The Arts: Essential for All Students
Based on an interview with visual artist and educator Willis "Bing" Davis
Dayton artist and former OAC Council member Willis "Bing" Davis retired in 1998 from his position as art department chair at Central State University, but he continues his lifelong pursuits of traveling, making art, and creating a "third space" for new generations of young artists and arts educators both in his studio and through his visits to schools. After spending a delightful afternoon with 50 young students who had been studying a unit on his work, he shared his insights with Links & Threads.
Are comprehensive arts education and arts integrated instruction only for the artistically gifted?
My experience has been that all kids respond to meaningful, exciting learning opportunities in the arts. I believe that young people who engage in well-developed arts integrated learning experiences develop creative, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills that transfer either directly or indirectly over to other areas.
Are arts integrated lessons a way to engage the disruptive or "hard to reach" kids?
The arts can be a door to reconnection for students who have been turned off by bad school experiences. But the arts are an important vehicle to reach and teach all students. Students who are science-oriented, for example, become more fluid in their thinking and learn to use their intuition through arts learning.
Are lessons in non-Western art particularly helpful for engaging African-American students and others whose origins and cultures are non-Western?
Ancestral Spirit Dance #296 (oil pastel) by Bing Davis.
Of course seeing their own culture gives them a sense of pride, but all students respond pleasantly to the richness of non-Western art. They often notice its similarities to Western art and respond when they see a mother and child depicted or people farming or working. They see the human connections that unite us all.
This article was published in March 2006, Volume 2, Issue 2.
Read more about how learning in the arts prepares students for the future.
Also indexed under Perspectives: Reflections by Advocates and Experts
