How can we reframe failure as generative in the art classroom?
Starting Point
Looking at failure in art education is something I have been doing for a few months now. In the Education program at UBC, students develop inquiry questions that they study throughout their coursework and practicum. In the beginning, my inquiry questions was “What is the purpose of finding answers?” and as I, ironically, pursued an answer to this question, my question began to narrow. I began to think about what happens when we fail to find answers, and then about failure in art education as a whole. In the end, the inquiry question that I carried with me into practicum was “How can we reframe failure as generative in the art classroom?”
Why is this question important to me?
My main motivations for this question revolve around the standards of art that we are taught to strive towards. When we think of drawing and painting, we may find that we have a certain perception of what a successful piece of artwork looks like – think descriptors like ‘realistic’ and ‘beautiful’. Many students enter the classroom with these same perceptions, setting standards for themselves according to what they think is ‘good’ art. When their own work does not meet these standards, they can become discouraged, speaking the line heard too often “I can’t draw.”
Alongside students, most teachers also enter the classroom with a fear of failure. Being knowledge holders and having 30 pairs of expectant eyes upon you for all the answers to their questions is a very daunting task! In my practicum experience, it became very real to me that the information I would provide to students would be believed to be true. Furthermore, teachers also need to abide by the rules of their education system, meet the demands of the curriculum, and manage the class appropriately. Overall, many areas with room for failure.
What if we could reframe how we see failure? What if we learnt, and taught, how to revel in failure and acknowledge the growth that comes from it?
Being able to reframe failure in art education is important to me because it lets art become accessible and it can change how we see and handle failure in all domains of our lives.
Who am I thinking with?
Here are a few scholars and articles who have helped to shape and develop how I see my question.
An article that impacted me deeply and motivated me to look at failure was Rita Irwin’s Toward an Aesthetic of Unfolding In/Sights through Curriculum (2003). Irwin describes her underpainting process as one of unfolding, of working through surprises that looked like errors at first but contributed to richer resolutions (p. 70). I saw this as a way to view failure and making mistakes as part of the process of growth and learning. Those moments of failure become informative and evolve our process. They become necessary on the path of learning, as our final pieces would not be what they are without those moments.
Another influential book has been Failure produced by the White Chapel Art Gallery and Lisa LeFeuvre (2010). This book features smaller articles by artists and scholars who discuss the role of failure in their lives and art practices. An example of how failure is used in art by John Baldessari, described in this book, has always remained with me. In his series Throwing Three Balls in the Air to Get a Straight Line (Best of Thirty-Six Attempts) (1973), he illustrates the absurdity of setting out on an impossible task and revelling in the failure of every single attempt. This showed me what failure can look like in an assignment to students.
The article Pretending to be an Art Teacher (Francis, Graham, & Barney, 2018), showed me exactly how art educators can be affected by failure. The article talked about teachers who felt like they needed to know all the answers and appear as master artmakers to their students. The article also spoke about methods to adopt to reframe failure by encouraging experimentation.
Smith and Henrikson’s article, Fail again, fail better: Embracing failure as a paradigm for creative learning in the arts (2016) is an article that provides several ways to address failure in the art classroom. They suggest methods such as open-ended tutorials (p. 8), open-ended exploration opportunities (p. 10), and using formative assessments that focus on thought processes and feedback (p. 11). They also discuss how teachers identifying their own failures and modelling risk taking helps students to understand and see failure in a positive light. This article has been very helpful because of the concrete suggestions for classroom application.
These are only some of the articles that have informed and developed my thinking. I encourage anyone reading to take a look at them as they are richer than I can describe in a few lines.
References
Francis, B., Graham, M. A., & Barney, D. T. (2018). Pretending to be an art teacher. Visual Arts Research, 44(2), 78-86. doi:10.5406/visuartsrese.44.2.0078
Irwin, R. (2003). Toward an aesthetic of unfolding In/Sights through curriculum. Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies, 1(2)
Le Feuvre, L., & Whitechapel Art Gallery. (2010). failure. London;Cambridge, Mass;: MIT Press.
Smith, S., & Henriksen, D. (2016). Fail again, fail better: Embracing failure as a paradigm for creative learning in the arts. Art Education, 69(2), 6-11. doi:10.1080/00043125.2016.1141644
How have I applied this question to my practicum?
In my practicum experience, I tried to apply this reframing by giving my students a flexible and open project. The unit was based on zines that students could make about themselves, their interests, social causes they support, etc. They were to use paper but other than that, they could work with any medium they chose. Many students worked with magazine clippings, watercolour paints, pencil, and pencil crayons. There were often times when students would criticize their abilities and feel discouraged with their progress. In these moments, I spoke to students in the language of a growth mindset – “You don’t know how to draw bridges yet”- and encouraged them to keep trying. The openness of this project let students embrace whatever they chose, and I saw the investment and passion through their daily work. Because of this passion, I ended up extending the unit by an entire week! When the unit was finished, students carried out a self-assessment, and then received written feedback from me that outlined the students’ strengths and areas for growth. This open style of unit was very effective because the students produced meaningful works that they were invested in.
Another way I have applied this question to my practicum is by reflecting on my practicum experience. I can see that there were many moments where I feared failure. I certainly felt like I needed to know everything, especially with all eyes on me – eyes of students, of school advisors, and of faculty advisors. I can tell that I became caught up in this fear at times, and moments of failure were painful and frustrating. In my reflection, I am actively reframing those difficult moments to know them as moments which enriched my experience. This illustrated for me how ingrained those fears are and how one can only reframe them by working through the immediate emotions that come up when failure happens. I think this was a valuable lesson as understanding how failure affects me helps me to understand how it may affect my students as well.
Where to next?
I found that reframing failure in art education is a very complicated endeavour, especially when one is deconstructing that fear within themselves. I think there are beautiful opportunities or students and educators to help one another as they embark on that journey as well.
There is so much more to the question of failure in Art education that needs exploring. Failure has many definitions and manifestations in Art, and those different definitions should be studied. Are students afraid of failing to meet criteria? Afraid of failing to create a masterpiece? Afraid of failing to make something meaningful?
In units where students are looking towards the end criteria, how can educators refocus them upon the process? Can/should we assess process over final product? How can teachers model risk-taking and reframing failure for students?
I will continue addressing this question in my teaching practice and would love to talk to other educators about this subject! Let’s fail and grow together!
Ms. Chan's Teaching Portfolio 