The History We've Forgotten

Technological Resources that Enhance Creativity in an Arts Classroom

Introduction: The history that we’ve forgotten

An interesting theory is brought up in Stephanie Sandifer’s essay “Technology and the Art Classroom,” in regards to innovation and invention. Sandifer discusses an important concept that many of us in the Western World have not considered for some time. She notes that the process of drawing on paper did not exist until the period of the Renaissance, when the first paper mill was constructed “...creating a cheap and readily available media for art-making, this technological innovation paved the way for the development of drawing as a preliminary study for other works and as a new art form in itself.”

Today in our technologically advanced age of computers and machines, we have begun to question the authenticity of using such advances to create ‘original, hand-crafted art.’ Yet in considering Sandifer’s theory we can see how technology itself is actually rooted in the tradition of man-made art.

In looking at the tradition of drawing and painting we can see the transition that technology has made in creating traditional techniques. In the Stone Age, people used rocks and cave walls to design and create works of art; Native Americans used animal skins to depict symbols and designs of their heritage; the Egyptians made scrolls from the papyrus plant in order to record events; the Chinese refined paper making through use of hemp weed and moulds; paper mills were produced in Europe and marked a new age of communication through the creation of the printing press. The point is that each new invention and refinement of an original idea throughout history, has marked new technological paths and has changed our views on what we refer to as traditional art making. Now, in the 21^st century, we have an invention called the “computer”; an invention that has been created from past technologies and is constantly being refined and reprogrammed in order to create new ways of thinking and creating.

The question is, we can see how the invention of technology has changed they ways that we create and think about art from the beginning of man-kind until now, why then as teachers do we feel the need to cast off new technological computer programs, declaring that they stifle individual creativity and produce re-productions of ‘original’ artworks that were created ‘traditionally’; when we know that traditionally, art was created on natural earth surfaces. Why are we so preoccupied with the notion that traditional art-making includes paper, which is in itself a mass produced technological advancement?

These are some of the important realities that we as emerging educators must remember when we are faced with questions of whether to reject or embrace technology in our classrooms.

Million Dollar Question:

How can we as teachers incorporate creative technology into our art classroom?

Check out Stephanie Sandifer’s article at http://www.ed421.com/?p=377

Images used on this page:

http://www.mozelleart.com/CavePainting1.jpg
http://z.about.com/d/atheism/1/0/N/e/LeonardoSelfPortrait.jpg
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