Review of Stinespring and Kennedy

Joni Hough

November 6, 2013

Advanced Art Education Methods

Review of Stinespring and Kennedy

            In the article, “Meeting the Need for Multiculturalism in the Art Classroom,” Stinespring and Kennedy proclaim that postmodern critics complain that modernism is discriminatory, and critics of postmodernism complain that it is too inclusive.  As teachers try to increase the diversity in the art they present to students they often present the work as “primitive, exotic, or quaint.”  To combat this Vesta Daniel has suggested six guidelines for teachers including encouraging students to question traditional standards of excellence, including art work from those who are disenfranchised, and connecting local interests to art from around the world. 

Stinespring and Kennedy also suggest using current terminology when referring to groups of people.  They however, use the term “black” to refer to African Americans.  They are ignoring their own advice.

Stinespring and Kennedy offer the basic criteria for judging one’s art program as does the curriculum reinforce Western exclusiveness or does it embrace and variety of human expression.  They also posit that it matters less how many cultural groups are represented as long as those that are taught are handled with respect.  I disagree with this statement because I believe it is important to include a variety of cultures in the curriculum, and not just those cultures represented in the student population.  Multiculturalism is important for all students, not just minority students.

            The authors go on to suggest that it is important to teach about the context in which the artist made his or her artwork so that students will understand the struggles facing oppressed artists.  They further explain that it is important for African American students to learn about African American artist because it helps raise the students’ self-esteem.  I would argue that it is just as critical for all students to learn to respect all cultures by learning about a variety of cultural groups.

            As a sidebar, Stinespring and Kennedy include the story of African American artist, Charles White.  They discuss the people who mentored him and who helped him overcome the oppression of being African American in the early part of the twentieth century in the United States.  It is an interesting sidebar.