Artist Pedagogy, Art Schools, and Belonging

Abstract

Despite long histories of collectivism, individualism still dominates so much the art world. Forms of collaboration and collectivism are typically treated as novelties and the enduring romantic notion of the artist as an individual on the margins of society perpetuates. Often our pedagogies reproduce these conditions rather than rethinking or challenging them. In the ever more plural critical and material landscapes of contemporary art, where students arrive as atomized individuals, should our pedagogies seek to foster a sense of belonging and how might this be achieved? To what degree do we need to foster community in our pedagogies for students to develop as artists? How do institutional traditions frame and develop particular notions of community? Can belonging be radically reconceptualized through a greater critical attention to what constitutes the “we” within an art school community? Are students still experiencing belonging even if their ways of coming together collectively resists assimilation into a larger school community? --