Publication Date

2020

Abstract

As an art historian, it is increasingly hard to teach art history to students who have no background or interest in history. This paper definitely does not criticize my university or my state’s educational practices, but I believe that teaching history is very important to all of our students as citizens. I was educated in, have taught in three countries, and have published in four countries. That said, in the past 20 years, it has become more and more difficult to teach the history of art, artists, and stylistic movements. Why? The majority of my students lack any background or knowledge concerning basic history, culture, and traditions. So, how do we, as educators, overcome this lack of knowledge, and what can we do about this deficiency – or should we do anything about this at all? Should we be concerned? Is art history (and maybe other subjects in the humanities) doomed in the future? What can be done about this, and can any of these remedies be transparent in the course of our teaching? Solutions to these problems that I have effectively employed involve storytelling, spoon-feeding, and explaining traditions, and these solutions have been extremely successful!

Author Biography

Gay Sweely, faculty emeritus, is a professor in the Department of Art & Design at Eastern Kentucky University; her specialties are 19th-century, Non-western, and American art history. She served the Student Success Institute, the McNair Program, and team-taught five different courses for the EKU Honors Program (15 years), as well as mentoring 19 students across campus. A native of Chicago, she graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University, University of Utah, Canterbury University (NZ), and a double PhD from the University of Melbourne (AUST). She is the former president of Chapter 122, Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, and co-editor/author of Becoming Australians (2001). Dr. Sweely has been presenting academic papers, publishing since 1976 in five countries, and teaching in three. Her current publications concern teaching art history and graphic arts, and her current research concerns the history and preservation of a 1970 stone “mansion” in Madison County, Kentucky.

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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Storytelling, Spoon-Feeding, and Traditions: Teaching Art History Better

As an art historian, it is increasingly hard to teach art history to students who have no background or interest in history. This paper definitely does not criticize my university or my state’s educational practices, but I believe that teaching history is very important to all of our students as citizens. I was educated in, have taught in three countries, and have published in four countries. That said, in the past 20 years, it has become more and more difficult to teach the history of art, artists, and stylistic movements. Why? The majority of my students lack any background or knowledge concerning basic history, culture, and traditions. So, how do we, as educators, overcome this lack of knowledge, and what can we do about this deficiency – or should we do anything about this at all? Should we be concerned? Is art history (and maybe other subjects in the humanities) doomed in the future? What can be done about this, and can any of these remedies be transparent in the course of our teaching? Solutions to these problems that I have effectively employed involve storytelling, spoon-feeding, and explaining traditions, and these solutions have been extremely successful!