender,
were admitted until 1870. An 1858 report of the
whether the teacher or students are aware of it or
University Regents opposed coeducation on the
not. Both the content teachers present, and their
grounds that it was "contrary to nature," and that
pedagogy shape students' views of gender. As will
"young men would lose a proper sense of dignity of
be discussed in Chapter 2, there are many reasons
their pursuits," while "the delicacy of the female
why the art classroom can play such a powerful role
character would be destroyed."
in shaping students' ideas about gender. Regardless
Source: Carl Degler, At Odds: Women and the Family
of whether teachers are responsible for all subjects
in America from the Revolution to the Present (New
or only art in their classrooms, gender issues always
York and London: Oxford University Press, 1980), 311.
play a role in teaching art. Examining some long-
held and influential assumptions about gender will
prepare the ground for exploring the ways gender
Discussion Point: Do we still see traces of these gen¬
shapes views of art, and art shapes ideas about der attitudes today? For example, people still seem
gender. to see certain traits or occupations as male or
\
female.
Assumptions and Misconceptions
about Gender: In Society and Schools
Before discussing how gender issues play out in Try This: With your students, make a list of nouns
the classroom, one can examine some common and adjectives, such as strong, weak, leader, fol¬
assumptions and misconceptions about gender. lower, teacher, sympathetic, attractive, etc. Next,
Many assumptions about gender fall into certain ask students to classify each word as male, female,
commonly recurring categories and have a long or either. Then write a list of the "male" words and
history. What are some of the most frequently held the "female" words on the board and discuss the
assumptions by society and education, assumptions results. Do most students agree, or are there strong
that affect how teachers treat their male and female differences of opinion? Are there greater differences
Females as Inferior Males The notion that females you find common gender biases, such as the idea
are deficient males has a long history. The Greek that a strong person must be male, among your stu¬
either. Compile the lists and ask students Males and Females as Opposites The notion that
to explain their answers. Although soci¬ men and women are opposites, with complementary
ety is increasingly coming to the realiza¬ qualities, also has a long history in Western thought
tion that either men or women can fill and practice. In the Renaissance, it was argued that
most occupations, what attitudes sur¬ men are, by nature, hot and dry, whereas, women
faced among your students? You may are cold and wet. Since it was believed that heat and
find that stereotypical views about what dryness were necessary for intelligence, men were,
occupations are "male" or "female" per¬ by definition, more intelligent than women. Even
sist among your students. You might though these ideas seem ridiculous today, these
also ask your students what they might beliefs about the essential nature of men and
consider as a career. Are the answers you women led to assumptions about their respective
receive from boys and girls similar or potentials, roles, and capabilities. Prejudiced asser¬
different? tions about women's intellectual abilities, supposed
physical limitations, and supposed emotional instabil¬
ity or fragility were used to argue that they must be
kept out of many spheres, including higher educa¬
tion, business, public life, and professional artistic
careers. If these ideas about gender difference seem
distant and absurd, remember that there are still
debates going on as to whether or not women are
"fit" to do certain jobs. Recent studies have demon¬
strated that when the same anonymous publication,
is attributed to a man, it is rated more favorably by
both men and women than when it is attributed to a
woman author, suggesting that sexist bias still exists.6
i-5%,
S-
llllslfik
6 Chapter 1
In examining statistics related to large groups of
Students Speak about Gender Matters
girls and boys, one can identify differences in charac¬
teristics of importance to educators. However, "I hate it when teachers correct you," says Evie, who
according to several different studies, girls and boys . . . is enrolled in Weston's gifted students program.
are far more alike in their skills, competencies, and "And it's worse when they say it's okay to do things
educational outcomes than they are different.7 To wrong in that voice like 'It's okay, honey.' I can't
put it another way, there is greater variation in these handle it. I get really red and I start crying and I feel
between boys and girls. Teachers' assumptions about "I think," Amy says slowly, "I think girls just worry
boys and girls may bias the way they treat individu¬ about what people will say more than boys do, so
als in the classroom, so that a student's educational they don't want to talk so much. . . ." "Boys never
performance simply reinforces the teacher's biases. care if they're wrong. They can say totally off-the-
For example, girls may live down to expectations wall things, things that have nothing to do with the
that they will be poor in mathematics; or a teacher's class sometimes. They're not afraid to get in trouble
expectations that a male student in an art class or anything. I'm not shy. But it's like, when I get into
requires more assistance in developing technical skills class, I just. . . ." She shrugs her shoulders helplessly.
than girls may lead to learned helplessness. Studies "I just can't talk. I don't know why."
show that art teachers will often finish the work of
Source: Peggy Orenstein, School Girls: Young
their female students rather than give them extra
Women, Self-Esteem and the Confidence Gap
technical attention.8 What impact might this have on
(New York: 1994), 12.
the ambitions, self-confidence, and success of girls,
It is important for teachers who wish to promote
particularly those interested in careers in art?
gender equity to monitor who does the talking in
Although people often refer to "the opposite
their classrooms. Research suggests that if students
sex," does research on similarities and differences
are left to their own devices, boys will dominate,
between males and females support this phrase?
and girls will be shut out.
The answer is no.
8 Chapter 1
As teachers, we need to be aware that both girls In 1974, when two female psychologists, Maccoby
and boys may be less likely to assume roles and and Jacklin, reviewed a large number of studies that
behaviors which society sees as more appropriate for purported to demonstrate differences in a wide
the other gender. Through what we do in the class¬ variety of behavioral areas between males and
room we may be able, for example, to foster explo¬ females, they came to very different conclusions and
ration and leadership in our girls, as well as in our views from the common wisdom in psychology at
boys, and to promote relationships and connections the time, which tended to see males and females
among our boys, as well as among our girls. By chal¬ as so profoundly different. This bias about gender
lenging the limited expectations in terms of roles differences had affected many of the studies they
and behaviors that society has for boys and girls, we reviewed.They concluded that there were only four
can broaden the possibilities for all our students. areas in which female-male differences were well-
established: aggression, spatial ability, verbal ability,
Differences in Cognitive and Perceptual Skills and quantitative ability. For example, they indicated
and Other Behaviors that young children generally preferred same-sex
Research by psychologists has often been biased by playmates, and by the age of four, they had devel¬
the assumption that males and females are funda¬ oped a strong sense of their own gender. They used
mentally different psychologically. Researchers have language differently. Boys' language was command¬
put much rnpre effort into looking for psychological ing in nature; girls' language took on a "suggesting"
differences between genders than for similarities. approach. Boys were often "showoffs" who favored
The end result is that psychologists have tended to the behavior to social cohesion. Girls often exhibited
focus on and even exaggerate the significance of passive behavior and were often rewarded for it by
studies that seemed to reveal differences, and to adults. By ages six to ten, children were intense
ignore or minimize findings that revealed similarities stereotypers. Were these distinctions purely a matter
between genders. of gender classification? Certainly not. Socially con¬
Everyone accepts that there are some physiologi¬ structed forces are at work determining gender role
cal differences between females and males. expectations and differences within twenty-four
Generally, women are capable of bearing children; hours of a child's birth.
they live longer, are smaller, have more body fat, With subsequent studies and analyses over the
have half the upper-body strength of males, and intervening thirty years, even these four "well-
mature about two years earlier than men. Apparent established" gender differences cited by Maccoby
differences between males and females in perceptual and Jacklin have been challenged or qualified.10
and cognitive abilities do not present such a clear What can we conclude from this body of research?
picture. Although a great deal of research has gone Evidence from psychology suggests that it makes no
into attempting to document and explain differences sense to talk of "opposite sexes," and that we need
in preferences, perceptions, or performance, the to consider that girls and boys have a wide range of
results are limited and perhaps even elusive. abilities and behaviors which are not dictated solely
by their gender.
10 Chapter 1
Notes 13 Leni Salkind and Neil J. Salkind, "Gender and Age
1 Hilary M. Lips, Sex and Gender: An Introduction, 5th ed. Differences in Preference for Works of Art," Studies in
(Mountain View, CA: Mayfield, 2004), xi. Art Education 38, no. 4, 1997, 246-256.
2 Ibid., 292-294. 14 Thomas M. Brewer, "The Relationship of Art Instruction,
3 American Institute for Research, Gender Gaps: Where Grade-Level, and Gender on Third- and Seventh-Grade
Schools Still Fail Our Children, commissioned by the Student Drawings," Studies in Art Education 39, no. 2,
AAUP (New York: Marlowe and Company, 1999), 62-63. 1998,132-146.
4 William Pollock, Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the
Myths of Boyhood (New York: Random House, 1998),
233-236; see also David and Myra Sadker, Failing at
Fairness: Flow Our Schools Cheat Girls (New York:
Touchstone Books, 1994), Ch. 8, "The Miseducation of
Boys," 197-225.
5 Much of the subsequent discussion of sex and gender
and what we do and don't know about gender similari¬
ties and differences is distilled from the following
sources: Lips, Sex and Gender: An Introduction; James A.
Doyle, Sex and Gender: The Fluman Experience
(Dubuque,. IA: William C. Brown, 1985).
6 Lips, Sex and Gender: An Introduction, 12.
7 American Institute for Research, Gender Gaps, 6.
8 Renee Sandell, "Feminist Concerns and Gender Issues in
Art Education," Translations: From Theory to Practice 8,
no. 1, Spring 1999.
9 "Gender: The Enduring Paradox," video by Greater
Washington Telecommunications Inc., 1991, for
Smithsonian Institution World and WETA; "Sex and
Gender," Annenberg—CPB Collection Video, Discovering
Psychology series, no. 17, 1989.
10 Eleanor Maccoby and Carol Jacklin, The Psychology of
Sex Differences (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press,
1974), discussed in Lips, Sex and Gender: An
Introduction, 109, and Doyle, Sex and Gender: The
Fluman Experience, 57.
11 Lips, Sex and Gender: An Introduction, 184.
12 Kathleen A. Flannery and Malcolm W. Watson, "Sex
Differences and Gender-Role Differences in Children's
Drawings," Studies in Art Education 36, no. 2, 1995,
114-122,
Evidence shows that even young children already reveal that they have internal¬
ized stereotypes related to gender. For example, boys often express contempt
for behavior they label as "sissy," such as playing with dolls. If a girl wants to
may be labeled a "tomboy," that is one who is not a "proper" girl. How are
and perpetuation: education, religion, business, politics, the media, and others.
own lives and explore what impact they had on us. Rather than citing all the
ways society shapes our notions of gender, this discussion will focus primarily
on the role of schools, since that is our focus as teachers. Yet it is useful to
13
Try This
It is also important to realize that in examining the
characteristics of large groups of boys and girls, fac¬
Observe a group of young children in a classroom
tors other .than gender, such as class, ethnicity, sexual
built around activity centers. Do boys and girls play
orientation, or religious belief may have a profound
together? Are some centers used primarily by boys?
impact. Teachers need to h.e aware that classroom
By girls? What do your observations tell you about
populations are composed of individuals who are alike
gender expectations and stereotyping? Do you see
in many ways and different in many ways. No particu¬
how young children's play already seems to reveal
lar characteristic—not gender, class, ethnicity, sexual
the effects of socialization by gender?
orientation, or other single factor—predetermines the
characteristics or educational potential of that individ¬
ual. That's why teachers must constantly strive to cre¬
ate an equitable environment for all students.
14 Chapter 2
likely that we will have students in our classroom Gender Matters
who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, or in a
"The concepts of masculinity and femi¬
state of questioning about their sexual orientation.
ninity have a long history in psychologi¬
Providing a safe space for them in our classes is criti¬
cal discourse, but both theoretically and
cal so that they do not become victims of harassment
empirically, they seem to be among the
or discrimination in the school setting or by their
muddiest concepts in the psychologist's
peers. Let's look more closely at these dynamics.
vocabulary."
Art is not created in a vacuum. Artists, as they
—Anne Constantinople (1973), quoted in
seek to make meaning of their worlds, draw upon
James A. Doyle, Sex and Gender:
personal, social, cultural, spiritual, and intellectual
The Human Experience, 63.
ideas and values, as well as many other types of
awareness. Any aspect of a person's identity can
shape her or his art, but it does not necessarily have
to do so. However, refusal to address or become
informed about these issues in the discussion or
exploration of artworks can diminish both the art
and the learning experience for students.
Notions of gender and sexual orientation in the
classroom are often either ignored or thought about
in terms of opposites. Tightly defined categorizations
and labels such as male vs. female, masculine vs.
feminine, heterosexual vs. homosexual all serve to
create an environment of the "other," where one
type of human being becomes the norm by which a
person who is seen as different is judged. In society,
one type of person is almost always preferred over
the other. This rigid split creates difficulties for those
individuals who do not seem to have the "preferred"
characteristics. It is even more difficult for people
who do not fit into a clearly "masculine" or "femi¬
nine" mold, or who cross one of society's other com¬
mon boundaries. Not all cultures present such a
problem for their citizens. Indeed, in one Native
American culture, four genders are the accepted
norm: male, female, masculine female, and
berdache, a male person in society whose character¬
istic skill in dance, chant, or art provides him with
"two spirits," manifested in sensitivity and wisdom,
15
Gender Matters: Gender Views and How they Affect Art Students
that benefit the spiritual nature of the culture as a gendered, and questioning youth experience serious
whole. This person is revered and sought out by verbal abuse and even physical violence at the hands
members of that society.1 of their families, peers, and community.2 The most
Classrooms contain students who do not fit into important reason teachers need to consider these
neat masculine or feminine classifications, regardless issues is that all youth deserve an equitable educa¬
of their sexual orientation. Female students may be tion, regardless of their gender, sexual orientation,
aggressive, outspoken, or dress in clothing deemed ethnicity, or class.
"masculine." Male students may be soft-spoken, shy, Teachers are in a position to define their class¬
or prefer poetry to football, and thus are labeled rooms as a safe place for all students. Harassment of
"effeminate" or "sissies." Most of these students students because of their sexual orientation is out¬
will, at one time or another, experience discrimina¬ right discrimination and cannot be tolerated in our
tion, verbal abuse, isolation, or even violence from classrooms. The fluid and open nature of art classes,
certain peers. Males are particularly at risk as targets where students can explore big ideas, engage in seri¬
because our society holds out a stereotypical notion ous reflective activity, and participate meaningfully
of "masculinity" as the norm. If males do not con¬ in group process, provides an excellent opportunity
form to this rigid standard of roles and behaviors, it for democracy in action. Teachers are role models for
is perceived as a serious breach of character. If students and can actively create a safe space for stu¬
females seek to emulate that masculine norm, then dents in the art classroom. Some specific strategies
it is viewed as a less serious problem, since the femi¬ for creating such a nurturing learning environment
nine role is not as highly valued in society in the first are discussed more in detail in Chapters 5 and 6.
place. Some of our students, in addition to not fit¬
ting into a rigid gender role categorization, will The Impact of Technology
have a homosexual or bisexual orientation as well. Another key aspect of pedagogy that must be con¬
The authors suggest that it is a teacher's ethical sidered in promoting gender equity is the use of
responsibility to ensure that these students have a technology. For example, Sandell's work on gender
safe space in which to learn and grow into healthy, issues reports that even though girls have made
functional adult members of society. strides in closing the gender gap for math and sci¬
According to some statistics, gay and lesbian ence achievement in schools, technology is becoming
youth are two to three times more likely to attempt the new "boy's dub."3 Art teachers are in a unique
suicide than their heterosexual peers. Many have position, for the benefit of both girls and boys, to
made multiple attempts at suicide. Eighty percent of ensure that opportunities exist for students to
gay and lesbian youth experience serious problems develop visual literacy through analysis and interpre¬
with feelings of social and emotional isolation and tation of graphically designed media and other arti¬
even outright rejection by individuals in their home, facts of popular and "high" culture, including
school, and community. They are more at risk for Web-based art, performance art, audio/video pack¬
substance abuse than their heterosexual peers, and aging or advertising, magazines, etc. Art teachers are
are also more at risk for the acquisition of sexually also able to make certain that both girls and boys
transmitted diseases. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans- have opportunities in their classes for achievement in
16 Chapter 2
computer-aided design, and equal exposure to elec¬ Girls in the Null Curriculum
tronic media for research in art history or other "When girls do not see themselves in the pages of
related content areas. textbooks, when teachers do not point out or con¬
Gender Matters: Gender Views and How they Affect Art Students 17
Curriculum and Gender courses—the material is often presented in cursory fashion.
the most common gender inequalities of society found in the A Point to Ponder: As you think about your own art curriculum
hidden curriculum of classrooms are the presence of social in respect to the existence of the hidden, the null, and the
interactions that reinforce male dominance, provision for occa¬ evaded curricula in your school setting, what content and
sions promoting stereotyping, and a lack of cooperative inter¬ actions need to surface, change, or be reinforced? Write down
action between genders.s For example, when a teacher gives your ideas for further exploration.
the lion's share of attention to boys, while ignoring girls, the
created by women.
"The evaded curriculum is the term coined ... for matters cen¬
18 Chapter 2
Approaches to Gender Equity The Critic Speaks
in the Artroom
"Man's sphere is that of creation . . .
Art educators interested in gender equity have iden¬
woman's that of preservation and
tified several different approaches that might be
nourishment."
used in the art education classroom. Each can con¬
tribute to gender equity in the art classroom, but the —Arthur Bye, Art and Decoration, 1910,
approaches have different strengths and limitations. quoted by Cindy Nemser, "Stereotypes
In her research from 1981, Collins states that we the Visual Arts (New York: Teacher
have three choices for approaching gender equity College Press, 1979), 157.
Gender Matters: Gender Views and How they Affect Art Students 19
introduce gender-related issues, such as the very dif¬ focus on "social action" as a basis for transformation
ferent levels of opportunity men and women had to and selection of both content and pedagogical
become artists. This approach might be described as behaviors. Citing the imagery of Judy Chicago, May
%
"gender blind." A great deal of research suggests Stevens, and Mary Kelly, she challenged art educa¬
that since this approach does not deal directly with tors to explore contemporary feminist art that tran-
gender inequities in curriculum or in society as a scends personal expression, challenges notions of
whole, it does little to further gender equality in the "fine art" in social contexts, and possesses the power
classroom. to inform students about socially constructed notions
of power, fame, or value.9
The Pluralist Approach There is no single correct approach to gender
In the third, or "pluralist" approach, Collins suggests equity in the art classroom. Many teachers may find
that the contributions of both traditional and femi¬ that a combination of approaches works best. The
nist educational thought and art content are given authors believe, however, that approaches that con¬
attention as appropriate for the needs and growth sider women's contributions to art and culture
of all students. The focus here is not merely additive, within their social and cultural contexts, as well as
but a balanced and reconceptualized view of exist¬ those that transform both content and pedagogy,
ing and inequitable art and educational canons.8 can contribute most effectively to promoting gender
"Canons" are made up of the body of artists' works equity.
or ideas that are most generally accepted as impor¬ In art education, the concept that gender is a
tant. There will be an equal emphasis on male and social construction and the parallel idea that art and
female artists working in a variety of media, and visual culture generally play a major role in shaping
gender issues, such as the obstacles women artists one's notion of gender, are becoming more widely
faced, will be explored. This approach seems to offer accepted among researchers. Now it is essential to
more probing and substantial possibilities for grap¬ bring these concepts into the art classroom. Raising
pling with issues of gender, which allow teachers to students' awareness of the key role that art and
question basic issues related to gender in the cur¬ visual culture play in "constructing" gender gives
riculum and in the classroom. We agree with Collins them a powerful means to question their own and
and Sandell that of the three approaches discussed others' gender expectations, biases, and stereotypes.
above, the pluralist approach is most effective in
promoting gender equity in the art classroom. Parallels Found in Approaches
to Multiculturalism
The Social Action Approach These views of the approaches to promoting gender
In 1990, Zimmerman, referencing the work of Collins equity in the classroom are paralleled in, and sup¬
and also a model for levels of multicultural inclusion ported by, the work of James Banks on approaches
created by Sleeter and Grant, contended that a to multiculturalism. Banks traced how ethnic content
fourth approach to gender equity in art classrooms is had been structured into school curricula since the
necessary. She suggested that this approach should 1960s.10 He also suggested four levels of inclusion:
20 Chapter 2
(1) the contributions approach, which focuses on tional, collaborative, or community arts-based efforts.
exceptional people or ethnic celebrations; (2) the Similarly, K-12 art programs traditionally rewarded tal¬
additive approach, which attaches more curriculum ented students for their art-making skill, and did not
content to the existing structure without rethinking make it a high priority to educate all students about
the curriculum for implications or ramifications; (3) art through the other art disciplines until after 1965.
the transformation approach, which reconfigures the Some efforts, however, in what came to be called
structure of the curriculum to allow for inclusion of the "discipline-based" or "DBAE" approach of the
themes, perspectives, and concepts drawn from 1980-1990s were highly criticized by certain art educa¬
diverse cultural populations; and (4) the social action tors in the field who saw the approach as a perpetua¬
approach, which encourages students to make tion of a fixed set of culturally elitist, sexist, and
important personal decisions about issues presented philosophically outdated ideas. Although the authors
in the curriculum, and to take steps to resolve those do not agree with these assertions, DBAE, now more
issues in society. commonly known as "comprehensive" art education,
Collins and Sandell's comprehensive book for art has evolved over the past twenty years to a more
educators, Women, Art, and Education (1984), drew pointed focus on issues of gender and cultural diver¬
upon Sadker and Sadker's Sex Equity Handbook for sity.12 The authors have promoted and supported this
the Schools (1982) as a source of possible approaches development.
for ensuring gender equity in art classrooms.11 The recent shift in art education that moves
\
Several of their suggestions, along with many other beyond traditional conceptions of art to consider the
specific strategies for promoting gender equity in art broader realm of visual culture in its many manifesta¬
classrooms, are discussed in Chapters 5 and 6. In tions, including images in popular and mass media,
Chapter 8, we provide a framework for considering allows for an even richer consideration of gender
these approaches, both in relation to gender equity issues in the art classroom and as they affect students'
and multiculturalism. lives. We suggest that an approach to instruction
drawing on the broadest range of sources for visual
Gender in the Artroom: Past and Present and creative expression, and including the history of
The K-12 art classroom has, in its history, an endur¬ artistic expression from various cultures across time,
ing focus on artistic achievement by mostly male contemporary visual culture, and contributions from
European artists. More recently, as the traditional artists in our own communities, will be all the richer
canon of art and artists deemed worthy of study has and engage our students' interests more actively.
been expanded and challenged, more attention has A socially aware and comprehensive approach to
been paid to the contributions to art and human cul¬ art education that combines multicultural, feminist,
ture by both men and women of diverse cultural and contemporary perspectives of art history, art criti¬
backgrounds. Definitions of art and artists have been cism, aesthetics, and studio experiences, can provide
expanded to include a wider range of works by multiple avenues for pursuing a healthy gender-
women and artists of diverse ethnic and cultural sensitive environment for individual students in our
backgrounds, and to include consideration of func¬ classrooms. Drawing on substantive content and using
Gender Matters: Gender Views and How they Affect Art Students 21
Gender Matters issues-based or thematic approaches that reflect the
needs, values, and traditions of diverse student pop¬
"Only by demystifying the stereotypical view of the
ulations is an effective way to design curricula for
artist, female and male, can we hope to reveal the *
22 Chapter 2
ated by and for both men and women, provides The Artist Speaks
teachers with rich anthropological, aesthetic, psycho¬
Question from art critic and historian
logical, and artistic content for our students to
Cindy Nemser to a group of leading con¬
explore in terms of gender and other critical social
temporary female artists: "As a female
realities.15
artist, have you ever experienced dis¬
view of art education goals in their teaching, they collectors that they have been advised
can still retain the notion of individual achievement never to buy the works of a woman."
Gender Matters: Gender Views and How they Affect Art Students 23
Notes Education," The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 15, 2,
1 James Doyle, Sex and Gender: The Human Experience 1981, 83-94. These ideas were further elaborated in
(Dubuque, IA: William C. Brown, 1985), 137-138. Georgia Collins and Renee Sandell, Women, Art, and
%
2 "Factfile: Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Youth," information Education (Reston, VA: National Art Education
3 Renee Sandell, "Feminist Concerns and Gender Issues in 9 Enid Zimmerman, "Issues delated to Teaching Art from a
Art Education." NAEA Translations: From Theory to Feminist Point of View," Visual Arts Research 16, no. 2,
Practice 8, no. 11 Spring, 1999. 1-9. Article cites the work of Collins and also Christine
4 Anne Chapman, "Undercurrents of Gender: The Hidden Sleeter and Carl Grant's "An Analysis of Multicultural
Curriculum and the Null Curriculum," A Great Balancing Education in the United States," Harvard Educational
Act: Equitable Education for Boys and Girls Review 57, no. 4, 1987, 421-444.
(Washington, DC: National Association of Independent 10 James Banks, "Integrating the Curriculum with Ethnic
Schools, 1997), 13-38. Quote is from p. 13. Content: Approaches and Guidelines," in J. Banks and
5 Theresa Mickey McCormick, Creating the Nonsexist C. Banks, eds.. Multicultural Education: Issues and
Classroom: A Multicultural Approach (New York, Perspectives (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1989), 192-207.
Teachers College Press, 1994). McCormick, on p. 60, 11 Georgia Collins and Renee Sandell, Women, Art, and
quotes Gollnick and Chinn's (1994) definition of hidden Education; Myra and David Sadker, Sex Equity Handbook
curriculum. The most common factors listed were based for the Schools (New York: Longman, Inc., 1982).
on Lockheed and Klein's 1985 study, quoted in 12 Articles such as Georgia Collins and Renee Sandell's
6 Eliot Eisner, "The Three Curricula that All Schools Women, Children, and Other Folk," Journal of Multi¬
Teach," The Educational Imagination: On the Design cultural and Cross-Cultural Research in Art Education 6,
and Evaluation of School Programs (New York: no. 1, 55-63, and Karen Hamblen's "An Examination of
Macmillan, 1994), 87-107, introduces the ideas of Discipline-Based Art Education Issues," Studies in Art
explicit and implicit curricula as well as null curricula; Education 28, no. 2, 68-78, helped to spur a critical dia¬
Quote is from Eisner, The Educational Imagination, logue about the nature and function of art education in
pp. 97-98. America's schools relative to issues of gender, race, and
7 The "Evaded Curriculum" is a phrase defined in the class. Many other excellent articles exist, although too
AAUW Educational Foundation Report, How Schools numerous to mention here, regarding the evolving
Shortchange Girls, 1992, 75-82. It is similar to the notion approach of a discipline-centered art curriculum in this
of Eisner's null curricula except that it appears to focus country. A summary of the authors' work in the evolu¬
more closely on how feeble attempts can be made to tion of DBAE, within the context of the Nebraska Prairie
include minimal or discreet content—while virtually Visions Project can be found in Brent Wilson, The Quiet
ignoring the core issues or key concepts of a curricular Evolution: Changing the Face of Arts Education (Los
area. It is a small step up from total ignorance of an Angeles: Getty Education Institute for the Arts, 1997),
area of study as defined in null curricula. Quote is from esp. pp. 49-50, 101-109, 128-129, and 184-185. See also
P-75. Michael Gillespie, Frances Thurber, Joanne Sowell,
8 Georgia Collins, "Feminist Approaches to Art Martin Rosenberg, and Gary Day, "A View from the
24 Chapter 2
Field: Comprehensive Art Education for In-Service Teachers,"
Visual Arts Research (Fall 1997), 23, no. 2, 52-62.
13 For the emphasis on visual culture in art education, see
Deborah Smith-Shank, ed., Semiotics and Visual Culture: Sights,
Signs and Significance (Reston, VA: NAEA, 2004), and Kerry
Freedman, Teaching Visual Culture (Reston, VA: NAEA, 2003).
Additional sources on visual culture can be found in the bibli¬
ography. On Community-based art, see Kristin Congdon,
Community Art in Action (Worcester, MA: Davis, 2004).
14 Georgia Collins and Renee Sandell, "Women's Achievements in
Art: An Issues Approach for the Classroom," Art Education, 40,
no. 3, 1987, 12-21.
15 Ernest L. Boyer, "Educating in a Multicultural World," Access
112, (Summer 1992), 1-2, 4-6, 8.
25
Gender Matters: Gender Views and How they Affect Art Students
Gender Issues in Art and Visual Culture
"A simple question, such as 'Why have there been no great women artists?' can, if answered
adequately, create a chain reaction, expanding to encompass every accepted assumption of
the field, and then outward to embrace history and the social sciences or even psychology
and literatureXi . . "
Why should teachers consider issues of gender in relation to art? Isn't art a
universal language that transcends all barriers and crosses all lines of gender,
culture, and ethnicity? Although at a certain level this is true, it is equally true
that what humans view as art, whom they consider important artists, and how
they respond to, interpret, and evaluate art have all been and continue to be
aspects of experience common to all humanity, it also allows for the expression
and girls are absent from the artistic dialogue, then half of humanity has been
27
Discussion Point How Does Gender Affect Our Views
What does this photo say about changing of Art and Artists?
gender roles? So how does gender affect our views about art and
artists? Everyone, including those who teach art, has
Try This: Ask your students to bring pictures to class
a sense of what art is worth attending to, and what
of men and women engaged in activities that do
art is not—whether or not the person has thought
not follow "traditional" gender roles. Discuss what
28 Chapter 3
one is struck by the relative scarcity of works made Try This
by women. Women are featured by major New York
Look through some of your art books, including your college
galleries less than 10 percent of the time, and they
texts. How many women are discussed? Is as much space
are frequently and noticeably underrepresented in
given to women artists as to their male contemporaries?
museum solo and group exhibits, in literary critical
Which of your books discuss gender issues which affected
reviews, and in the receipt of national art fellow¬
women artists and their art? Until recently, women have
ships and grants.
received very little notice in most art books and gender
Even in institutions of higher education across
issues have been ignored. Do you find this is true in your
this country, women artists are often underrepre¬
personal art library?
sented as studio faculty. An interesting question that
bears further demographic scrutiny is an examina¬
tion of the ratio of men and women artists in Master Try This
of Fine Arts programs. The MFA track, of course, is
What aspects of inequality between male and female artists
the major conduit for the pool of available studio
does this poster suggest? Discuss this with your students.
faculty for new hiring in art programs in higher edu¬
Can your students think of similar differences in the treat¬
cation across the United States. According to the
ment of men and women in other professions?
Guerrilla Girls, although women often make up
more than half of enrollments in such programs,
many university art departments still exist in which
women compose less than a third of the full-time
faculty.
30 Chapter 3
Try This
Bias: We should only teach about "great" artists,
Give your students the quiz described in the text above.
and they were all men.
How many female artists could you or your students name?
Most art museums, galleries, and art history survey
Adding women artists to your curriculum would likely
texts present art as a series of relatively isolated cre¬
change the results dramatically.
ations of individual geniuses, rather than as individu¬
als' expressions shaped by complex social, historical, ".. . Feminist and/or women's art is neither a style nor a
and cultural factors. In addition, the vast majority of movement, much as this idea may distress those who would
works of art presented in art museums and galleries like to see it safely ensconced in the categories and chronol¬
and represented in survey texts are by men. In 1971, ogy of the past. It consists of many styles and individual
at the beginning of the feminist art movement, art expressions and for the most part succeeds in bypassing the
historian Linda Nochlin asked, "Why have there been star system. At its most provocative and constructive, femi¬
no great women artists?" In this article, she critiqued nist art questions all the precepts of art as we know it. ..."
the very idea of artistic quality, in which we desig¬ —Art critic Lucy Lippard, The Pink Glass Swan: Selected
nate some artists as worthy of being represented in Feminist Essays on Art (New York: The New Press, 1995),
museums and art books. Rather than "greatness" 172.
existing as some self-evident quality of certain artists
or works of art, she pointed out that the very notion
of "great artist" implied a masculine identity. This
assumption equating "male" and "greatness" has
meant that work by women has traditionally been
ignored completely, misattributed to male artists, or WHEN RACISM & SEXISM ARE
unfairly criticized and relegated to the second-rank.
Nochlin countered these ideas by pointing out that
NO LONGER FASHIONABLE,
the production of what has come to be called "great WHAT WILL YOUR ART
art" depended on a particular set of cultural and his¬ COLLECTION BE WORTH?
The art market won't bestow mega-buck prices on the work
torical circumstances which almost always favored of a few white males forever. For the 17.7 million you just spent
on a single Jasper Johns painting, you could have bought at
men over women.5 least one work by all of these women and artists of color.
Bernice Abbott Elaine de Kooning Dorothea Lange Sarah Peale
Anni Albers Lavinia Fontona Marie Laurencin Ljubova Popova
Sofonisbo Anguisolla Meta Warwick Fuller Edmonia Lewis Olga Rosanova
Diane Arbus Artemisia Gentileschi Judith Leyster Nellie Mae Rowe
Bias: Being a successful artist is simply a matter of Vanessa Bell
Isabel Bishop
Marguerite Gerard
Natalia Goncharova
Barbara Longhi
Dora Maar
Rachel Ruysch
Kay Sage
Rosa Bonheur Kate Greenawoy Lee Miller Augusta Sovoge
innate talent and individual genius. Elizabeth Bougereau
Margaret Bourke-White
Barbara Hepworfh
Eva Hesse
Lisette Model
Paula Modersohn-Becker
Vavara Stepanova
Florine Stettheimer
Romoine Brooks Hannah Hoch Tino Modotti Sophie Taeuber-Arp
One can illustrate the importance of gender in the Julia Margaret Cameron
Emily Carr
Anna Huntingdon
May Howard Jockson
Berthe Morisot
Grandma Moses
Alma Thomas
Marietta Robusti Tintoretto
Rosalba Camera Frida Kahlo Gabriele Munter Suzanne Valadon
creation of art by considering the Sistine Chapel Mary Cassatt
Constance Marie Charpentier
Angelica Kauffmann
Hilma of Klimt
Alice Neel
Louise Nevelson
Remedios Varo
Elizabeth Vigee Le Brun
Imogen Cunningham Kathe Kolhvitz Georgia O'Keeffe Laura Wheeling Waring
ceiling painted by Michelangelo, an obvious "master¬ Sonia Delaunay Lee Krasner Meret Oppenheim
A PUBLIC SERVICE MESSAGE FROM Guerrilla Girls CONSCIENCE OF THE ART WORLD
piece" that appears in every survey text of Western
art.
3.3 Guerrilla Girls, "When Racism & Sexism Are No Longer
Fashionable," poster, c. 1987.
"policeman."
why not? What does the work say about the rela¬
Chapel ceiling.
32 Chapter 3
ing to paint, for example, the Creation of Adam Meet the Artist
with its idealized, classical nudes. The answer to all
Sofonisba Anguissola was the first professional, internation¬
of these questions is no. In fact, in Michelangelo's
ally successful Italian woman artist.6 The oldest daughter of
time, the notion of a professional woman artist was
a wealthy family from Cremona in northern Italy, her father
almost unheard of, as illustrated in the career of
gave her the best possible local art training, but, unlike male
Sofonisba Anguissola, Michelangelo's contemporary
artists, she could not freely move to a major artistic center
and an artist whose work he admired. Although
to obtain instruction. To try to compensate for this limita¬
Anguissola managed to have a successful career as a
tion, her father sent several pieces of her art to Michel¬
professional artist, she would not have been able to
angelo for his comments. Michelangelo, considered the
paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
leading artist in Italy at the time, was impressed with her
sional artists.
33
realize that we have shifted the discussion from
Try This
questions of individual genius or innate ability to
Ask your students to imagine that young women
issues relating to how men and women, including
were never allowed in the chemistry laboratory.
artists, are treated differently by society, have differ¬
How many successful women chemists would there
ent educational opportunities, and thus a different
be? What if young women were not allowed on the
range of possibilities of achievement, recognition,
basketball court? Would we have the women's pro¬
and success. Despite movement toward greater gen¬
fessional league today? This situation can give
der equality, are boys and girls, and men and
some idea of the obstacles women artists faced.
women, still treated differently by society? Do they
have different opportunities? Do they receive the
3.6 Johann Zoffany, Academicians of the same kind of education? These can be interesting
Royal Academy, 7777-7772. Oil on canvas, topics to discuss with your students.
47 1/2x59 1/2" (121 x 151 cm). Repro¬
duced by Gracious Permission of Her
Majesty the Queen. Can you find the
Obstacles Faced by Female Artists
images of the two women in this painting, Beginning with the Renaissance, painting, like music,
Angelica Kauffmann and Mary Moser, was regarded as an appropriate leisure activity for
who were founding members of the
upper-class women. Despite this minor allowance for
Royal Academy? How do their images
women's creativity, their primary roles were always
differ from those of their male colleagues?
What do you think accounts for such
differences?
34 Chapter 3
viewed as domestic, whether as daughter, wife, or so. Consequently, they were denied access to oppor¬
mother. Sofonisba Anguissola and other women tunities for participation in the most respected forms
artists who followed her in the sixteenth and seven¬ of art that required extensive knowledge of human
teenth centuries had to move beyond this limited form and gesture. In other words, their identities
conception of what women could contribute to the and roles as women and as artists were in direct con¬
arts in order to obtain professional status. Even then, flict. This was certainly not the case for men.
many women who were able to become professional Such a double standard for women seeking a pro¬
artists had to balance domestic duties with work. fessional art education has continued into the 1900s.
They were only able to become professional artists For example, American architecture schools only
because they received artistic training from a male recently began to routinely admit women to their
relative—usually their father or some other estab¬ programs. The situation was so blatant that from
lished male artist. A female artist, not lucky enough 1915 to 1942, women architecture students could
to be upper class and born the daughter of an artist, train at only one gender-segregated institution in
had little chance of pursuing a professional artistic the United States.8
career. Men had no such limitations of class or birth. Let's put this issue of the denial of access faced by
Men could move easily to take advantage of oppor¬ women artists of the sixteenth through the nine¬
tunities for professional training and education. teenth centuries into a situation in contemporary
Women coulc^ not. Women almost always had to education. One of the major challenges of the
take care of their families. Men's careers were not twenty-first century in K-12 education and beyond
hampered by such domestic duties. Is it any wonder will be to educate learners in visual literacy, issues of
that male artists outnumbered females? technology, and computer expertise. Studies show
In addition to the obstacles women faced in that gifted girls often self-select out of math and sci¬
becoming professional artists, inequities also existed ence, as well as other technology-based classes, by
between male and female artists in the types of art the time they reach junior high. As art becomes
they could pursue. Like Anguissola, women artists more technologically based, those students receiving
from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries a good artistic or technical education will successfully
typically chose still-life and portraiture, rather than navigate through the professional art world of
historical or religious painting, which were accorded tomorrow. Some girls, and other economically and
much higher status. This was not as much a matter culturally disadvantaged students denied access to
of choice as necessity, since women artists were usu¬ this information and these skills, will never be able
ally denied admission to the academies where the to compete in the global market that society now
requisite skills for history painting were taught, and envisions. As a result, society will relegate these stu¬
thus found it almost impossible to obtain the neces¬ dents to a permanent position of disadvantage and
sary training to pursue the "higher" genres of paint¬ lack of success.
ing.7 In particular, they were not allowed to study Think how often we hear the phrase "glass ceil¬
from the nude model, as men were, because it was ing," which describes women reaching an often hid¬
not deemed permissible for "genteel" women to do den barricade to future advancement. Differing
Art without frames: it held parched corn, as the more important qualities of "high art." Craft
works were much more likely to have been created
it covered the table where soup misted savor,
by women. Could that explain why craft works are
it covered the bed where the body knit seldom included in discussions of important works of
to self and other and the art, such as those that appear in art survey texts?
This bias may also explain why critics and the public
dark wool of dreams."
often distinguish between craftspeople and "real"
Source: Marge Piercy, quoted by Elaine Hedges and
artists. In the context of world cultures, a substantial
Ingrid Wendt, eds.. In Their Own Image: Women
amount of artistic expression takes the form of aes¬
Working in the Arts (New York: Feminist Press,
thetic objects created for use, such as pottery, tex¬
1980), 35-36.
tiles, carvings, and furniture. Women often play
central roles in the creation of these objects that are
so important in the lives of people in many different
cultures.
36
Thinking about Art vs. Craft
Try This
In the late 1400s, several famous male painters in
Ask your students if a quilt can be a
Renaissance Italy, including Botticelli, routinely cre¬
"great work of art." What do their
ated designs for woven altarpieces, tapestries, and
answers tei! you about the assumptions
banners because, by guild regulations, no distinction
they make about art? Have your stu¬
could be made between imagery for embroidery and
dents compare a quilt and an abstract
imagery that would ultimately become a painting.
painting and point out what the two
However, as soon as this distinction was allowed in
have in common as works of art
the guilds, needlework rapidly became the work of
(thoughtful composition, use of ele¬
women amateur artists and came to signify qualities
ments and principles of art, relation to
of domesticity and femininity, rather than qualities
a particular time, place, and group of
of artistic excellence.
people, rich content, etc.). In this way,
No objective criteria exist for designating a partic¬
you may expand your students' concep¬
ular medium of artistic expression as more important
tion of art to include types of work done
than another. The range of types and forms of visual
primarily by women.
expression is extremely broad and continues to
expand with new technologies. Determinations of
relative value are always made by society and culture
and tend to reflect values of dominant groups in
that culture. Women have rarely been a part of
those groups, and what women value is not neces¬
sarily valued by the arbiters of culture and values in
a given society. Taking exception to these prevailing
views, Patricia Mainardi, in her essay "Quilts: The
Great American Art," challenges us to rethink the
notion of greatness in art, shifting from a traditional
male-dominated view to one that includes a female
perspective, when she asserts that quilts are actually
America's greatest form of art.9 She believes that the
quilts she describes are great art because they are
functional rather than purely ornamental. They are
original creations, rather than poor attempts to imi¬
tate European art, as were so many early American
paintings and sculptures. Used for both function and
display, the quilts were highly valued by their design¬
ers and those who owned them, and were created
collectively by women from several social classes.
Their rich symbols, forms, and stories transcend mere
38 Chapter 3
cation, rather than focusing on fine art, should base male nudes representing comparable roles can we
curriculum on forms of visual expression that teach¬ name? This imbalance is still evident in contempo¬
ers feel might be more relevant to their students, rary art. In general, the male perspective is often
such as film, video, and other forms of popular visual treated as if it were universal. What about the per¬
culture. A broader approach to the images teachers spectives, values, and points of view of the other
bring into the classroom can provide additional half of humanity? The possibility of representing
avenues for making our students aware of women's others as we want them to be, of being the artist,
wide-ranging contributions to culture, and aware of not the subject or object, is a type of power that tra¬
how images from many sources shape our notions of ditionally has been the almost exclusive property of
gender. The authors suggest, however, that a bal¬ men, not only in art but in other areas of society as
anced approach, which includes examples from all well. We can challenge this power disparity in the
types of visual expression including fine and popular classroom by bringing out the voices of women and
art forms, will provide the greatest range of oppor¬ girls.
tunities for exploring gender issues in meaningful
ways.
39
Gender Issues in Art and Visual Culture
Try This
questions.
40 Chapter 3
Notes
1 Linda Nochlin, "Why Have There Been No Great Women
Artists?" (1971), Women, Art, and Power and Other
Essays (New York: Harper and Row, 1988), 145-178.
Quote is from p. 146.
41
Gender Issues in Art and Visual Culture
How Do Art and Visual Culture Shape
Our Views of Gender?
are not simply a reflection of the dominant social, ethical, moral, or religious
values; they actually shape those values. Images, therefore, can have a pro¬
found impact on our lives and those of our students. If culture accepts that
images may actually alter the structure of values in society, individuals can
begin to understand how powerfully art and other forms of visual culture,
such as advertisements, shape our views of gender and the roles of women
Chapter 4
world of images from art and from popular culture to have them look for these archetypes in any art
has a major impact on both boys' and girls' concep¬ history text. Each of these categories presents a
tions of themselves, their conceptions of gender- different view of what being female means; yet
appropriate roles in society, and their relationships certain generalizations apply to the majority of
with each other. By bringing this broader realm of images we see.
visual culture into our classrooms, we can identify In many artistic traditions, including Western art,
and dissect archetypes and stereotypes that reflect the female nude is considered the embodiment of
and shape society's views of gender. beauty, both the ideal and even the divine. At the
As we discussed earlier, many of the works of same time, the representation of the female nude
"high art" and popular culture depict images of reduces a woman to a desirable but anonymous
women. The nature of these images is worth consid¬ body and conveys the message that female sexuality
ering. What do they say about what it means to be exists for the pleasure of the male viewer.2 Why isn't
female? Who is the apparent audience for which the male nude as common in Western art as the
these works are intended? A surprising number of female nude? The message suggested by these
the images of women in high art fall into one of images seems to be that the male access to the
three broad categories, called "archetypes." These female body is a right. Is this a message we want
female archetypes can be thought of as the points of to present uncritically to an impressionable adoles¬
a triangle, as we see below: the image of ideal per¬ cent audience? Art has made images of the female
fection, epitomized in Western art by the image of body on display seem "natural," or simply a symbol
the Madonna, who presents an image of unattain¬ of ideal beauty, while obscuring the fact that the
able perfection and absolute purity; the beautiful, prevalence of the female nude is also a symbol of
sexually desirable female body, as in the images of men's power over women. Even if we never show
Venus, the goddess of love; and the evil woman, a nude in class, much of Western art and popular
as in images of Eve or witches. Obviously, not all culture presents the female for the pleasure of
images of women fall into these archetypal the male gaze. The difference between being the
categories, but a surprising number of them do. source of the gaze or its recipient is obvious to
One way of demonstrating this to your students is anyone who has ever been the object of unwanted
attention by someone else. This idea certainly means
something to our adolescent students. This is not
to suggest that we should remove female nudes
Madonna or male nudes from our curricula. Rather, we can
provide students with the critical tools and insights
to understand how these images function in art
and in society.
The Madonna and other such idealized images
project an ideal of unattainable perfection. If one
has any doubt about the power that images of per¬
Female Archetypes fection have on our students' lives, one need only
consider the incidence of eating disorders among
46 Chapter 4
understood at that time, which was heavily depen¬ Gender in the Media
dent on studying the nude. Since, as we previously
In a content analysis of Seventeen maga¬
discussed, women were not allowed to study the
zine in 1951, 1971, and 1991, for exam¬
nude until the late nineteenth century, the two
ple, nearly one-third of the total content
women who were founding members of the Acad¬
focused on the theme of beauty during
emy are not represented as living human beings like
this forty-year span of time. Occurrence
their male counterparts. Women, who in this
of political themes in those same maga¬
instance are makers of art, are reduced to nothing
zines ranged from 2 percent of the total
more than objects of art—barely distinguishable
content in 1951 to a high of 7 percent in
portraits on the wall. The women in this image are
1971. Attention to minority issues and
only conspicuous if one is made aware of their
images ranged from 30 percent of the
absence. How many areas of our school curriculum
content in 1950, to 9 percent in 1971
are similar, in that they are presented as if women
and to 24 percent in 1991.3
played no active role? Sometimes what teachers
Images of women and girls in commer¬
don't say can send a more powerful message than
cial advertising are also gender biased.
what they do say. If girls aren't given role models for
One 1994 study concluded that in televi¬
achievement in art, in science, and in other areas,
sion commercials targeted for children,
how can they.envision themselves in these roles?
many more boys than girls were fea¬
If most images of women in high art have their
tured as actors, and the boys played
negative side, they seem almost benign in compari¬
active roles occurring in a fantasy setting
son to images of women in popular culture, both in
or in a place outside the home. In con¬
mass and commercial media. Most representations of
trast, girls were most often depicted
women, whether in high or popular culture, put the
in passive activities within the home
focus on appearance rather than activity or achieve¬
setting.4
ment. In the popular realm to which our students
are constantly exposed, we need only to turn to an
issue of a popular teen magazine to confirm this
observation.
In fact, we can find popular equivalents to all the
major female archetypes that appear in high art. We
will see in the following chapters how the art class¬
room provides us with the opportunity to dissect
these archetypes and stereotypes, and hopefully, to
reduce their power to shape students' lives.
Of course, many artworks and popular images
represent men as well. These works both shape our
ideas about what is male, and by exclusion, what is
not female. For example, when we see an image of a
48 Chapter 4
as a young artist, she felt she had no predecessors "Men act and women appear. Men look at women.
because no one even mentioned women's contribu¬ Women watch themselves being looked at. This
tions to the history of art. To fill this void, she cre¬ determines not only most relations between men
ated a series of works honoring her artistic and women but also the relation of women to
"foremothers" which she called Collaborations.5 themselves. The surveyor of woman in herself is
Sometimes, the view that the male perspective is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself
universal is expressed in terms of "culture" being the into an object—and most particularly an object of
realm of men, and "nature" being the realm of vision: a sight."
women. These issues of Nature and Culture, pro¬
Source: John Berger, Ways of Seeing (London: BBC
posed as two ends of a scale by the anthropologist
and Penguin Books, 1972), 47.
Claude Levi-Strauss, were the product of his
attempts to explain how different societies have
placed value on objects, rituals, and events within The male artist's portrait of a woman shows her
their cultural context. It is too simple to say that "not as she is, but as she fills his dream."
women and their objects, work, and rituals only Source: Christina Rossetti, poet and sister of the
belong to the field of Nature (childbirth, sustenance, British pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel
etc.). We can see how society has given women's Rossetti, In an Artist's Studio, quoted in Elaine
work (art or otherwise) a secondary status because it Hedges and Ingrid Wendt, In Her Own Image:
has been seen as instinctual, rather than intellectual; Women Working in the Arts (New York: The
private, rather than public; and domestic, rather Feminist Press, 1980), 168.
than professional. The contemporary artist Barbara
Kruger plays with this notion in her photograph and
text collage entitled "Untitled, (We Won't Play
Nature to Your Culture)" (1983). Contemporary
works such as Kruger's make excellent resources for
teaching, especially secondary students, about how
society constructs notions of both gender and art.
When men represent women as if they only
existed to be looked at by men, the implication is
that the only important aspect of women is their
appearance and their attractiveness to men, and
that women want to be seen in this way. In addition,
perspectives of the females who constitute half of
the human race are seldom represented, and when
they are, they are seen as only referring to women's
personal or private experience and not of universal
interest. Just as we tend to see images of the domi¬
nant culture as universal, while viewing images of
50 Chapter 4
These painters depict Susanna as a complex
combination of Eve, the temptress, and Venus, the
embodiment of female sexuality from a male's per¬
spective. A very different point of view is presented
in Artemesia Gentileschi's 1610 painting of Susanna.
In her interpretation of this theme, Susanna appears
as a real person, an unwilling victim of the male
gaze and desires, caught in a no-win dilemma.
The situation of powerful men taking advantage
of vulnerable women is not confined to art, but
Gentileschi's treatment of the theme is the only one
4.4 Massimo Stanzione, Susanna and the Elders,
which reveals the perspective of the woman in such
1631-1637. Oil on canvas, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha,
a situation. NE. How is the female artist's view of the situation
Gentileschi shows the events from a woman's different from the male's?
51
How Do Art and Visual Culture Shape Our Views of Gender?
Gendered Language
Art and Popular Imagery Reinforce
Feminine Stereotypes
Try This: Ask your students to group
Fact: Art and other types of visual culture reinforce
descriptive adjectives about art accord¬
existing stereotypes of what is considered "feminine."
ing to gender. Which words are seen as
Another way in which people's views of art shape
describing "masculine" qualities, and
perceptions of gender is the way they attribute gen¬
which words are seen as describing
der to certain media and even to stylistic characteris¬
"feminine" qualities? Which set of quali¬
tics within works of art. What is meant when we
ties is deemed more valuable? This activ¬
describe a work of art as "bold" or "daring?"
ity is an interesting one for teachers of
One might start, for example, with a discussion
the fourth grade and higher.
about traditional nineteenth-century watercolor
paintings, which have often been identified as being
pretty in form, pastel in color, flowing in composi¬
tion, and gentle in rhythm. Although there were
male watercolorists, the medium was seen as some¬
what "feminine" and not generally held in high
esteem. We might ask whether the qualities we
attribute to such works are based on objective
description, or have more to do with biases we have
about the nature of the medium and the gender and
character of the artist. We might conclude this explo¬
ration by studying the paintings of Jaune Quick-to-
See Smith whose strong work in water-media directly
refutes these biases and generalizations.
Critics often reveal more about their own biases
and values than they tell about the work they are
supposedly discussing. Women artists have borne the
brunt of some of the strongest attacks, sometimes
from female as well as male critics.
There are many ways gender bias can affect art
criticism. In the classroom, teachers' reactions some¬
times depend more on the gender of the student
giving the answer, than the quality of what is said.
In art terms, teachers may not always give the same
level of critical attention to works by women as
those by men, or they may assume that, because a
work is by a woman, it can't have deep meaning or
serious significance. Such critical biases can really
interfere with our understanding and full apprecia¬ The Critic Speaks
tion of works of art. Paintings of flowers, a genre
Excerpt from a review by a female art critic in Art
often identified as "feminine," and somewhat frivo¬
News of the exhibition "Man and Wife" (authors'
lous, provide an excellent example. Do all flower
emphasis), featuring artists who were married
paintings, such as those by Rachel Ruysch or Georgia
couples, held in New York in 1949:
O'Keeffe, fit this image of lack of substance?
Ruysch's paintings, although delightful to look at, "On the other side of the fence (and in the majority),
were an important part of the Dutch art scene of the however, are those wives who, stylistically at least, are
seventeenth century, in which flowers symbolized tied to their husbands' apron strings ... there also is a
the fleeting qualities of life and were highly valued. tendency to 'tidy-up' their husbands' styles. Lee Krasner
Critics have often assumed that women are "natu¬ (Mrs. Jackson Pollock) takes her husband's paints and
rally" drawn to such subjects because of their beauty enamels and changes his unrestrained sweeping lines
and "feminine" qualities. As we have seen, however, into prim little squares and triangles... ."6
this was more a matter of artistic training and Discussion Point: How has this art critic's gender bias
opportunity, than the "nature" of women artists. affected even the choice of words she uses to
What about the flower paintings created by describe art, as well as her overall opinion of the
Georgia O'Keeffe, a twentieth-century American quality of the work done by women? When a per¬
painter? Would it help students to know that she son's choice of words carries a negative meaning,
chose flowers as a subject not because she liked that person is biased. "Prim" and "tidy-up" are clearly
flowers or thought that women should paint pretty insulting terms when used to describe Krasner's
floral compositions, but because flowers were inex¬ work. In what ways does the title of the exhibition
pensive, yet incredibly complex forms that did not ("Man and Wife") diminish our sense of the female
move at all. From these forms, she could easily artist's contributions?
express her personal vision. Refusing to see O'Keeffe's
choice of subject as an intellectual one, critics argued
that she was simply expressing her essential "femi¬
ninity" and interpreted her forms as sexual meta¬
phors, a misrepresentation which enraged the artist.
vain and frivolous than their male counterparts? Or 1997). Quote taken from Kerry Freedman, Teaching
was it because women always had to prove that they Visual Culture: Curriculum, Aesthetics, and the Social
could be artists without compromising their feminin¬ Life of Art (New York: Teachers College Press and
Reston, VA: National Art Education Association, 2003),
ity? What similar constraints exist for women and
p. xiii. For further information regarding contemporary
girls today? How are men and boys constrained by
visual culture, see also Malcolm Bernard, Approaches to
society's images of masculinity?
Understanding Visual Culture (New York: PALGRAVE,
The Virginia Slims company, in its "You've Come
2001) and Richard Howells, Visual Culture (Malden, ME:
A Long Way Baby" campaign, posed a young woman
Blackwell Publishers, 2003). Another helpful resource
as Napoleon with his easily recognizable uniform, that discusses issues of popular as well as visual culture
setting, and gesture of the hand in the coat. The is Carla Freccero's Popular Culture: An Introduction
caption is: "What if history had been berstory?" (New York: New York University Press, 1999).
What does such an ad say about gender roles in 2 On the nude, see Gill Saunders, The Nude: A New
society? What messages does it convey? It seems to Perspective (New York: Harper and Row, 1989).
appeal to a feminist perspective in order to sell 3 Virginia Sapiro, "Gender and the Institutional Media of
cigarettes. The implication seems to be that strong Communication," Women in American Society: An
Introduction to Women's Studies, 4th ed. (Mountain
women smoke Virginia Slims. By understanding how
View, CA: Mayfield Publishers, 1999), 256-257.
images create meaning, we and our students
4 Ibid., 266.
become analytical and critical viewers and gain con¬
5 On Miriam Schapiro, see Norma Broude and Mary D.
trol over the endless flood of images with which we
Garrard, eds., The Power of Feminist Art (New York:
are bombarded daily. In addition, all our students
Abrams, 1994), 32-87.
can begin to create images in a thoughtful way that 6 Excerpt from review in Art News by G.T.M. (Gretchen T.
convey their perspectives and values. If we under¬ Munsen) of the exhibition "Man and Wife," Oct., 1949,
stand that female voices are just as important as quoted in Anne M. Wagner, "Lee Krasner as L.K.," in
male voices, we will make certain that both are Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard, The Expanding
program and how we present that content. This chapter suggests ways to
redress inequities that have existed in the past and persist today.
Suggestions for art content provide ways to think
about gender in relation to art and other subject
matter. Curriculum content in art lessons can
*
58 Chapter 5
male artists included? Although it may be conve¬ the curriculum. For example, when weaving (an art
nient to use or refer solely to examples found in associated with women in many cultures) is dis¬
available texts, teachers may be perpetuating gen¬ cussed with the same seriousness and attention
der-biased ideas about art and artists by limiting devoted to the study of painting (an art form
themselves to these resources. dominated by men), this form of artistic expression
traditionally associated with women, and often
Fill in Gaps about Women and Art assigned second-class status, can serve to broaden
To counteract the limitations of using only fine students' conception of art. By extension, women
art examples in lessons, begin to collect specific artists who are weavers are dignified, opening up
resources relating to women, their art, and contribu¬ the possibility for both boys and girls to explore
tions to visual culture. These might include reproduc¬ the medium.
tion about women artists' lives and the times in Discuss how some cultures assign responsibility for
which they lived, and writings by women critics, certain artistic creations to women and certain
aestheticians, art historians, and artists. Women others to men; in many of these cultures, all the
artists can also be brought in from the community. creations are regarded as important and equal in
These new materials, approaches, and resources can value to the society. Women in the Hopi culture
be used to present a more gender-equitable view from the southwestern United States traditionally
Attend to Gender Connections to Art Year-Round Men were expected to gather fiber, spin yarn, and
Arrange for discussions of women's contributions weave garments and blankets for their families.
beyond Women's History month so that their partici¬ Such discussions can break down stereotypes and
pation in creating cultural history does not appear as broaden students' perceptions of the relationship
unusual or exceptional. Include women artists of between artistic expression and gender.
painting."
22-23.
60 Chapter 5
"high art" media, is an indirect critique of the canon Women's Sphere
or the "code of worthiness" discussed in Chapter 4. in the Practical Arts
Focusing on examples of quilts, embroidery, body
"Women have always made art. But for
adornment, pottery, or other artifacts from material
most women, the arts highest valued by
culture challenges the idea that all art worth consid¬
male society have been closed to them
eration consists of painting, sculpture, or architecture
for just that reason. They have put their
by white males of European heritage. Teachers can
creativity instead into the needlework
go a step further:
arts which exist in fantastic variety
ceramics or weavings, which often play important Great American Art," Feminist Art
as men, can relate to art in a wide variety of ways Allow students to explore how gender and sexual
and have opinions worthy of respect. This content orientation affect artistic expression. When explor-
teacher knew about Georgia O'Keeffe, Faith Laura Gilpin exemplifies those artists who use pho¬
Ringgold, and Mary Cassatt.2 However, many of tography, technology, or nontraditional materials in
these teachers were developing interesting lessons their art. She is a well-known photographer whose
around the imagery and ideas of several other images focus on the peoples and landscape of the
The authors have listed twelve of them below. Elizabeth Layton was an intuitive artist without for¬
These artists have made substantive contributions mal training who turned to art late in life. Layton
to the art world. Do some research about their lives began drawing in her seventies as an antidote to
and work as possible sources for new curricula. An depression.
excellent source with which to begin is Pioneering
Hung Liu* and Bettye Saar* exemplify artists who
Spirits: The Lives and Times of Remarkable Women
offer powerful narratives through their imagery
Artists in Western History.3 If this text includes
which focus on cultural diversity and oppression in
information about an artist below, her name is
America.
highlighted with an asterisk.
Sisters Berthe and Edma Morisot* were significant
Alice Aycock* is an artist who creates monumental
artists who shared a close bond as fellow painters.
sculptures designed to be a part of communities
Edma, who often modeled for Berthe, traded her
and to be placed outside traditional art galleries.
own painting career for marriage when she was a
Aycock has created outdoor sculpture as part of the
young woman.
Art in Public Places Program in the United States.
Mattie Lou O'Kelly is an example of artists who
Selma Burke* was an artist in a category of artists
have established regional significance and whose
whose contributions are not always included in the
art represents a unique time and place in culture.
world of fine art, yet we have contact with her
O'Kelly is a well-known Georgia artist.
work every day. Burke was commissioned to do the
portrait sculpture of Benjamin Franklin that is found Jaune Quick-to-See Smith* is one of several artists
on the surface of every dime in Americans' pockets. who are also political activists and carriers of cul¬
one of Canada's most famous painters during the Patty Warashina exemplifies artists who create art
twentieth century. outside the canon of "fine art," using clay, fiber, or
Chapter 5
ing the meaning of a work of art, ask how the gen¬ history were other than exclusively heterosexual,
der and/or the sexual orientation of the artist and in some cases, the artist's sexual orientation
shaped the work. Check and Lampela point out seems to be reflected in his or her art. Michel¬
that the sexual orientation of twentieth-century angelo and Caravaggio would be in this group, as
artists such as Romaine Brooks, Charles Demuth, would Rosa Bonheur. In some instances, it may be
Laura Gilpin, Keith Haring, David Hockney, Robert appropriate to consider the issue of sexual orienta¬
Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol is fundamental to tion in order to honestly explicate a given body of
the content of their art.4 To disregard or ignore this work. By doing so, teachers also break down barri¬
reality distorts and trivializes the artists' works. ers of silence and invisibility for gay and lesbian art
Homosexuality is an ancient reality, and the level of students.
its acceptance has varied over time and across cul¬
tures.5 Although the term "homosexual" is a nine¬ Seek and Apply Information
teenth-century coinage, many artists throughout from Current Research
When teachers choose to inform themselves, they
can be guided in their approach to issues of gender
equality and sexual orientation in the art classroom
by current research and professional dialogue in
the fields of art, aesthetics, history, criticism, sociol¬
ogy, psychology, and pedagogy. For example,
researchers might assist a teacher by providing
current data for selections of artists to be featured
in lessons or offer criteria for selection of works
of art that can guide teachers' displays of art in
classrooms.
63
Transforming Curriculum to Foster Gender Equity
Relate Personal Identity and Artistic Expression
The Artist Speaks
Provide opportunities for students to create art that
"I feel issues of sex and gender have
allows them to express their gender and other
always been at the core of art, along *
64 Chapter 5
approaches to similar subjects, or focus on different The Critic Speaks: Lucy Lippard
subjects entirely. The essence here is that these simi¬
"I'd be the first to concede that I haven't been a
larities and differences are viewed on the basis of
proper art critic for some time now. I've never liked
social and cultural factors, not as simply arising from
the antagonistic implications of the title anyway. A
the different genders of the artists.
painter friend asked me recently if the role art plays
After choosing diverse examples of women
as an agent of consciousness and change is more
artists, reflect as to whether these examples give a
important to me than the other roles it plays, and I
broad view of choices of themes, media, and styles
had to answer yes. I respect those 'other roles' but
over the widest range of types of visual expression.
I have become less interested in writing about the
For example: Show work by women that takes two
object or exhibition per se and more interested in
different views of a similar subject. Go out of your
the contradictory, mysterious ways in which artists
way to show examples that reveal the range of
and objects or actions enter society, in what images
women's artistic expression. In another instance,
mean and do to people, and how contact or lack of
show work by the Impressionist artist Mary Cassatt
contact with people in turn affects what artists do.
that does not illustrate the mother and child
So when I write about a single artist, I try to weave
theme.
her or his work into the general cultural/political
artistic contributions and roles to students. Try Lippard demonstrates an approach to gender equity
66 Chapter 5
transcend the individual, students gain a better
understanding of art. They are better able to see
how content in the art classroom connects to what
they are learning in other areas of the curriculum.
This is true interdisciplinary learning. Here are some
more ideas to try:
68 Chapter 5
Artists and Gender The Artist (Rosa Bonheur) speaks:
Try This: Point out that Rosa Bonheur, the nine¬ "In the way of males, I like only the bulls I paint."
jects not appropriate for a woman. A discussion Source: Rosa Bonheur, quoted in James Saslow,
about Rosa Bonheur can lead to a rich examination "Disagreeably Hidden: Construction and Constriction
of gender roles and expectations then and now. Ask of the Lesbian Body in Rosa Bonheur's Horse Fair,"
students whether there are still professions or activ¬ Norma Broude and Mary Garrard, eds.. The
ities that are not appropriate for one gender or the Expanding Discourse: Feminism and Art History,
achieve.
70 Chapter 5
Consider Gender Within the Context The Artist Speaks
of Multiculturalism
"I’m feeling extremely colored now days, and I'm
In actuality, we cannot separate gender issues
happy about my 'conditions.' For much too long,
from the larger issues of diversity, and we do
I've placed great emphasis on being European and
so in this book only as a means of initiating
Western. Often at the expense of overlooking the
discussion and creating awareness about the
value of African-American culture."
role and effect of gender in art and art
education. Source: Carrie Mae Weems, quoted in Lucy Lippard,
More than a decade ago, Wasson, Stuhr, and Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural World,
issues as well as critical art issues. As with other cate¬ among groups are primarily cultural, rather than
gories of diversity—race, class, or sexual orientation, biologically ordained. Neither all Asian-Americans,
for example—teachers' consideration of issues to cite one example, nor urban teenage girls, to
related to gender is critical to the integrity of art offer another, necessarily look at the world or
education. Because issues of gender do not exist sep¬ express themselves in a universal or unified way.
arately from other issues of diversity in our class¬ Help students become aware of the significant dif¬
rooms, consider gender issues as an integral part of ference between representing one's own perspec¬
this "big picture" of multiculturalism. Ultimately, an tive from inside a gendered or cultural group, and
important goal in the art classroom should be to having someone from "outside" that group
provide relevant content for each student to recog¬ attempt to provide that authentic perspective.
nize his or her own voice, drawing on all the charac¬ Negative stereotypes created by one ethnic group,
teristics that contribute to each person's unique or by one gender over another, are extreme exam¬
perspective. At the same time, students may realize ples of this situation.
that each of these unique "voices" can contribute to
an overall understanding of the human experience. Study Stereotypes and Archetypes
Chapter 4 explores how both art and popular
Include Key Multicultural Concepts images, with which students are constantly bom¬
in Art Lesson Content barded, are filled with stereotypes related to the
Design lessons to help students understand that no ideal man or woman, called archetypes. Without crit¬
single gender, ethnic heritage, or political group has ical examination, these issues are simply reinforced.
a monopoly on who defines "culture" or the art that Since these stereotypes and archetypes limit stu¬
people create within that culture. Since teachers dents' ideas about what is appropriate for individu¬
know that all groups contribute to society with art als of their gender, they are quite destructive. On the
or other means of individual expression, education other hand, since a primary goal of art instruction is
that is exclusive, rather than inclusive, is inherently to help students create and understand the visual
distorted and unfair to all students. with increasing knowledge and sophistication, incor¬
Help students understand, in terms of gender and poration of gender issues is a key element into what
culture, similarities and differences in artworks cre¬ is sometimes called "visual literacy." Being able to
ated by people with differing backgrounds without recognize and respond to visual form and content in
judging those products created by one group as both art and popular culture allows children to make
superior to another's. This does not mean that stu¬ more authentic meaning of their worlds. This ability
dents dismiss the concept of standards. It means that does not occur in the same way in either their under¬
they learn that standards, norms, and ratings of standing of expression or in their ability to communi¬
value are contingent on who has the power to cre¬ cate through text, music, or theater.
72 Chapter 5
Apply the Lens of Gender
The Language of Art
Look at popular images or advertisements through
". . . children rely on the visual channel
what might be called the "lens of gender." For
to think beyond the word to that of col¬
example, choose a popular magazine and select a
ors, shapes, lines, movement, balance,
cosmetics ad, which has been created very carefully
and textures. To see an idea stretches
and at great expense, to convey a certain link
children's imagination and stimulates
between a person and a product. Have students
new ways of knowing and responding
analyze the ad for its obvious message. Then ask
to the world. ... As an aesthetic choice
what the ad says about being male or femaie.
that children make, the visual channel
Challenge students to look even more deeply into
complements linguistic thinking and pro¬
the image and text for other subtle or possibly
vides a flexible option for creating and
destructive messages.
presenting ideas."
Extend this form of analysis to postmodern works
of art and visual media. For purposes of illustration, Source: Carolyn Piazza, "Art Literacy:
focus on the work of the Guerrilla Girls and show Visualizing Language," Multiple Forms of
how this collective of contemporary American artists Literacy: Teaching Literacy and the Arts
has turned the power of ads or performance to their (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall,
74 Chapter 5
Notes Meaning in Artmaking (Worcester, MA: Davis Publi¬
1 Christine de Pisan, Cite des Dames, Venice, 1405. Christine cations, Inc., 2001) and Marilyn Stewart and Sydney
de Pisan was the first professional woman writer in Walker, Rethinking Curriculum in Art (Worcester, MA:
Europe. On Pisan, see Susan Bell, "Christine de Pizan Davis Publications, Inc., 2005).
(1364-1430): Humanism and the Problem of the Studious 10 Robyn F. Wasson, Patricia L. Stuhr, and Lois Petrovich-
Woman," Feminist Studies (vol. 1, nos. 3-4, 1976), Mwaniki, "Teaching Art in the Multicultural Classroom:
173-184. Six Position Statements," Studies in Art Education 31,
2 Frances Thurber, "A Study of Women Artists in the K-12 no. 4, 1990, 234-246. Quote is from p. 235.
Art Curriculum in the United States." Survey conducted as 11 Articles such as F. Graeme Chalmer's theoretical stance
part of a research grant from the National Art Education in "Culturally Based Versus Universally Based Under¬
Association Foundation, 1999. Presented at NAEA standing of Art," in Doug Blandy and Kristin Congdon,
National Conference, New York, 2000. eds., Art in a Democracy (New York: Teachers College
3 Abby Remer, Pioneering Spirits: The Lives and Times of Press, 1987), 4-12; and Rikki Asher's personal narrative
Remarkable Women Artists in Western History (Worcester, and research in "The Sojourner Truth Mural:
MA: Davis Publications, Inc., 1997). Investigating African American History Through Public
4 Ed Check and Laura Lampela, "Teaching More of the Art,"' in Elizabeth J. Sacca and Enid Zimmerman, eds.,
Story: Sexual and Cultural Diversity in Art and the Women Art Educators IV: Herstories, Ourstories, Future
Classroom," NAEA Advisory (Summer 1999), 1-2. Stories (Boucherville, Quebec: Canadian Society for
5 For both historical and contemporary discussions of Education Through Art, 1998), 16-24; among many
homosexuality in art, see James Saslow, "Disagreeably others, provide readers with an abundance of ideas for
Hidden: Construction and Constriction of the Lesbian creating compelling art curricula that is not only gender
Body in Rosa Bonheur's Horse Fair," Norma Broude and sensitive, but culturally authentic. Two useful recently
Mary Garrard, eds., The Expanding Discourse, Feminism published anthologies are: Robert J. Saunders, ed.,
and Art History. See also James Saslow, Pictures and Beyond the Traditional: Facing a Pluralistic Society
Passions: A History of Homosexuality in the Visual Arts (Reston, VA: National Art Education Association, 1998)
(New York: Penguin, 2001). and Mary Erickson and Bernard Young, eds.,
6 On critical reactions to Chicago's Dinner Party, see Amelia Multicultural Artworlds: Enduring, Evolving and
Jones, ed., Sexual Politics: Judy Chicago's Dinner Party in Overlapping Traditions (Reston, VA: National Art
Feminist Art History (Los Angeles: UCLA, 1997). Education Association, 2002).
7 Ibid., 88. 12 Terry Barrett, Talking about Student Art (Worcester, MA:
8 The authors believe that a comprehensive or discipline- Davis Publications, Inc., 1998) is another valuable source
based approach lends itself well to the substantive explo¬ of information for methods of dealing with controver¬
ration of gender issues in the art classroom. For a useful sial or sensitive subjects in the art classroom. For further
summary of this approach, see Stephen Mark Dobbs, discussion of postmodern approaches to art education,
Learning in and Through Art: A Guide to Discipline-Based see James Hutchens and Marianne Suggs, eds., Art
Art Education (Los Angeles: Getty Center for Education in Education: Content and Practice in a Postmodern Era
the Arts, 1998). (Reston, VA: National Art Education Association, 1998)
9 Ernest L. Boyer, "Educating in a Multicultural World," and Yvonne Gaudelius and Pat Steirs, eds.. Contem¬
Access, 112, Summer 1992. For additional suggestions for porary Issues in Art Education (Upper Saddle River, NJ:
using thematic approaches and substantive concepts in Prentice-Hall, 2002).
curriculum design, see Sydney R. Walker, Teaching
Creating effective learning climates for girls and boys in art classrooms
learning activities for students. To ensure gender equity in the art classroom,
as well as art content. After discussing theoretical and ethical bases for
of the woman artist and suggests a contextual for student leadership roles in the art classroom
explanation for perceived gender differences. based on those same feminist principles of mentor¬
ing, collaboration, and empowerment. Do the boys
get to do the physical work (lifting, emptying trash,
etc.), and the girls get to do the "thinking" work
(counting pencils, washing and sorting brushes, etc.)
in your classroom? Who gets called on to answer
content questions about the art in your lessons?
Devise a strategy for yourself to make sure that both
boys and girls have a chance to respond—perhaps by
calling on one then another in rotation.
80 Chapter 6
ance, harassment, name-calling, stereotyping, or any these standards and expectations consistently and
other form of discrimination based on gender, sexual frequently. Understand and avoid differences in
orientation, ethnicity, physical condition, or any other language that are used to praise, criticize, or
variable for diversity in your classroom will not be tol¬ remediate individual students. This use of different
erated. Decide on what consequences will result from language, particularly related to the gender of
such student behavior and follow through with conse¬ the student, is one of the most important factors
quences when appropriate. embedded in the "hidden curriculum" and can be
nipped at its roots.
Focus on the Individual Students Consistently con¬
sider the needs and abilities of each individual stu¬ Teacher Behaviors Specific to an Art Classroom
dent, rather than always focusing on large-group From the consideration of general classroom prac¬
dynamics. For example, be conscious of providing tice, consider what other specific pedagogical strate¬
opportunities for reflective thinking in individual gies might improve the climate for girls and boys in
assignments for students—reinforcing the talents of art instruction. Some recommendations include
the introverted students in the art classroom. Provide being willing to:
time for sustained reflective thought as in required
journal entries where students can be further Choose Resources Carefully Acquire knowledge
rewarded for introverted as well as extroverted about the content, quality, and location of existing
learning styles. Also be sensitive to the amount of art resource materials promoting equity. In a recent
time each student might require to successfully com¬ survey teachers indicated that their biggest obstacle
plete various aspects of the assignment. in transforming their art curriculum into one that is
more gender inclusive was finding high-quality
Promote Equitable Discussion Structure discussions resources to use in their teaching.3 Many of those
by forming very small cooperative groups with both interviewed suggested that such materials for art
genders, and allow for sufficient "wait time" after teachers were not easily located, nor were they a
posing a question so that quieter students, who are high priority for purchase in their school districts.
often female, get to contribute. Use further care in
forming groups so group membership is based on a Give Equal Opportunities for Leadership Present art
balance of learning styles, rather than on popularity career options that include nontraditional roles for
or peer selection alone. both female and male students. As our world evolves
technologically, students will need even more skills
Communicate Standards and Expectations Develop in coping with the demands of the "information
assessment tools such as performance portfolios that society." Art and technology are closely linked in
reflect a gender-equitable stance for the more com¬ terms of innovative career possibilities. Make certain
mon learning styles of both female and male stu¬ girls as well as boys are given opportunities for
dents. During the assessment process, maintain learning and leadership in art-related technology
equally high standards for all students regardless of education. It would be a tragedy, just when girls are
gender, ethnic origin, or social class. Communicate making some measurable strides forward in math,
82 Chapter 6
students about gender or other diversity issues that In early elementary school art lessons, challenge
surface in lessons. Students must know that we will students to think, talk, or write about their own
expect them to not put down or silence others or (cultural, artistic, creative) experiences and share
call other students by names such as "fatso" or them with classmates through visual imagery, poetry,
"faggot." Students can show respect for the content or performance. Other students in class, as well as
and style of art created by themselves or their peers the teacher, can reward and support each other's
and for interpretations made in class about another creative efforts.
person's art. Encourage and reward upper-elementary and
middle school lessons, and students' collaborative
Promote Sharing and Collaboration Help students behaviors such as mural projects, writing a document
to find satisfaction in roles involving sharing or col¬ about the school's heritage or history, or creating an
laborating rather than attempting to dominate or environmental and/or public sculpture for the school
compete. These behaviors will not occur naturally or the community.
without teaching interventions and a nurturing In high school lessons, challenge students to gain,
classroom environment. Peer group pressure and from a variety of historical or class perspectives,
the pervasive presence of "other" in contemporary insight through both individual research on, and
society leave many students needing their teachers reflective interpretation of, a variety of male and
as allies because of individual gender, physical status, female artists and artists of color. Students involved
ethnicity, economic/social class, or religious belief. in making choices about the display and celebration
throughout the school of their art-making efforts
Student Behavior Specific to Art Classrooms can gain valuable life experience in the area of social
Any student behavior that inhibits or trivializes the gender equity.
ideas or perspective of any other student, whether
based on gender or some other factor, seriously Create a Nurturing Environment
undermines any teacher's efforts to create an equi¬ How can teachers provide a safe and equitable envi¬
table classroom atmosphere. The art classroom, with ronment for all students? Unfortunately, this envi¬
its focus on individual expression, can make individu¬ ronment cannot occur without teachers making a
als particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of conscious effort to foster it. All students, regardless
such behaviors. Effective teachers must find ways of of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, physical
inhibiting negative behavior, while creating an characteristics, mental abilities, or religious beliefs,
atmosphere in which respect for diverse views is the deserve our attention when we go about setting up
norm. A teacher's example is one of the most impor¬ an educational context that nurtures their diverse
tant elements in creating such an atmosphere. intellectual and social needs.
Establishing basic ground rules for promoting the
free exchange of ideas is also critical. The following A Classroom Climate That Promotes Equity
strategies specific to art instruction may help to Teacher expectations, attitudes, and behaviors that
target effective behaviors for students relative to promote equity affect student responses and con¬
gender issues. tribute heavily to the learning atmosphere in art
84 Chapter 6
Obviously, anything the teacher does to eliminate
the aspects of gender inequity discussed above will
help make a more gender-equitable environment in
the art classroom. It is not easy to recognize one's
own blinders, so we reiterate that the need to begin
with a critical analysis of personal bias, as well as
professional classroom practice, is essential.
Reflective Exercises
Name the Artists: Give students five minutes to write
down the names of as many famous women artists
as they can. Discuss why most students could name
only one or two.
may be kept in the students' reflective journals. Designing an Honored Space: Arrange for students to
go to a local or regional art museum. Have a "treasure
Mary Cassatt and Me: To reclaim the heritage of her hunt" for the women artists who are exhibited there.
artistic foremothers, Miriam Schapiro did a series of How many exist in relation to male artists who are fea¬
homages (she called them "femmages") to them. tured? Based on the art and work of contemporary
Have each student research an important woman artist Fred Wilson, known for his attempts at "mining
artist and create a work of art that is a personal trib¬ museums," pick one gallery in the museum and visual¬
ute. Do the same for a male artist. ize (on paper) which women artists you might add to
the existing selection of artwork. Which works would
Picasso's Sister: After studying the life of a famous you remove? Which works would you redisplay in a
male artist, create an imaginary artistic biography different area or in a different way? How would you
for the artist's sister. What would be different in the provide information for viewers about the works?
two lives and careers? Hypothesize what factors
would account for those differences. Role Play: Take a traditional theme that involves gen¬
der relations, such as Susanna and the Elders, or the
Recollections: Recall stereotypical images to which Judgment of Paris. Work in mixed groups of boys and
both you and your students might have been girls to create a contemporary version of it that com¬
exposed since childhood. What assumptions did ments on gender relations today. The outcome could
these images help you make about gender stereo¬ be either a visual product or a performance piece.
types? Do you still harbor those assumptions? For
example, recall playing with Gl Joe or Barbie dolls. Appropriations: Ask students to modify a traditional
What assumptions are inherent in these images for pattern of quilt, embroidery, applique, etc. to make
children as well as their parents? What other arti¬ a statement about contemporary society. Display all
facts of visual culture in your students' lives are con¬ the individual student interpretations as a unit in a
tributing to gender stereotyping? prominent place in the school or community.
86 Chapter 6
Deconstruct Stereotypes: Study artwork that uses Taking Inventory: Have each student make a list of
stereotypes to make its point, such as Bettye Saar's artists who are exhibited in local stores or galleries,
Liberation of Aunt Jemima, or artwork by Robert on the walls and ground of school, at the local
Colescott, Barbara Kruger, and Roger Shimomura. library or bank, and in other public places in the
Discuss how the artists take control of the stereotype community. Do their lists reflect a balance of female
and change its meaning. Then have students work and male artists and artists of color?
with popular images from the mass media that are
based on gender stereotypes. Each student can cre¬ Collaborative Research Opportunities
ate a collage that changes the meaning of the Read All about It: Collect media articles referring to
image, from negative to positive. examples from current or past history about gender
equity or other compelling issues concerning art in
Educate the Audience: Make arrangements for society. Have students read and comment on these
a monthly or seasonal art opening or after-school events. For example, an exhibit in New York was
tea in the art classroom as a gender-equity learn¬ cause for the city's mayor to threaten to withhold all
ing opportunity for school employees, students, funding for the museum unless the exhibit was can¬
and their parents. Encourage students to take celed. One artwork in particular—of a female reli¬
responsibility for various aspects of the activity, gious figure—proved to be very offensive to several
including decisions about equity in the displays religious groups. News of this exhibit was reported
of art. in local and national publications. Students can dis¬
cuss issues on several levels: the "marketing" of art
Individual Student Research as a commodity, religious beliefs and art, the role of
Where Are the Women? Take a popular artistic female icons, etc. Controversial cases about art
style or movement, such as Impressionism, Cubism, appear routinely in the daily papers and on the
or Romanticism, and have students conduct individ¬ news. They are an abundant source for student
ual research on the women who were active artists exploration of real-life issues about art.
involved with these movements or styles. Have
each member within a group present something Group Investigation: Ask students to learn about a
interesting they learned about one of the set of specific artists. Each student works collabora-
artists. tively with a small group researching one artist.
When groups are then restructured, each student
An Eye for the Future: Ask students to interview becomes an "expert" on that artist and reports her
both male and female career artists. Encourage them or his knowledge to his or her second working
to choose art careers that are considered nontradi- group.
tional for women such as architect, cinematogra¬
pher, computer animator, structural engineer, or Content Analysis: Small groups of students create a
landscape designer. Challenge students to find and list of words used to describe feminine qualities.
interview women in the community who are Students make another list of descriptive words
employed in those occupations. relating to masculinity. Make available a series of
88 Chapter 6
Notes
1 Myra Pollack Sadker and David Miller Sadker, Sex Equity
Handbook for Schools (New York: Longman, 1982),
134-137; Georgia Collins and Renee Sandell, Women,
Art, and Education (Reston, VA: National Art Education
Association, 1984), 189-200.
2 AAUW Report, "The Classroom as Curriculum," How
Schools Shortchange Girls (Washington, DC: AAUW
Educational Foundation, 1992), 68-74; AAUW Report,
Gender Gaps: Where Schools Still Fail Our Children,
1998, Summary.
3 Frances Thurber, "A Study of Women Artists in the K-12
Art Curriculum in the United States." Survey conducted
as part of a research grant from the National Art
Education Association Foundation, 1999. Presented at
NAEA National Conference, New York, 2000.
4 Marilyn Stewart, Thinking Through Aesthetics
(Worcester, MA: Davis Publications, Inc., 1999), provides
excellent suggestions and methods for using aesthetic
approaches).
5 Terry Barrett, Talking About Student Art (Worcester,
MA: Davis Publications, Inc., 1998).
6 Peggy Orenstein, School Girls: Young Women, Self-
Esteem, and the Confidence Gap (New York: Doubleday,
1994), 3-32.
7 Further resources and information are available from
the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues
Caucus (LGBTIC), an affiliate of the National Art
Education Association, 1916 Association Drive, Reston,
VA 20191-1590. See also Jeff Perrotti and Kim
Westheimer, When the Drama Club Is Not Enough:
Lessons from the Safe Schools Program for Gay and
Lesbian Students (Boston, MA: Beacon, 2002).
This chapter illustrates how four K—12 educators, making critical choices, might
include content to enhance gender equity in lesson planning. For several years,
the authors have collaborated with these four teachers in various art education
projects and curriculum initiatives. Their work is highlighted here because they
bring their personal knowledge, experiences, values, and beliefs about equity
into both their curriculum development and teaching. Each teacher selected a
self-authored and successful unit of art instruction and identified possible roles
that gender, art, and culture might play within the unit. They were challenged
not merely to tack on more information, but to analyze how, in their units,
both content and pedagogy could become more responsive to gender issues.
Some ideas presented in this chapter also reflect the results of brainstorming
and conversation between each teacher and this book's authors. Other sugges¬
tions included are the authors' responses to the written unit plans.
91
7.1 A young child's plan of the ideal house.
Continually rethinking content and strategies fixed or final products. Instead, these four win¬
in units of instruction is an important process for dows into practice are offered as examples of
teachers. Moving toward gender equity in art enrichment that might occur in art curricula when
classrooms is one of those essential ongoing gender issues become a significant element in
processes. Choices about imagery to explore, pos¬ planning for instruction.
sible themes, art-making activities, strategies for Each of the four sample units focuses on a unique
talking and writing about the art, and student developmental level: Grades K-3, 4-6, 7-9, and
performance outcomes were revisited.1 Those 10-12. After a brief introduction to each unit,
collaborations and the additional suggestions Chapter 7 highlights suggestions for instructional
offered by this book's authors demonstrate a strategies that confront gender issues, and provides
variety of substantive ways to bring gender issues possible gender-related outcomes for each unit of
into existing curricula. The sample units are not study.
92 Chapter 7
Unit 1 (Grades K-3): "Building The K-3 Art Specialist Reflects
Communities: From the Drawing Board
"Classes at the elementary level often allow stu¬
to City Council Decisions"
dents to experiment with different media, learn
The first curriculum unit, created by a K-3 art
about different artists, and to complete projects
specialist, explores the impact of architecture
based upon previous or new experiences. Many of
on culture.2 Its already rich content was expanded
these completed units are classified under two- or
by the teacher, not only to include contributions
three-dimensional assignments including: drawing,
by women architects, but also to broaden students'
printmaking, paintings, paper cut-outs, sculptures,
definitions of what architecture might mean for
masks, fibers, pottery, and mixed media. Archi¬
various cultural groups, and for both women and
tecture is often omitted from the curriculum.
men. This art specialist had carefully designed
activities in this unit to be highly participatory Architecture is very exciting because it is a part of
and sensitive to students' diverse learning styles. our environment. We live within the environment
These elements remained intact in expanding the so it's totally different than a painting or a print on
Chapter 7
These activities provided the opportunity for Consciously conduct research about little-known
girls, as well as boys, to practice effective leadership, women architects and designers. Include their
and for boys, as well as girls, to practice cooperation. contributions in the unit's list of famous architects.
Carefully chosen groups and closely monitored gen¬ Thinking about different types of structures in
der dynamics are empowering experiences for girls society and the women who designed them,
and boys. By including examples by several female as examples might include:
well as male architects, the teacher made it clear Dwelling Places: San Simeon, 1922-1939 —
that architecture is a profession that is open to both Julia Morgan
genders. Working Places: Terminal One at Los Angeles
Students also worked with HyperStudio® soft¬ National Airport, CA—Norma Sklarek
ware and created computer-based interactions for Recreational or Cultural Places: Musee D'Orsay,
their classroom Web page throughout the unit. Such Paris—Gae Aulenti
an activity for female students at this early age is an Places of Worship or Reflection: The Vietnam
especially important opportunity for them to gain Veterans' Memorial, Washington, DC—
experience in an area which is fast becoming a Maya Lin
"boy's club" in many educational settings.
Implement an active/collaborative assessment
Taking on the Challenge activity that directly provides for gender equity.
In designing the original unit, the teacher made For example, focus on assessment strategies where
a conscious effort to address several issues of girls as well as boys have the opportunity to
gender, including full participation by female explore technology, such as videotaping or produc¬
students in decision-making processes. Based on ing digital movies of student conversations, as
discussion of strategies suggested in Chapters 5 students "show" and sell to peers the drawings
and 6, she might additionally consider the of homes they have designed. Use teacher observa¬
following suggestions: tion to assess student involvement in this role-
playing activity. As a result, both girls and boys
Design a set of key questions about architecture become empowered to operate successfully within
that includes explicit and implicit gender issues. their social structure, not only collaboratively,
Questions might include: but also as entrepreneurs.
What does an architect do? Who can become an
architect? How can you prepare while in school to What Might Students Learn about Gender?
96 Chapter 7
might have included Sarah Miriam Peale or The Authors' Perspective on Women
Judith Leyster. Also, portraits for the middle and Portraiture
class were sometimes painted by self-taught or
This teacher was asked to wrestle with the chal¬
itinerant artists, and thus do not appear in most
lenge of taking a unit plan that was initially topical
art history texts today. Women likely created
and to rethink the basis of the unit in terms of a
some of these anonymous works that are found
thematic approach, using big ideas related to her
in various museum collections and in newer art
existing social studies curriculum. If she began with
history texts.
a thematic approach, she would be able to include
Colonial portraits furnished a record of the physi¬ is that it was one of the main genres in which
cal appearance of, and costume and settings associ¬ women have worked since the sixteenth century,
ated with, those portrayed. Thus, the paintings were even though few women portrait artists are
able to convey social and aesthetic meaning during reported in the art history texts. The whole idea of
their time, and today they provide historical signifi¬ the portrait "miniature," created by female as well
cance. Discuss how portraits drew attention to one's as male artists as an intimate sort of endeavor dur¬
social status and one's gender role, and how they ing that time, provides an interesting counterpoint
highlighted a person's professional accomplishments to the idea of portraiture as heroic and historic.
and personal interests. These very small images were accessible and accept¬
Compare two portraits—Major Thomas Biddle by able for educated women to create. Raising these
Thomas Sully and Anna and Margarette Peale by issues can lead to a discussion of gender roles in a
James Peale. Study the facial expression and "iconog¬ historical context in the past and in the present.
of war.
Develop key questions that help students to under¬
Another example follows, which opens up rich possibilities
stand portraiture, not only as art, but also as docu¬
for discussing women's varied contributions to the history
mentation of history across time.
and culture of their time;
Here is an obvious place to bring in the lack of histori¬
Many believed that, as Ben Jonson said, "Women are but cal recognition of women artists and the notions of
men's shadows." Or as Euripides said, "A woman should be women as "objects or subjects" of painting. Add to or
good for everything at home, but abroad good for nothing." replace existing questions about historical portraiture
Their roles had always been those of wife and mother. No so that the unit might more fully explore these gender
vocations were considered suitable for upper-class women; issues, with questions such as: How did portraits from
thus, their goal as maturing young women was to marry well. the Colonial and Revolutionary War periods relate to
It was believed that if women pursued more than the domes¬ the lives of men and women in the community, not
tic or maternal role, they would be sacrificing their femininity. only those holding economic, political, or religious
It seemed that the goal of female education was to produce power, but also those without power?
better wives and mothers. A woman or wife's most important
responsibility was to raise republican sons to love their coun¬ Explore why this teacher's research unearthed so
try and to preserve its character. After the Revolution, there few women painters.
was a growing concern that if mothers were to provide that In selecting key artists and works of art for this unit,
foundation for young men, then they needed to be better the teacher realized early on that recognized por¬
prepared; thus, education for girls was established. trait artists in America were male, with very few
exceptions.
98 Chapter 7
For example, Charles Willson Peale established Anna Claypoole Peale, another member of the
the first public gallery in the United States in famous Peale family, was a well-known and active
Philadelphia. It included portraits of many military painter of portrait miniatures. The idea of miniature
and political figures of the time. Public portraiture painting introduces the idea of women's artistic pro¬
seemed to promote civic virtue and a "dynastic" duction outside the historical mainstream of large-
type of authority. The Peale family had many well- scale painting and sculpture.
known artists in its midst. C. W. Peale was extremely
unusual for his time, in that he provided artistic Implement art-making experiences that move
training for both his female and male children, as beyond development of artistic or technical skill to
well as other relatives. In fact, among the Peales, explore key issues such as gender roles and art.
several in the family roster of professional artists The basic art-making activity for this unit was origi¬
were women, including Sarah Miriam Peale, a suc¬ nally based on Lesson 8 from Adventures in Art,
cessful portrait painter in the nineteenth century. Grade 5 (Davis Publications, 1998). Although stu¬
Students might discuss why the women artists in dents explored varied concepts, such as working with
the Peale family are less famous today than the a grid, proportion, and careful observation, an
males, even though several of them had successful expanded unit would allow students to investigate
careers. the sociological and social aspects of portraiture as
\
Select some documented women portrait artists for
students to study.
For example, though not American, the first woman
portrait painter this teacher found in her research
was Judith Leyster, who had a very successful career
in Holland in the seventeenth century and was a
friend and contemporary of the artist Frans Hals. She
worked during a time in which most artists special¬
ized in one type of painting. She was exceptional in
that she painted portraits, still lifes, and scenes of
everyday life. Remarkably, she was a member of the
Artists Guild in Haarlem and even taught male art
students. After she married, she left her artistic
career to manage her husband's real estate. Her
work was often wrongly attributed to Frans Hals.
Although Leyster was not the first woman por¬
7.2 Judith Leyster (Dutch, 1609-1660), Concert,
traitist, she was an extraordinarily important and
ca. 1631-1633. Oil on canvas, 24x34 1/4" (61 x
successful one. Leyster's self-portrait reveals her to
87 cm). The National Museum of Women in the
be a confident and competent artist. How does she Arts, Washington, DC. Gift of Wallace and
show this to the viewers of her self-portrait? Wilhelmina Holladay.
richness?
104 Chapter 7
Implement a variety of specific activities involving Creating Interdisciplinary Links:
active learning, as well as reflective assessment Suggestions from the Teacher
strategies that provide opportunities to confront
Arts: Blues, gospel, and folk singers, such
diversity and gender equity. For example:
as Odetta, Bob Dylan, and Joan Baez,
After viewing several dramatic and expressionistic
make social commentary through their
images, ask students to discuss the imagery and doc¬
music. The music of Tracy Chapman,
ument their success in relating the images to gender,
Linda Ronstadt, Los Lobos, and Bob
race, class, sexual orientation, and other issues in
Marley often deals with cultural oppres¬
contemporary society.
sion as well.
Encourage students to create and to evaluate
Literature/Language arts: The Diary of
personal artworks about meaningful social com¬
Anne Frank
mentary. For example, after students pick a current
event that has social, political, or other implica¬ Movies: Schindler's List, Triumph of the
how these positive or negative social situations Social studies: The Civil Rights move¬
affect them. Ideas include family and other per¬ ment and Rosa Parks's refusal to give up
sonal relationships, dreams for the future, sexual her seat on a bus in Alabama to a white
identity, or the existence of crime, drug, and alco- man; World War II and the social injus¬
hoi abuse, gangs, etc. Suggested topics from the tice and prejudice toward perceived ene¬
media include: "the glass ceiling" in hiring women; mies, minorities, and women, such as in
trials; bombings in New York, Oklahoma, or Saudi Nazi Germany, in Japanese internment
Arabia; child abuse; prison release; death penalty camps in the western U.S., the detona¬
issues; etc. tion of two atomic bombs over Japan, or
106 Chapter 7
Meet the Artists horsehair. While some may say that Abakanowicz's sculpture
became restless with the medium and decided to explore the Traditionally, the female form is omnipresent in art, in the form
possibilities of clay. Her blending of the knowledge of the of goddesses, symbolic figures, portraiture, and as an object of
world's ceramic history resulted in refined vessels that suggest male desire. This unit focuses on women artists who use the
natural forms. Odundo sees her pots as metaphors for the metaphor of the female body as their "subject," their expres¬
human, and especially the female, body. sive vehicle, in contrast to the myriad works in which a male
choice for examining the complex and difficult position in (African; Kenyan, born
1950), Untitled, 1994,
which women artists often found themselves in relation to
Ceramic; 17 3/4 x 12"
their more senior and established male mentors. This has been (45 x 30 cm). The
a very common situation for women artists throughout history. Nelson-Atkins Museum
of Art, Kansas City,
Missouri. (Purchase:
Acquired through the
Magdalena Abakanowicz
generosity of Morton
Born in 1930, near Warsaw, Poland, Abakanowicz played in the and Estelle Sosland.)
forest surrounding her wealthy family's estate. She made
107
Windows into Practice: Four Case Studies
the unit into a larger world view. Odundo's sculp¬ Ask challenging key questions about the relation¬
tural art, drawing on the female form for its visual ship of art, aesthetics, and gender issues, such as:
identity, was more far-reaching in its strong voice Does an aesthetic response to the female form vary
and presence than a careful study of its formal from one society to another due to a society's cul¬
elements would unearth. tural heritage? Can an opinion or artwork that
In this unit, students formulated standards of opposes the societal standard of beauty survive?
beauty for the female figure in history by viewing Is beauty a feminine concept? How is beauty defined
artwork by the aforementioned artists and by view¬ in masculine terms? Does our standard of beauty in
ing contemporary images of women in popular today's society vary due to age, experience, power
media. Through comparison of artworks and images base, or culture?
from popular culture, students hopefully gained an
understanding of several philosophical approaches Implement activities that challenge students to
to beauty. It would also be possible to examine criti¬ explore images of women in visual culture as well as
cally the very concept of beauty. Is it a universal or in artworks across time and place.
culture-specific idea? How does beauty differ across For example, arrange for students to categorize
genders and across cultures, in both its form and contemporary magazine advertisements or other
effects on society? examples of contemporary visual culture, such as
In another component of the unit, students film, etc. according to their presentations of the
created an artwork in clay or fiber suggesting a female figure as a theme. After students discuss
human figural form. The ensuing emotional possible categories, ask them to list the standards
response could be further expressed not only used for their evaluation. Discuss hidden messages
visually, but also in writing, poetry, or musical contained in the advertisements. Students can make
composition. This activity provides both girls and further connections between contemporary figural
boys an opportunity for deeply personal expression images and reproductions of selected artworks.
in which they explore attitudes about the male Ask students to discuss similarities in mood, pose,
and female form. and message.
108 Chapter 7
expression. Students can then translate their Have You Considered Gender Matters
drawings into three-dimensional artworks using in Art Relative to Other Cultural
fiber or clay. Connections?
artist's life story can be told with discussions on how economic system that link health and well-being
the artists' life experiences affected the visual to the attractiveness of the female form.
the media of clay and fiber as a means of personal ders prevalent in contemporary culture and their
In a review of other possible student outcomes These linkages can tie the study of art directly to
for the unit, the following suggestions may ensure students' contemporary concerns, particularly those
that students successfully understand a broad range pressing concerns for girls and boys, that relate to
of gender-related concepts. Students will compre¬ body image.
hend that:
Awareness of social, cultural, class, ethnic, and
gender influences informs artists in the creation of
their artwork.
Interpreting the body as an art form has been a
universal theme whose meaning is derived from
internal and external information. An artwork can
109
Windows into Practice: Four Case Studies
have multiple meanings depending on the artist's
and the viewer's context. The gendered aspects of
this outcome can be explored in the context of how
the body is viewed and used in various societies and
cultures.
110 Chapter 7
Notes school district and has many years' experience working
1 Through many years of working collaboratively as disci¬ as a team leader for the Prairie Visions Institute. She
pline consultants for the Prairie Visions Institute, and received a recognition award from the Nebraska Art
using a comprehensive approach to art, the authors Teachers Association for her distinguished service to art
have developed a core set of beliefs about how to gen¬ education as a classroom teacher. Fler participation in
erate meaningful curriculum units in art. For further dis¬ this project is an important model for classroom teach¬
cussion about their process, see Gary Day, Michael ers who wish to include visual art as a core component
Gillespie, Martin Rosenberg, Joanne Sowell, and Frances of their overall classroom curriculum.
Thurber, "A View from the Field: DBAE for Inservice 4 David Manriquez, an elementary school art specialist,
Teachers," Visual Arts Research 23, no. 2, 1997, 52-62. teaches art in a large urban school with a culturally
2 Linda Jorgensen is an experienced art specialist from a diverse population. Fie is an educator with many years
rural Midwestern community. At the time when she cre¬ of experience as a teacher, an artist, and student men¬
ated her unit, she taught art to grades K-3, meeting tor. Fie has participated in regional teacher programs
with students in their classrooms in thirty- to fifty- geared to developing more contemporary views of art
minute sessions for five consecutive days. She met them and art education. Raised in the neighborhood where
again every third week for a similar rotation. She he teaches, and as an artist of color, he serves as role
planned her instruction to fit that one-week time frame. model and mentor for many of his middle-school-age
Now retired, she was a master teacher, whom preservice students. The authors were especially interested in his
art educators often observed. She has also provided original unit because he involves his own artwork as a
leadership in her school district for effective use of tech¬ counterpoint to several female artists' artistic contribu¬
nology in classrooms with young children. Fler article tions to the unit's content.
"The ABC's of Architecture" was published in SchoolArts 5 Caroline Schmitz taught art for several years at a large
Magazine 91, no. 9, May 1992, 34-37. She has received urban high school, where she facilitated student learn¬
numerous regional and national awards for her leader¬ ing in the media of fiber arts, ceramic art, and other
ship in art education and excellence in teaching. She applied arts. A majority of her students, particularly in
developed an interest in architecture and archeology as the advanced studio sections, were female. She is also
a child when she and her brother would play in a large an experienced art methods instructor for preservice
earth bank in their back yard where they constructed classroom teachers at a nearby university. Fler original
towns, cities, and other imagined environments. Fler unit focused primarily on formal and expressive qualities
unit provides students with a rare opportunity to found in the sculptural vessels of international artist
explore an area of art with which women's participation Magdalene Odundo. She expanded the content and
is not often associated. learning activities in her unit to include the art and aes¬
3 Linda Weinert is an upper-elementary classroom teacher thetic content of Magdalena Abakanowicz and Camille
with many years' experience in a suburban Midwest ele¬ Claudel. In doing so, she opened up the content of her
mentary school. Although responsible for teaching unit to help students understand a feminist view of the
math, science, reading, language arts, and social studies, value of art in society and to comprehend how the
Linda's love of art has caused her to infuse her lessons female figural form emerges as a means of having a
with art content whenever it is appropriate and mean¬ voice in contemporary society.
ingful to her classroom context. She has been a leader in
art curriculum development in her school and in her
Chapter
Gender Equity
As one can see from discussion in the previous chapters, bringing gender
equity into art content and the classroom environment is a complex under¬
gender equity unless they have some plan or vision to deal with gender
issues in their own teaching behaviors that includes the methods they
At the least, teachers can choose to do nothing Optimally, gender issues in the art classroom
about gender equity in their art classrooms by main¬ will surface in three general aspects of teaching:
taining their existing biases, stereotypes, and in teachers' actions, behaviors, and expectations
assumptions that gender problems do not exist. At for students; in the design and maintenance of
best, teachers can become agents of change for each the art classroom environment or setting; or in the
unique student in their art classes by ensuring that key ideas or art content that teachers select for
all students will be nurtured and prepared for their students to explore.
lives in the twenty-first century. So, how would this The diagram in Figure 8.1gives visual form
ideal art classroom appear? How would it differ from to the relationship among these three components:
any other classroom where art is taught?
114 Chapter 8
Domain I: Actions Teachers Can Take "Looking Within"
The first task at hand, before beginning the redesign
Researchers Georgia Collins, Renee Sandell, and
of course content or classroom environment to
Ann Sherman have developed insightful self-
achieve gender equity, is to take stock of one's
administered questionnaires for taking personal
own personal behaviors and assumptions and one's
inventory of our own beliefs and assumptions
gender-based expectations for students. To begin to
about gender issues, art, and art education.2 The
create a more gender-equitable classroom, each of
first inventory included statements and questions
us must increase our personal awareness of gender
such as: "Women concerned with sexism in the art
issues and honestly confront any biases or stereo¬
world should put more effort into learning their
types we might harbor. Only then can teachers
craft rather than organizing to protest sex discrimi¬
actively pursue an increase in knowledge about
nation in art education, critical reception, and his¬
women artists, the role of women in the world of
torical treatment." (p.185) We are asked to rate our
art, and appreciation of the ideas and perspectives
own agreement on a scale from one to five. What is
that both genders bring to our students.
your response to this statement? Another statement
Teachers of art are in a solid position to provide
asked: "If feminine-identified art forms, media,
guidance or mentoring for their students. Perhaps
styles, process or subject matter have been given
the teacher will inspire some female students to
less status, it is not because of their association
become professional artists or some male students to
with women but because they have intrinsically less
become elementary school art educators. Perhaps,
art value. Monumental public sculpture honoring
even for students who do not follow professional
war heroes is of more value to a community than is
careers in art, the teacher will instill a love of the
miniature flower painting." (p. 186)
arts, providing opportunities for students to use the
What are your opinions about this statement? How
arts as a vehicle for finding meaning in their highly
might your perceptions about this belief affect your
diverse lives.
teaching of art?
Ideally, teachers will adopt a variety of teaching
strategies when they set up student learning activi¬ In the second questionnaire, we are asked to exam¬
ties and assessments by keeping in mind students' ine our own practice concerning nonsexist art edu¬
gender, different learning styles, ethnicity, social cation. For example, "When showing female and
class, and other factors of diversity. male nudes, do you discuss the role of the observer
Domain II: Creating and Maintaining how these ideas have been influenced by the mass
the Right Environment media as well as the fine arts? Do you discuss the
Teachers have a responsibility to students to create a implications of these conceptions for the develop¬
learning environment that is safe for them and free ment of self concept and body image in boys and
of discriminatory treatment. At a minimum, it is the girls"? (p. 243) How would you answer the ques¬
right of each of our students to learn and grow in a tions above that are posed in this list? How you
classroom that supports his or her unique personality respond will provide an insight into your own
and set of skills, a setting free from bias, unequal deeply embedded values about gender in the world
of art.
them to your own situation as you construct your gies that attend to the needs and values of girls
117
Gender Equity in the Ideal Art Classroom
Table 8.1 Comparing Curriculum Approaches for Equity and Diversity
Levels of Structure for Curriculum Inclusion Tetrault's Framework for Content: Focusing on Gender
*
1. indicates the lowest level (Attempts to undo the notions that "Genders are
5. indicates the highest level Opposite" or that "Female Gender Is an Inadequate
Version of Male Gender.")'
5. A major paradigm shift reflecting the socially con¬ This is a gender-balanced curriculum drawing
structed nature of knowledge and power in society— upon equal knowledge and experiences of indi¬
requiring curriculum choices that serve to decrease viduals from both female and male genders as
oppression of non-dominant cultural groups and fully appropriate within the curriculum content.
represent them in the cultural context.
118 Chapter 8
Sleeter's Framework for Content: Focusing on Integration of Race,
Class, and Gender
119
Gender Equity in the Ideal Art Classroom
pen for their students. Mr. David Manriquez, who faction that they have made a difference in the
teaches a widely diverse student population and world for all their students.
whose lesson is described in Chapter 7 reflects: Students will realize their full emotional and
"I know I'm effective with my students because I intellectual potential in terms of finding a place for
allow myself to be personally involved. And I'll tell themselves in the world. »
them things about growing up, and about my fam¬ Schools will become places of safety for all stu¬
ily, since I grew up in the same neighborhood where dents to learn, to grow, to relate, and to envision
I now teach. For example, members of my family their future, regardless of gender, cultural identity,
were encouraged to do art. Both my brother and I or class.
are now art teachers. My sister was a really good Communities will become better able to with¬
artist, too; maybe better than the rest of us . . . and stand or manage the complex and rapidly occurring
she excelled in school. She really should have gone challenges facing all communities and the larger
to college. I look back on that, and it was society. world, politically, environmentally, and technologi¬
She was not encouraged to go on to college, but to cally, now and into the future.
get herself a husband and have a family. . . . This book is your invitation to make a personal
One of my goals is to introduce more women contribution toward gender equity in art education.
artists to my students. But more than that, I want to We have much to accomplish.
have more diversity of ideas in my curriculum, so I
focus on images and social commentary provided by
women artists of color as well. For example, Carmen
Lomas Garza. Her life, growing up, what she had to
endure. That she was discouraged from being an
artist because she was a woman and a minority. I'm
sure that hurt her. I like to tell my students that she
struggled but finally went on to get her Master's
Degree in art. She is a really good example that you
can make it [succeed]. Her paintings are easy for my
students to understand. They show her family doing
things together. A focus on family is good for today.
My students are really familiar with her work now.
It's something they can relate to and they feel really
comfortable with it."6
What are the benefits for teachers, students,
schools, and our communities if teachers are success¬
ful in creating an ideal art classroom where issues of
difference and the "other" become instead occasions
for creating a curriculum of possibility?
Teachers, as caring professional educators, will
experience a sense of integrity and feelings of satis¬
120 Chapter 8
Notes
1 Maxine Green, "Gender, Multiplicity and Voice," Ch. 14,
in Sari Knopp Biklen and Diane Pollard, eds., Gender
and Education (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1993), 241-255.
Women Artists
The alphabetical list below, includes more than two
hundred women artists, designers, architects, art crit¬
ics and historians, and others involved in visual cul¬
ture from Europe, America, and other countries. It is
an incomplete list. Many more women have been
artists across time and in diverse cultures than are
listed here. This selection may not reflect certain
(international, national, or regional) women artists
Resources whom you highlight in your curriculum already.
These names were selected from the following
publications, among others:
Collins, Georgia and Renee Sandell, eds. Women,
Art, and Education, Reston, Virgina: NAEA, 1984,
220-235.
Gaze, Delia, ed. Dictionary of Women Artists, 2 vols.
Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1997.
Heller, Jules and Nancy G. Heller, eds. North
American Women Artists of the 20th Century,
New York: Garland, 1995.
Heller, Nancy G., Women Artists: An Illustrated
History, 3rd ed. New York: Abbeville Press, 1997.
Grosenick, Uta. ed.. Women Artists in the 20th and
21st Century, New York: Taschen, 2001.
Reynolds, Margaret, ed. National Museum of Women
in the Arts, New York: Abrams, 1987.
122
Magdalena Abakanowicz Constance Marie-Charpentier Zaha Hadid
Anni Albers Barbara Chase-Riboud Helen Hardin
Consuelo Amezcua Chryssa (Vardea) Grace Hartigan
Emma Amos Anna Claypoole Peale Mona Hatoum
Laurie Anderson Judy Chicago Sophia Hayden
Sofonisba Anguissola Camille Claudel Edith Head
Eleanor Antin Sue Coe Anne Healy
Diane Arbus Helen Cordero Barbara Hepworth
Gae Aulenti Louisa Courtauld Eva Hesse
Alice Aycock Imogen Cunningham Joan Hill (Chea-sequah)
Judith Baca Josefa de Ayala Hannah Hoch
Jennifer Bartlett Elaine de Kooning Malvina Hoffman
Marie Bashkirtseff Niki de Saint Phalle Rebecca Horn
Ann Bateman Agnes Denes Harriet Hosmer
Vanessa Beecroft Jane Drew Ada Louise Huxtable
Cecilia Beaux Susan MacDowell Eakins Maria Izquierdo
Vanessa Bell Ray Eames Lotte Jacobi
Lynda Benglis Mary Beth Edelson Jane Jacobs
St. Hildegarde of Bingen Eirene Valerie Jaudon
Isabel Bishop Ende Patricia Johanson
Nell Blaine Minnie Evans Gwen John
Anna Blunden Leonor Fini Frances Benjamin Johnston
Rosa Bonheur Janet Fish Lois Mailou Jones
Lee Bontecou Audrey Flack Ruth Blalock Jones
Louise Bourgeois Lavinia Fontana Frida Kahlo
Margaret Bourke-White Mary Frank Donna Karan
Romaine Brooks Helen Frankenthaler Gertrude Kasebier
Denise Scott Brown Meta Warrick Fuller Lila Katzen
Joan Brown Carmen Lomas Garza Angelica Kauffmann
Selma Burke Giovanna Garzoni Mary Kelly
Deborah Butterfield Artemisia Gentileschi Anne Killegrew
Sophie Calle Natalya Goncharova Yeffe Kimball
Calypso Eva Gonzales Anna Elizabeth Klumpke
Julia Margaret Cameron Sarah Goodridge Florence Knoll
Emily Carr Nancy Graves Ida Kohlmeyer
Rosalba Carriera Eileen Gray Kathe Kollwitz
Leonora Carrington Kate Greenaway Kora
Mary Cassatt Mary Grigoriadis Joyce Kozloff
Elizabeth Catlett Nancy Grossman Lee Krasner
Coco Chanel Guerrilla Girls Barbara Kruger
Resources
123
Adelaide Labille-Guiard Alice Neel Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
Suzanne Lacy Louise Nevelson Kiki Smith
Betty LaDuke Elisabet Ney Joan Snyder
Dorothea Lange Patsy Norvell Lilly Martin Spencer
Ellen Lanyon Magdelene Odundo Napcy Spero •
Marie Laurencin Georgia O'Keeffe Pat Steir
Laya Meret Oppenheim Alice Barber Stephens
Sherrie Levine Emily Osborn Florine Stettheimer
Lucy Lewis Sarah Miriam Peale May Stevens
Helen Levitt Clara Peeters Renee Stout
Edmonia Lewis Tonita Vigil Pena Michelle Stuart
Samella Lewis Irene Rice Pereira Sophie Taeuber-Arp
Judith Leyster Howardena Pindell Toshiko Takaezu
Maya Lin Eunice Pinney Dorothea Tanning
Lucy Lippard Adrian Piper Sonia Terk-Delaunay
Hung Liu Griselda Pollockhjhj Alma Thomas
Linda Lomahaftewa Pop Chalee (Blue Flower) Marietta Robusti Tintoretto
Yolanda Lopez Bridget Riley Charleen Touchette
Frances McDonald Faith Ringgold Anne Truitt
Margaret McDonald Charlotte Robinson Mierle Laderman Ukeles
Muriel Magenta Dorothea Rockburne Doris Uimann
Marisol Lucy Maddox Brown Suzanne Valadon
Agnes Martin Properzia de' Rossi Remedios Varo
Maria Martinez Rachel Ruysch Pablita Velardi
Queen Matilda Ann Ryan Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun
and court ladies Alison Saar Charmion von Wiegand
Rosemary Mayer Betye Saar Kay WalkingStick
Ana Mendieta Kay Sage Patti Warashina
Maria Sibylla Merian Norie Sato Laura Wheeler Waring
Mary Miss Augusta Savage June Wayne
Joan Mitchell Jenny Savile Rachel Whiteread
Paula Modersohn-Becker Miriam Schapiro Gertrude Vanderbilt-Whitney
Tina Modotti Ellen Wallace Sharpies Joyce Wieland
Julia Morgan Judith Shea Hannah Wilke
Berthe Morisot Cindy Sherman Jackie Winsor
Anna Mary Robertson Moses Elizabeth Siddall Beatrice Wood
(Grandma Moses) Elisabetta Sirani Mariana Yampolsky
Gabriele Munter Norma Sklarek Marguerite Thompson-Zorach
Las Mujeres Muralistas Sandra Skoglund Barbara Zucker
Elizabeth Murray Sylvia Sleigh
124 Resources
Practical Curriculum Resource Materials ME: Stenhouse, 1998. Shares narratives and
The following selection represents some examples of poems from adolescent girls, and offers hands-on
the workbooks, personal narratives, or curriculum suggestions for dealing with gender in the mid¬
resources about gender or women and art now dle school classroom.
available for use in the art classroom: Kordich, Diane D. Images of Commitment, Tucson,
AZ: Crizmac, 1994. A series of thematic art cur¬
Crawford, Susan Hoy. Beyond Dolls and Guns: 101 riculum units based on the artwork of Isobel
Ways to Help Children Avoid Gender Bias, Bishop, Kathe Kollwitz, Maya Lin, Mary Ellen
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1996. Mark, Maria Martinez, Jenny Holzer, Alice Neel,
Dermon-Sparks, Louise and the A.B.C. Task Force. and Faith Ringgold.
Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering National Museum of Women in Art Catalog, New
Young Children, National Association for the York: Abrams, 1987.
Education of Young Children, Washington, DC, Remer, Abby. Pioneering Spirits: The Lives and Times
1989. of Remarkable Women Artists in Western History,
Gallas, Karen. "Sometimes I Can Be Anything": Worcester, MA: Davis Publications, Inc., 1997.
Power, Gender and Identity in a Primary Accompanying slide set available.
Classroom, New York: Teacher's College Press, Roberts, Helene E., ed. Encyclopedia of Comparative
Columbia University, 1998. Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art,
Hicks, Laurie E. "The Construction of Meaning: London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1998.
Feminist Criticism." Art Education, 45, 2 (1992), Sills, Leslie. Inspirations: Stories About Women
23-31. A fully developed art unit presented on Artists, Niles, IL: Albert Whitman & Co. Stories
four artists exhibiting in a show called "Woman about Frida Kahlo, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Faith
Figured by Man: A Rereading of 20th Century Ringgold. Distributed by the Women's History
Visual Representations" that focuses on the polit¬ Project, 7738 Bell Rd., Windsor, Canada 95492.
ical dimension of art, particularly on the concept Available by calling (707) 838-6000.
of oppression. Summers, Claude J. ed. The Queer Encyclopedia of
Horgan, Dianne D. Achieving Gender Equity: the Visual Arts. San Francisco: Cleis Press, 2004.
Strategies for the Classroom, Boston: Allyn & Turner, Robyn Montana. Portraits of Women Artists
Bacon, 1995. Offers pages of practical work¬ for Children, Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1993.
sheets, activities, and strategies for achieving Four texts representing Rosa Bonheur, Mary
gender equity. Cassatt, Frida Kahlo, and Georgia O'Keeffe.
Howard, Nancy Shroyer. Helen Cordero and the
Storytellers of Cichiti Pueblo, Worcester, MA:
Davis Publications, Inc. Available by calling (800)
533-2847.
Hubbard, Ruth Shagoury, Maureen Barbieri, and
Brenda Miller Power, eds. "We Want to Be
Known": Learning from Adolescent Girls, York,
Resources
125
Resources Found on the Web well. [www.chebucto.ns.ca/Community
Interesting Web sites offering information and Support/Men4Change/m4c safe.html]
resources about gender issues and art: "My Little Pretty: Images of Girls by Contemporary
Women Artists." Museum of Contemporary Art.
American Society for Curriculum Development Make an online visit to this past exhibition as well
(ASCD). Various articles on gender issues appear as others from the museum's collection.
in Educational Leadership and in other ASCD [www.mcachicago.org]
paperback publications. Also available from National Art Education Association and Affiliates.
ASCD: An Arts Education Topic Pack (Stock [www.naea-reston.org] Extensive resources avail¬
# 197197) (800) 973-2723. [ASCD.org] able on gender issues, multicultural art education,
Eisenhower National Clearinghouse. Equity Materials and art education practice and theory. Call (800)
(1999). For access to archived equity materials: 299-8321 for catalog or orders. The NAEA
[http://equity.edreform.net/resource/977] Women's Caucus Web site is [http://art-
Federation of Women Teachers Association of education.concordia.ca/naeawc]
Ontario. "Gender Issues in the Media." National Center for Curriculum Transformation.
Curriculum Insert 13. 1, 1-8. For grades 4-6. Resources on Women, Towson University,
$2.00. Available from Media Watch, Suite 204, Maryland. Institute for Teaching and Research on
517 Wellington St. W, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Women. "Essay on the Discipline of Art Education
M5V 1G1 and Gender" as part of a series on academic disci¬
The J. Paul Getty Trust provides an extensive Web plines. Available for $7.00 at (410) 704-5457 or
site with archived lesson plans, teacher [www.towson.edu/ncctrw]
exchanges, and resources for art education. National Museum of Women in Art is in the process
[www.getty.edu/education] of developing an online database of more than
Indiana University School of Education/Great 16,000 artworks in its collection. To contact the
ldeas/"Teacher Talk'VLesson Plan. "Developing an museum by telephone, call (202)783-5000.
Awareness of Gender Bias in Art Interpretation" [www.nmwa.org]
by Tama Richardson, middle school art instructor. National Women's Caucus for Art. Seminars, exhibi¬
Link provided by [www.educ.indiana.edu] tions, networking opportunities for artists/educa¬
"Media and Body Image." Media Awareness tors. Affiliated with College Art Association.
Network. Excellent Web site with lessons plans [www.nationalwca.com]
and Web links about the effects of media on "The Victorian Web." Site on women and Victorian
children in terms of body image, gender culture, including the visual arts, [www.victorian-
portrayal, and self-concept in society. web.org]
[www.media-awareness.ca] The National S.E.E.D. Project (Seeking Educational
"Men For Change." Group in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Equity and Diversity) on Inclusive K-12 Curricu¬
advocating gender fairness and nonviolent social lum. Center for Research on Women, Wellesley
solutions. Web site includes interesting lesson College, Wellesley, MA 02181, (781) 283-2504.
ideas about media and links for women's input as Offers summer leadership workshops for teachers
126 Resources
on gender equity and diversity in the classroom. Challenge for Art Education." Studies in Art
[www.wcwonline.org/seed] Education 32, no. 1 (Fall 1990): 6-16.
National Women's History Project website offers EJ538385 Bolin, Paul E. "We Are What We Ask."
extensive information and links regarding Art Education 49, no. 5 (September 1996): 6-10.
women's contributions to history. For informa¬ EJ720153 Caruso, Hwa Young Choi. "Art as a
tion: (707) 636-2888 or Political Act: Expression of Cultural Identity, Self-
[www.nwhp.org/tlp/links/links.html] Identity, and Gender by Suk Nam Yun and Yong
U.S. Department of Education Publishing Center. Soon Min." Journal of Aesthetic Education 39, no.
"Trends in Educational Equity of Girls and 3 (Fall 2005): 71-87.
Women: 2004." Publication ID: ERN3781P. For ED375015 Collins, Georgia and Renee Sandell.
information on many available equity resources, Women, Art, and Education. Reston, VA: NAEA
call (877) 4-ED-PUBS or order online. Publications, 1984.
[www.edpubs.org] ED370583 Condron, Linda, et al. "Women and the
Women Artists in Canada. Discourses of the Visual: Where Are Women in
[www.collectionscanada.ca/women] This Picture?" Previously unpublished opinion
paper, 1993.
EJ419136 Dossor, Dinah. "Gender Issues in Tertiary
National Library of Education: Education Resources Art Education." Journal of Art and Design
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Resources
EJ419225 Garber, Elizabeth. "Implications of into History." Curriculum guide sponsored
Feminist Art Criticism for Art Education." Studies by Washington State Office of the Super¬
in Art Education 32, no. 1 (Fall 1990): 17-26. intendent of Public Instruction, Olympia, WA,
ED385507 Gaskell, Jane and John Willinsky, eds. 1988.
Gender Informs Curriculum: From Enrichment to ED391761 "The Powers of,the Feminine. Sacred
Transformation. New York: Teachers College Press, Images of India and Southeast Asia." Teacher's
1995. Packet.
ED378110 Gaudelius, Yvonne, ed. The Women's EJ455270 Verdino-Sullwold, Carla Maria. "Generous
Caucus Report 52 (Summer/Fall 1993). with Our Uniqueness: Forging New Directions for
EJ419227 Hicks, Laurie E. "A Feminist Analysis of African-American Women in the Arts." Crisis 99,
Empowerment and Community in Art Education." no. 7 (October 1992): 29-30, 32-36.
Studies in Art Education 32, no. 1 (Fall 1990): ED347098 Zimmerman, Enid and Mary Ann
36-46. Stankiewicz, eds. Women Art Educators I.
EJ631870 Holloway, Debra L. and Margaret D. ED379199 Zurmuehlen, Marilyn. Working Papers in
LeCompte. "Becoming Somebody! How Arts Art Education, Steve Thunder-McGuire and
Programs Support Positive Identity for Middle Marilyn Zurmuehlen, eds., 1993. Number 12.
School Girls." Education and Urban Society 33,
no. 4 (August 2001): 388-408. Sites for Ordering Art Education Resources and
EJ528523 Kellman, Julia. "Women's Handwork: Audio-Visual Material about Women Artists
Stories of Similarity and Diversity." Art Education Crystal Productions Catalog offers videos, poster sets,
49, no. 2 (March 1996): 33-39. timelines, curriculum units, electronic media, and
ED398154 LaDuke, Betty. Women Artists: Multi¬ books focusing on multicultural and women's
cultural Visions. ideas, contributions, and images to worldwide
ED 466966 McCoubry, Sharon, ed., "Gender Issues in art. Reach them at (800) 255-8629 for a catalog.
Art Education." BCATA Journal for Art Teachers Box 2159, Glenview, IL 60025-6159 or [www.
40, no. 1 (Summer 2000). Special issue on gender. crystalproductions.com]
ED410152 Smith, Peter J. The History of American Crizmac, Art and Cultural Education Materials, Inc.
Art Education: Learning about Art in American Catalog offers extensive resource materials for
Schools. Contributions to the Study of Education. diversity in art education, including audio visual
Number 67. resources, teacher lessons, cultural kits, timelines,
EJ496944 Springer, Julie. "Women, Power, and and videos. Reach them at 800-913-8555 or
Empowering Imagery." Instructional Resources. [www.crizmac.com],
Art Education 47, no. 5 (September 1994): 27-30, Davis Publications, Inc. and Davis Art Images.
43-46. Catalogs offer extensive art educational
ED347099 Stankiewicz, Mary Ann and Enid resources and sets of images of women artists
Zimmerman, eds. Women Art Educators II. including women photographers. Call (800)
ED302458 Sullivan, Lisa M. and Sandra M. Bueler. 533-2847 for catalogs or online ordering.
"A Unit about Women: Write Women Back [www.davisart.com].
128 Resources
Sax Visual Materials Catalog. Texts, slides, videos, Women Artists. Take-5 Art Prints Series. Five large
posters, and other resource materials as well as poster images of women's art. Includes Judith
art supplies are available through this distributor. Leyster, Kathe Kollwitz, Frida Kahlo, Georgia
Call (800) 558-6696 for catalogs or order. O'Keeffe and Helen Frankenthaler. Available from
[www.saxarts.com] Sax Catalog. Call (800) 558-6696.
Saskia Art Slides, Ltd. offers a selection of images by Women Artists of the Americas. Five large reproduc¬
women artists. Available from Scholar's Resource, tions and teacher's manual. Multicultural Art Print
Inc. Call (800) 688-3040. Series. Includes Lola Alvarez Bravo, Lois Mailou
[www.scholarsresource.com] Jones, Elizabeth Stanhope Forbes, Frida Kahlo,
Universal Color Slides. Catalog offers extensive range Marina Nunez del Prado. Getty Education Institute
of slides, videos, mini reproductions of ten for the Arts, also available in Sax Catalog.
women artists, and texts on women artists. Series Women Artists. Large color reproductions of the
of slides on contemporary women artists of color art of ten women artists. Shorewood Art Prints.
include African American, Latina American, Asian Available from Sax Catalog.
Pacific American and Native American women Women Artists on Disc. Extensive bibliographic
artists in four separate sets. Call (800) 326-1367 database on women artists. CD-ROM. Thorndike,
for catalog, [www.universalartimages.com] ME: G.K. Hall & Co., 2000.
Museum of Art and Design (formerly the American Survey of Women Artists. CD-ROM. National
Craft Museum) Slide Packets: The Object as Museum of Women in the Arts/SRA.
Vessel, The Object Made for Use, The Object as [www.nmwa.org].
Statement, The Object as Personal Adornment, Women Artists in the Collection: St. Louis Art
Political Ceramics: Social Issues and Political Museum. Slide kit. Available for purchase. Other
Ceramics: War. Each set contains eighteen images. kits on quilting, basketry, and decorative arts
Available from Crystal Productions. available for loan to Missouri teachers for use in
schools. Call (314) 721-0067.
From the Heart: Works by Women. New York:
Selected Reproductions, CD-ROMs, DVDs, and Museum of Modern Art. Nine contemporary
Videotapes women artists from the Gihon Collection: Lynda
Art: 21, Art in the Twentieth Century. A DVD and Benglis, Nancy Chambers, Clyde Connell, Janet
online teaching resource that includes documen¬ Fish, Hermine Ford, Dorothy Hood, Mary
taries on several contemporary American women McCleary, Gail Stack, and Dee Wolff. Videos/DVDs
artists. For information and ordering materials, on Women Who Make Art.
go to: [www.pbs.org/art 21].
Women Artists. Eighteen separate color poster The following is a partial list of women artists who
images of paintings and sculpture with brief bio¬ have had individual videos or DVDs made about
graphical captions. Available from Crizmac cata¬ their lives and work. They are available from one or
Resources
129
Emma Amos Chadwick, Whitney, and Isabelle de Courtivion, eds.
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Mary Cassatt Partnership. New York: Thames and Hudson,
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Museum rately in art, such as Sopia and Robert Delaunay.
Frida Kahlo -. Women, Art, and Society, London: Themes
Betty LaDuke and Hudson, 3rd ed., 2002. A survey from the
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Maya Lin Cherry, Deborah. Painting Women: Victorian Women
Maria Martinez Artists. London: Routledge, 1993.
Louise Nevelson Fine, Elsa Honig. Women and Art: A History of
Georgia O'Keeffe Women Painters and Sculptors from the
Howardena Pindell Renaissance to the 20th Century. Montclair, NJ:
Faith Ringgold Rowman & Allanheld Publishers, 1978.
Betye and Alison Saar Fister, Patricia. Japanese Women Artists 1600-1900.
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of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art.
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cultural Research in Art Education 18 (Fall 2000):
20- 23.
Tavin, Kevin. "Wrestling with Angels, Searching for
Ghosts: Toward a Critical Pedagogy of Visual
Culture." Studies in Art Education 44, no. 3
(2003): 197-213.
Resources
137
Appendix
Worksheets her head. "I don't know," she says. "We try, but
somehow we're still not getting to the girls, and
Worksheet One: Thinking about Gender we're going to lose them."
and Learning
Make a list of beliefs about learning and gender
The following quotes are taken from Orenstein's held by this teacher.
book titled School Girls (New York: Doubleday/
Anchor Books, 1995). The first quote comes from a
middle school student. The second is from a class¬
room teacher.
Appendix 139
Worksheet Two: Thinking about Diversity
Gender ---
Ehnicity -—-
Economic/Social Class ---
Physical, Mental, or Emotional Disability __—-
Sexual Orientation -
Age -
Religious Beliefs
Write down your personal beliefs regarding each of What would help increase my comfort level
the facets mentioned above. regarding_
140 Appendix
Worksheet Three: Gender and Artistic Value
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
9
10
Appendix
141
Worksheet Four: Thinking about Stereotypes
142 Appendix
Worksheet Five: Thinking about Mentoring
1_
Describe your own experience with mentoring. Who
is your mentor? In which area(s) of your life do you ~
have a mentor? What has been the impact of men-
4
toring on your professional teaching career? In your -
artistic career? --
Appendix 143
Worksheet Six: Classroom Language Which phrases are used most often when praising
and Gender male students?
144 Appendix
Worksheet Seven: Exploring One's Stereotypes but, unbeknownst to them, Emilio's salary is
10 percent higher than Anna's.
An interesting activity about stereotyping is found in 7. Two young children watch an hour of the
McCormick's book, Creating the Nonsexist Classroom, Garfield cartoon show. During that hour, the chil¬
(pp. 76-78). dren see three times as many male characters as
female ones.
Reflective Exercise: Thinking about Stereotypes 8. Katrina works at an advertising agency forty
Each of the following scenarios has a stereotype hours a week, and her husband Klaus puts in sim¬
embedded in it. After identifying the stereotype, ilar hours each week as an insurance salesperson.
respond to the situation by indicating your rating on Klaus helps Katrina with the home chores by car¬
a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 being "very comfortable" rying out the trash and washing dishes.
and 4 being "very uncomfortable." Analyze your rat¬
ings. There are no right or wrong answers. Research Activity: Follow-Up Thinking
about Stereotypes
1. You are flying to China via a 747 jet. When In order to counteract stereotyping, teachers need to
airborne, a female voice comes over the inter¬ understand its roots and to reflect on their own
com, "Hello, this is Mildred Poe, your captain, ingrained attitudes and stereotypic thinking about
speaking)" different groups.
2. It is your week to drive the four neighborhood In small groups of four people, discuss and ana¬
children and your cousin to child care. Upon lyze your responses to the eight scenarios above. Is
arrival, you discover that two of the three child¬ there agreement or disagreement on the stereotypes
care aides are male. embedded in each one? Have you ever come face to
3. Your car broke down on the interstate, so you face with such stereotypes? What is the source of
sent for help. The garage sends a sixty-year-old your discomfort with specific scenarios? What are
female mechanic. some plausible alternatives for various reactions?
4. A female student with pronounced scars and As a group or individually, generate responses to
burns on her neck, face, and hands explains to the following questions:
students that she has not yet mastered the art of
using curling rods and combs. 1. What are five stereotypes about each gender?
5. In a newspaper article about a young woman About gays and lesbians? About African
who was wearing shorts and a cut-off T-shirt American women? About Mexican American
when she was raped while jogging, the writer women? About sexually abused women?
commented, "She was asking for it." 2. Is there any rational basis for the stereotypes you
6. Anna and Emilio were good friends in college. identified? If so, justify your position on this
After graduating with the same grade-point aver¬ issue; if not, explain why you think you have
age and degree, they both went to work for the those stereotypes.
same insurance firm. They have identical jobs,
Appendix 145
3. Do you agree or disagree with a person who says
stereotypes correctly provide group norms?
Explain your answer.
4. Discuss the statement, "All stereotypes are incor¬
rect and harmful because by definition they
diminish individuality and diversity."
5. "Stereotypes that express favorable attitudes are
not harmful." Do you agree or disagree with this
statement?
6. What can be done to eliminate these stereo¬
types? Would you confront a teacher in the
teachers' lounge who was heard expressing a
generalization that was not factual about Asian
American girls, African American girls, or some
other group?
146 Appendix
Worksheet Eight: Women in the Curriculum 4
Artist: Genre: £
10
Artist: Genre:
1
Appendix
147
Index
A Aulenti, Gae, 94
Abakanowicz, Magdalena, 67, 107, 108, 109, 111 awareness of women artists, 30, 94, 97, 99, 102, 107
Abbott, S. S. Berenice, 67 Aycock, Alice, 62
Adams, Abigail, 98
Adams, John, 98 B
Adams, John Quincy, 98 Baca, Judy, 103, 104
advantages held by male artists, 33-34 Baez, Joan, 105
aggression and gender, 9 Banks, Cherry A. Magee, 24, 121
and dominance, 8 Banks, James, 20-21, 24, 121
Anguissola, Sofonisba, 33, 35, 41 Barrett, Terry, 75, 89
approaches to multiculturalism, 20-21, 119 Bell, Susan, 75
additive, 21 Benton, Thomas Hart, 50
contributions, 21 Berdache, 15
social action, 21 Berger, John, 49
transformation, 21 Bernard, Malcolm, 55
approaches to gender equity, 19-20 Biklin, Sari Knopp, 121
comparing, 118-119 Blandy, Doug, 75
integrationist, 19 Bonheur, Rosa, 63, 69, 75
parallels with approaches to multiculturalism, 21 Borchers, Karen, 85
pluralist, 20 Botticelli, Sandro, 37
separatist, 19 Boyer, Ernest L., 25, 70, 75
social action, 20 boys
archetypes and stereotypes in art and art education, expectations of, 2-3, 4, 7, 8-9
44-48, 72 socialization of, 2-3
architecture, 93-96 treatment of in the classroom, 4-5, 7, 8, 10
women in, 94 Bravo, Lola Alvarez, 71
architecture schools, American, 35 Brewer, Thomas M., 11
Aristotle, 5 Brooks, Romaine, 63
art academies and women, 34-36 Broude, Norma, 55, 69, 75
art and universal values, 39-40 Brown, Denise Scott, 94
art deemed worth studying, 28-29 Burke, Selma, 62
art, defining it broadly, 21-23, 58-60 Bye, Arthur, 19
art, how it shapes our views of gender, 43-55
art vs. craft, 36-39 C
Asher, Rikki, 75 canons, art and educational, 20
assessment and gender issues, 95, 96, 101, 105, 106, approaches to critique, 61
109, 110 Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi, 63
149
Index
Carr, Emily, 62 formal, explicit, or written, 17, 58
Carracci, Annibale, 50 hidden) 17, 18, 58
case studies, 91-111 null, 17, 18
unit 1 (grades K-3), 93-96 thematic issues in, 70 '
unit 2 (grades 4-6), 96-101 transforming to foster gender equity, 57-75
unit 3 (grades 7-9), 101-106 universal themes as starting points for planning,
unit 4 (grades 10-12), 106-110 70-71
Cassatt, Mary, 32, 62, 65, 67, 80 Creation of Adam from the Sistine Ceiling, 32-33
Catlett, Elizabeth, 67
Chadwick, Whitney, 41 D
Chalmers, F. Graeme, 75 Day, Gary, 25, 111
Chaplin, Sarah, 44, 55 Degler, Carl, 5
Chapman, Anne, 24 Demuth, Charles, 63
Chapman, Tracy, 105 differential treatment of girls and boys, 2-3
Check, Ed, 63, 75 discipline-based (DBAE) or comprehensive approach
Chicago, Judy, 20, 30, 41, 66, 75, 86, 103-104 to art education, 21-23
The Dinner Party, 66 Dehner, Dorothy, 22, 23
classroom environment, importance of, 83-85 Delaunay, Robert, 60, 88
for promoting gender equity, 84 De Pisan, Christine, 57, 75
for promoting safety for all students, 84-85 designing instructional activities to address gender
Claudel, Camille, 88, 107, 108, 109, 111 equity, 85-88
Close, Chuck, 100 Dobbs, Stephen Mark, 75
cognitive and perceptual skills, differences in, Domenichino, 50
9-10 double standard for women in art, 35
Colescott, Robert, 87, 100 Doyle, James A., 11, 15, 24
Collins, Georgia, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 79, 89, 115, 117, Drew, Jane, 94
121 Dylan, Bob, 105
Congdon, Kristin, 25, 64, 75
Constantinople, Anne, 15 E
context: factors that shape artistic expression, 22-23, Eames, Charles, 94
39-40 Eames, Rae, 94
Copley, John Singleton, 96 Edelsen, Mary Beth, 86
Courtauld, Louisa, 58 Eisner, Elliot, 18, 24
curriculum, aspects of, 17-18 Erickson, Mary, 75
comparing approaches for equity and diversity, Erlebacher, Martha, 64
118-119 Euripides, 98
evaded, 18 Eve as female archetype, 45-46
150 Index
F language bias and, 32
female artists (see also women artists) lenses, 73
discrimination against, 23 past and present in the K-12 artroom, 21-23
femininity, 1-7 sexual orientation and, 14-16, 61-63
feminist art critics and historians, 66 shaping of, by art and visual culture, 43-55
feminist perspectives in art criticism, 65 socialization, 1-4
Fine, Elsa Honig, 60 stereotypes, and teaching, 4
Flack, Audrey, 23, 100 in society, 13-14
Flannery, Kathleen A., 11 studies and art education, 10
formalist approach to art education, limiting scope understanding, in society, schools, and artroom,
of, 23 1-11
Frank, Anne, 105 views of, and how they affect art students, 13-25
Freccero, Carla, 55 "gender" vs. "sex," 3-4
Freedman, Kerry, 25, 55 Gentileschi, Artemesia, 51
Freud, Sigmund, 5-6 Gillespie, Michael, 24, 111
Fuller, Meta Warrick, 62 Gilpin, Laura, 62, 63
\ girls
G expectations of, 2-3, 4, 7, 8-9
Garrard, Mary D., 55, 69, 75 opportunities for leadership, 93, 95
Garza, Carmen Lomas, 103, 104, 120 socialization of, 2-3
Gaudelius, Yvonne, 75 treatment of in the classroom, 4-5, 7, 8, 10
gender Grant, Carl, 20, 24
affecting artistic expression, 65 Gray, Eileen, 94
affecting views of art and artists, 28-29 Green, Maxine, 113, 121
assumptions and misconceptions about, 5-7 Grien, Hans Baldung, 46
bias in art criticism, 52, 53 Guerrilla Girls, 29, 31, 41, 73
biases in art instruction and, 30-33
biases related to media type, 36-39 H
constructing, 20 Hadid, Zaha, 94
curriculum in the art classroom and, 17-18 Hals, Frans, 99
differences according to research, 7-10 Hamblen, Karen, 24
equity, approaches to, in the artroom, 17-21 Haring, Keith, 63
equity in the ideal art classroom, 113-120 Hedges, Elaine, 36, 49
expectations, 2-7 Heller, Nancy, 41
in the media, 44 "high" vs. "low" art, 60-61
issues in art and visual culture, 27-41 Hoch, Hannah, 67
issues in the art classroom, 14-19, 21-23 Hockney, David, 63
Index
151
Horney, Karen, 6
Howells, Richard, 55 Lamoe, Julie, 23
Hutchens, James, 75 Lampela, Laura, 63, 75
Huxtable, Ada Louise, 94 Layton, Elizabeth, 62
Le Corbusier, 94
I leadership promoting gender equity, 80
ideal art classroom, gender equity in, 113-121 Leonhard, Emma Mae, 38
actions teachers can take, 115 Levi-Strauss, Claude, 49
benefits of, 120 Leyster, Judith, 97, 99, 101
creating and maintaining an equitable Lin, Maya, 94
environment, 115-116 Lippard, Lucy, 31, 65, 71
selecting meaningful concepts for student Lips, Hilary M., 1, 10, 11
exploration, 117, 120 Liu, Hung, 62
images, role played in shaping understanding Loeb, Judy, 19, 60
of gender and sexual identity, 30, 44-48, 72 Lopez, Yolanda, 103, 104
instructional activities addressing issues of gender Lorenz, Clare, 41
equity, 85-88 Los Lobos, 105
action exercises, 86-87 Lucie-Smith, Edward, 64, 66
collaborative research suggestions, 87-88
reflective exercises, 85-86 M
integrationist approach to gender equity, 19 Maccoby, Eleanor, 9, 11
Macintosh, Charles Rennie, 94
J-K Madonna as female archetype, 45-46
Jacklin, Carol, 9, 11 Mainardi, Patricia, 37, 41, 61
Johns, Jasper, 88 male artists
Jones, Amelia, 75 advantages of, 34
Jonson, Ben, 98 and "greatness," 31
Jorgensen, Linda, 111 predominance in textbooks, 29-31
Kahlo, Frida, 88, 100 assumption of their perspective as universal,
Kandinsky, Wassily, 88 39-40, 48-51
Kauffmann, Angelica, 34, 46 male "gaze" of viewer, 50, 63, 107
Kelly, Mary, 20 Manet, Edouard 86
Kollwitz, Kathe, 64, 102, 103 Manriquez, David, 111, 116, 120, 121
Krasner, Lee , 53, 55, 88 Marley, Bob, 105
Kruger, Barbara, 49, 67, 87 Martinez, Maria, 67
masculinity, 1-7
152 Index
McCormick, Theresa Mickey, 18, 24, 78, 117, 121 O'Keeffe, Georgia, 53, 62, 88, 102, 103
McDonald, Frances, 94 O'Kelly, Mattie Lou, 62
McDonald, Margaret, 94 Orenstein, Peggy, 7, 82, 89
media archetypes and stereotypes, 44
Michelangelo, 31-33, 36, 63 P-Q
Middle Ages, 5 Parks, Rosa, 105
misconceptions about gender differences Peale, Charles Willson, 99
females as inferior males, 5-6 Peale, Anna Claypoole, 99, 10
males and females as opposites, 6-7 Peale, James, 97
Modersohn-Becker, Paula, 63 Peale, Sarah Miriam, 97, 99
Morgan, Julia, 94 Perlinghieri, Sandra, 41
Morisot, Berthe, 62 Perrotti, Jeff, 89
Morisot, Edma, 62 personal identity and artistic expression, 64
Moser, Mary, 34, 46 personal relationships of boys vs. girls, 8
Moses, Grandma, 102, 103 Petrovich-Mwaniki, Lois, 71, 75
multiculturalism, 20-21, 71-72 physiological differences, 9
Munch, Edvard, 40 Piazza, Carolyn, 73
Munsen, Gretchen T., 55 Piercy, Marge, 36
Munter, Gabriel, 88 pluralist approach to gender equity, 20
Pollard, Diane, 121
N Pollock, Jackson, 88
Native American culture, gender in, 15 Pollock, Mrs. Jackson, 53
nature vs. culture, 49 Pollock, William, 11
Nebraska Prairie Visions Project, 24, 111 portraiture and women, 97, 99
Neel, Alice, 67 preference for boys, 3
Nemser, Cindy, 19, 23 prejudice, 4
Nochlin, Linda, 27, 31, 41, 66 promoting individual achievement, 23
nonsexist classroom, characteristics of, 117 quantitative ability, 9
nudes, 33, 45, 63, 67 quilts as art, 38-39
women denied access to study, 32-35
nurturing environment, creating, 83-85 R
Rauschenberg, Robert, 63, 88
O Rembrandt, 50
obstacles faced by female artists, 34-36 Remer, Abby, 75
Odetta, 105 Renaissance, 6, 32, 34, 37
Odundo, Magdalene, 106-108, 109, 111 resources for promoting gender equity, 122-137
153
Index
Rickey, Carrie, 66 Smith, Jaune Quick-to-See, 62
Rivera, Diego, 88, 104 social behavior, gender differences in, 8-9
154 Index
Thurber, Frances, 24, 75, 89, 111 visual culture, 21, 27, 30, 43
transforming curriculum to foster gender equity, art education and, 44
57-75 in curriculum, 39
consider gender within multiculturalism context,
71-72 W
critique canon of art, 59-61 women's contributions to, 59
define art broadly, 58-59 Wagner, Anne M., 55
explore issues of context that shape content, Walker, John A., 44, 55
66-67 Walker, Sydney R., 75
highlight gender through art criticism and history, Warashina, Patty, 62
65-66 Warhol, Andy, 63, 100
rethink curriculum approaches, 67-70 Wasson, Robyn F., 71, 75
show multiple perspectives, 61-65 Watson, Malcolm W., 11
study stereotypes and archetypes, 72-74 Weems, Carrie Mae, 71
Weinert, Linda, 111
U-V Wendt, Ingrid, 36, 49
understanding gender, in society, schools, and art- Westheimer, Kim, 89
room, 1-11 Wilson, Brent, 24
assumptions and misconceptions, 5-7 witches as negative female archetype, 45-46
gender differences, 7-10 women
gender expectations, 2-5 appearance in art and visual culture, 29-30, 45-47
University of Michigan, admission of women, 5 impact of social roles, 35-36, 97-98
Valadon, Suzanne, 40 women artists
Venturi, Robert, 94 concept of greatness and, 31-32, 37
verbal ability, 9 disadvantages faced by, 29, 32-36
views of gender and how they affect art students, knowledge of by art teachers, 30-31
13-25 lists of, 62, 123-124
approaches to gender equity in the classroom, response to human form, 106-108
19- 20 social roles of, 35-38
curriculum and gender in the classroom, 17-18 women as art critics and art historians, 65-67
gender in the classroom, past and present, 21-23 women portrait artists, 99, 100
gender issues in the classroom, 14-17 Young, Bernard, 75
individual achievement with gender equity, 23
parallels found in multiculturism approaches, Z
20 21
- Zapata, Emiliano, 104
Vigee-Lebrun, Elisabeth-Louise, 54-55 Zimmerman, Enid, 20, 24, 75, 117
Virginia Slims advertising, 55 Zoffany, Johann, 34, 46
Index 155
MARYGROUE COLLEGE
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The Art Education in Practice series provides working art educators with accessible
guides to significant issues in the field. Developments in the field of art education are
Each title in this series delivers sensible solutions, transforming research and theory
into tangible classroom strategies. Paramount to the series is the concept of informed
practice, whereby important and often complex art education topics are put into the
ISBN 0-fi71‘E-74S-4