As an educator, I believe that the concept of diversity is an all-encompassing one. It governs how we live our lives, makes decisions, and the role that we take up within the world. To look at the world through a diversity-oriented lens is to acknowledge the inherent disparities and the multi-faceted lens through which life is lived.
The experiences that my students have on a day to day basis shape their diversity; differences such as ethnicity, social class, socioeconomic class, disability, domestic life, and gender identity permeate their lives and influence the way they interact with the world and the way that the world interacts with them. Different students stand on different playing fields, have more or less advantages in the world, and encounter different experiences in day to day life.
With this diversity, unfortunately comes inequality as many students have to grapple with the impact of an uneven playing field; in the art classroom, this looks like different students having less resources and less access to art. They do not have the opportunity to have art supplies at home, art making software, or a household which emphasizes the power of creativity. They often haven’t had access to art classes. They don’t have the same support as households which emphasize the value of artistic expression. Furthermore, even if students have creative support, they can still fail to pursue creative expression due to other barriers; because art in museums is primarily made by white men, those who don’t fit into the box can often feel ostracized as they don’t find representation within the artistic spectrum. Students who fail to see themselves within the work which is presented to them find the art world ostracizing and foreign, feel the concept of art separate from themselves.
Even though diversity means that students often don’t exist on the same level of support, it also means that the diversity that is faced brings an aspect of intersectionality to work. While diversity can mean inequity and lack of resources for students, it can also mean that students have many voices, many ways of artistically articulating who they are and what they bring to the table. The world is too big to focus on one type of art; diversity means that the western canon of art, as well as other cannons such as the Native American, Asian, and African canon can be explored as students learn to discover what makes work which possesses different ideas special. While diversity covers the inequity of life, diversity also considers the beauty and effectiveness found in many ways of thinking and processing the world. Diversity emphasizes many ways of creation, tradition, living life, telling a story, and solving a problem. In Taylor et al’s work (2006), it is brought up that it is important to “look at [work] and, most importantly, respect them for what they are-sacred objects, symbols, and important narratives” (p. 84).
An education which really focuses on diversity and inclusivity, therefore, must be broad in a way which does not seek to trivialize or commodify the voices of non western canons. Often, the focus on “ethnic” art is to appropriate and learn about visual practices and tools without learning about the beliefs and practices of the culture it is borrowed from. A diverse teaching practice seeks to teach about visual canons in a way which is inclusive to the cultures that it speaks about, that offers introspection into the ideas that the culture values and honors, and respects the culture in question. A diverse teaching practice offers a sense of reprise, a breath of relief. Rules are temporarily suspended because students allow themselves to be inundated with a sense of multiple ideas which braces them for their own creation. In an article about critical arts pedagogy, Alisha Mernick (2021) writes about the importance of continually scaffolding diversity within the art education classroom; diversity within education is not reliant on activism units, it is reliant on a continuous process which builds and correlates with knowledge (Mernick, p. 02). Within a diverse teaching practice, artists are introduced not to check off cultural or ethnic identities, but as a way to offer multiple vantage points and ideas.
Diversity within the art classroom is a strength. As students get the chance to express themselves and their cultures, ideas, values, and traditions through their work, they also gain the opportunity to share their creative vision with their peers. In this sense, diversity in the art classroom functions as a tidal pool, a reverbing wealth of information that students become inundated with. Together, students learn about their own intersectionality and social structures while also getting the opportunity to be exposed to students who have different ideas, different means of creativity, and different ways of thinking. This exposure, the ability to learn from one another and feel empathy, understanding, and kinship, is one of the ways that a diverse art education ultimately results in kindness; when students learn about the diversity in the world around them, as well as the social inequities, students can become educated and aware. In this practice, the art student can even make work and think about ways to transform their local community and the world around them. In this way, the presence of art within the classrooms blooms into activism; The article “A Model for a Civically Engaged Art Education” speaks to how students continue to shape trends within art which serve as social activism. The natural idea of thinking about an idea leads into making, which leads into social activism. Art is the gateway to creating and empowering a new world (Fendler et al, 2020, p. 12).
In conclusion, while diversity considers the inequity of the world, diversity also understands the unique and wonderful experiences that people have. In an art education where students are able to embrace their own diversity and share their own stories, they kindle a dialogue which allows prompt education, and eventually action. Students are able to tell their story while creating a tangible impact. They learn about the beauty of multiple viewpoints, and find various solutions to creative problems.
References
Fendler, R., Shields, S. S., & Henn, D. (2020). #thefutureisnow: A Model for Civically Engaged Art Education. Art Education, 73(5), 10–15.
Mernick, A. (2021). Critical Arts Pedagogy: Nurturing Critical Consciousness and Self-Actualization Through Art Education. Art Education, 74(5), 19–24.
Taylor, P. G. (2006). A call to "face up" to cultural diversity. Interdisciplinary Approaches to Teaching Art in High School pp. 75-88). National Art Education Association.