The Art Teacher as Collector

In this article, an art teacher relates how she uses her enthusiasm for collecting aesthetic objects to transform or generate ideas for art problems for her students, in the belief that teachers teach best about that which they are most enthusiastic. In her classes, she introduces the idea of collecting by asking students to discuss what they collect (e.g., baseball cards, state quarters, plastic bracelets) and why. They also considered possible reasons people collect things. As an example of how to generate a lesson using her collection, the author used Mexican coconut masks, a folk art from Guerrero, Mexico. Following this discussion, she shared her collection and talked about where they were from, why she chose them, and how they were made. Then each student made a large pinch pot (a skill they had previously learned), added features, and then dried, fired in a kiln, and glazed to make the masks. The finished pieces were displayed at school and in a community exhibition. This elementary studio lesson meets a national standard in which students explore and understand prospective contents for works of art.