Response to Karen Gallas' Arts As Epistemology

This article’s description of this art-integrated classroom is just one example of how art can play an integral roll in academic environment. Art is such a vast subject and so important for personal and group explorations. If integrated and supported properly, art can also make academic subjects more of a personal experience for learners. “Drawing and painting, music, movement, dramatic enactment, poetry, and storytelling…” (Gallas. 1991) Those of are just some of the examples of the types of projects that could be in different classes.

No one child is exactly alike and no child thinks the same either.

“Creative arts, rather than labeling our differences, enable us to celebrate them” (Gallas. 1991) As teachers we need to listen to the needs and desires of our students. We must be flexible enough to allow them to show us how they learn best.

“Before they begin school, and even in the primary grades, most children depend on play, movement, song, dramatic play, and artistic activity as their means of making sense of the world. That these pastimes gradually give way to prominently ‘adult’ styles of communication is more a tribute to the power of traditional schooling and parental pressure than a statement of the natural process of expressive maturation.” (Gallas. 1991) I found this quote particularly interesting. Freedom to express is so limited in school. Recess and art are so limited as children age even though they are such important times for self-discovery and self-expression. The arts can offer recognition of the ‘full range of human potential for expression and understanding’ as opposed to just a ‘linear; way of thinking. Since we are such a traditional test reliant society, I can see how it could be challenging to accurately assess the knowledge gained by the children past mere regurgitation of facts. But isn’t it more ideal to transform minds with true knowledge and put in the extra work to make that a possibility? Not every child will excel in every art form and not every child will excel in every academic. As teachers we must provide the variety of experiences to give our students the chance to excel.