I believe that the purpose of Education in 2021 AD is the same as it was in 2021 BC, which is to guarantee our species' survival by providing tools to integrate individuals into society.
]]>What is the purpose of Education in the 21st Century?
I believe that the purpose of Education in 2021 AD is the same as it was in 2021 BC, which is to guarantee our species' survival by providing tools to integrate individuals into society. The difference is that now, social media blurs our geographic boundaries and places us in each other's homes. We are forced to coexist with the new, unfamiliar, and sometimes unpleasant presence of others.
Education is the pathway that directs humanity to its full potential. However, there is a "catch": what is full potential? Who defines what full potential is? What is the great source of wisdom that claims the magnificent power of knowing humanity's goals? In fact, the only constant in humanity's so-called progress is the necessity to survive. Everything else, including the Education system of an era, is malleable and structured to serve this fundamental quest for survival.
Maybe the 21st-century's definition of "full potential" is related to the ability to allow pieces of our individuality to fade so that our society as a whole can make it into the 22nd century. If that is true, the Education of today must create environments where individual differences can be freely expressed and acknowledged. Additionally, it must promote a strong sense of responsibility and commitment to the wellbeing of the group.
I see this ever-changing scope of Education as an attempt to sustain the shift of society's aspirations in each century. Our outward goals are changing from raising the standards of living through technology to seeking spiritual transcendence. But the underlying purpose is still the same: the survival of our species.
What do you think?
]]>I 'see' ideas floating in my mind ALL THE TIME... they look like flies/bees/butterflies and they move fast... oh boy! they move so fast that I must catch them on a piece of paper before they disappear forever. Sometimes a tissue and a mechanical pencil are enough to keep those little rascals trapped in our world. I have many of them safe in my sketchbooks just waiting to be developed into a refined artwork. I hope to have enough lifetime to give them a chance to become a developed piece of art.
The artwork 'Freedom, at what cost?' was my response to deep discussions during my Master of Art Education classes (Social Justice and Multicultural Education).
The child is determined to fly! He is determined to fulfill his destiny as an autonomous adult, even if it costs his feet. The roots are blocking his mobility, but he will free himself by cutting off his feet with a knife. My intention is to represent the student's efforts to conquer freedom while struggling with restraints rooted in the teacher's beliefs. Often, the students are forced to accept the status quo and abandon pieces of their own identity to fit in the system.
Please leave your comments or send me an email with your impressions about this artwork. Let's fly high!
I have prints available through the link below. For enquiries about the original artwork, please email info@chellvassallo.com
Below I will present my views on Chapter 1 only.
The first chapter (Art Education: Its Social Context) sets the author's intention to carry on his research with an interpretative outlook. Efland is interested in investigating if the History of Art Education is related to the "social realities of the times in which they occurred" or just "the result of changes in the pedagogical fashion" (p. ix).
His book guides us through the "social currents" that led to the introduction of the arts as a discipline in the school system, and we will be able to comprehend, for example, the perception still in vogue that the arts are for the elites or the talented only. The book will show that, in early history, the arts were either seen as a privilege of the elites or attributed to slaves and common workers. It was never a universal right, and access to the visual arts was subjected to class, gender, and social status. I feel that even today, Art Education has a limited reach in society, being restricted to the most privileged groups. When we compare the quality and scope of art pedagogies available in different social groups, it's evident that the elites still hold the dominance in this matter. For example, a poor school district does not have enough investment to acquire art supplies, while wealthier neighborhoods can promote field trips to museums, art galleries, and private art studios. How can the art teacher make an impact to compensate for the lack of resources in a less affluent school?
As soon as visual arts started being introduced in public schools thanks to the literacy movement of the 19th century, it gained an aspect of privilege rather than human necessity. Such a label impacts this discipline's vulnerability until today. Every time we have an economic downturn and funds need to be cut, art education is one of the first disciplines to suffer precisely due to the misguided understanding of its significance. How to change society's view of art education from superfluous to vital? It seems an urgent question.
The teaching of visual arts is constrained by three powerful societal elements: "patronage, education, and censorship" (p. 2). They often act together to define institutional settings responsible for organizing the teaching of the arts. Usually, the variety of instructional methods in the arts is directly proportional to the number of patronage sources available in the society. Today, we experience an explosion of patronage that connects to the artist through a widespread online platform. Consequently, the number of practices in art teaching also rose. The zeitgeist of an era set the basis for the cultural policies that establish an epoch's art education system. For instance, during the Middle Ages, the cultural policies defined that the arts' purpose was to disseminate the religious faith. The guild system of the Middle Ages or the museums and the school systems of our time are excellent examples of institutional systems responsible for applying the current cultural policies.
Efland points out that a society's character can be determined by analyzing its pedagogies of teaching the arts, not just the artworks produced. Following Efland's affirmation, what qualities from our current society can we infer by looking to our Art Education system?
If you are interested in purchasing the book, you can find it online with the link below:
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Naiá was a beautiful young girl, daughter of the tribe's leader, and she grew up listening to stories about Jaci (the moon goddess). She became so captivated by the idea of becoming a star and being able to join the moon in the sky that she started to spend her nights "hunting" the moon. She traversed the land, climbing trees and mountains trying to touch the moon, but all her efforts were in vain. Then, during a full moon night, she saw Jaci's reflection on a river. Naiá did not think twice; she immediately jumped into the water to join Jaci... and she drowned. Jaci watched this scene from the sky and decided to transform the young girl into a distinct star, the "star of the waters", which is the Amazon's Giant Water Lily (Vitoria Regia).
The legend says that the Water Lily opens its white flowers to bathe in the Jaci's light on full moon nights, even today.
Although this legend might have had a social function to the indigenous tribe, I choose not to focus on this aspect when creating an artwork. Usually, I try to connect with ideas within the legend/tale/myth that evoke universal themes.
In this particular legend, I see the individual crusade to achieve a higher state of mind (moving from land to the sky). To be triumphant in this psychological transformation, we must die and be reborn. The symbol "water" is utilized in different mythologies as the medium through which this transformation occurs. The Water Lily is a magnificent symbol that represents the connection between two states of mind.
Prints of Vitoria Regia (The Giant Amazon Water Lily Legend) are available on the link below:
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Take a look at the picture with the installation and try to answer the following questions:
Why is the word “Be” crossed?
Usually, the Moirai are depicted as older women. Why not here?
Have you ever spent some time thinking about your death?
This year of 2020 is forcing us to reflect upon our losses, and we should learn how to mourn it instead of distracting ourselves with constant movies/parties/.../noise as a way to escape the inevitable pain that emerges when facing the truth. Because after conquering this phase, life becomes lighter, and we will finally be able to defy death by embracing the eternity revealed in the present.
I would love to read your impressions about this subject. You can either leave a comment here or send me an email.
The original artwork is available through the link below:
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The experience of being in quarantine due to COVID19 had a significative impact on our understanding of human connection. The casual meetings in bars, restaurants and friend's houses were drastically reduced (or completely interrupted)... and we had to spend the extra time at home, isolated inside our own minds. As an introvert artist, this is already how I live life; I need some time alone with my thoughts in complete silence. Still, being on a forced isolation is not fun.
The mask is a reference to my most primitive and honest traits, and only by wearing it I can establish a safe and real connection with other human beings. Maybe we should stop using fake masks and reveal our true colors.
The sand clock evokes the sense of finitude and the importance of caring about our present time. You can see that my hands are carefully placed in a way to represent extreme protection as if I'm holding a precious gift, the gift of time.
The sunflowers are dead and facing down, the opposite of a traditional idea of sunflowers, showing us that during difficult times we should search for hope deep inside ourselves instead of up/outside us.
When we bring to the surface of our being everything we try to hide for fear or shame, and wear the mask of our true self, then we can have an intense and honest interaction with others.
I would love to hear about your experience during quarantine, and your thoughts about the artwork The Dead Sunflower. How have you been honoring the gift of time?
]]>With all that said, life still moves on and I can't just be whining and victimizing myself during the entire existence (well, technically I can, but it would be so boring!). Then I imagine myself standing on a little planet, like The Little Prince by Saint-Exupéry, and it is full of misery, monsters, and all sort of scary elements. There is nowhere to go, no way to escape. Courage is the only weapon available to light up the darkness around me and create a livable space on top of this chaos.
The artwork "Courage" combines symbols from a variety of tales: the girl with a cape and the wolf from The Little Red Riding Hood; the legendary King Arthur's Excalibur sword; the small planet from The Little Prince story; the boots with an Unicorn pattern evoking a virtuous and dream-like mood; the doves representing not peace, but rather the connection with the Greek goddess Aphrodite.
I'm fortunate enough to have friends with children full of strong character and cuteness beyond measure that I can ask for help when I need a model! The images below show you the process behind this artwork.
Little Red Riding Hood is one of my favorite characters, and I had depicted her in other artworks. Since reading the book "Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype" by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, and studying with more depth the work of Carl Jung, I came to understand the Little Red Riding Hood from a different perspective (and also having some personal projection on the tale). I see the little girl as the early stage of my undeveloped ego, an innocent young girl growing up in a forest without the father figure in her life, far from the city and the interaction with "strangers". The grandmother would be the developed ego, and the little girl needs to complete the journey through the forest to get to her grandmother's house (the new psychological developed stage). Along the way she meets the wolf, which I see as the little girl's shadow, he is not "bad" or a "threat", he is the deeper traits of personality that we usually hide in the unconscious for fear of rejection by society.
The sword represents the work necessary to face the shadow, and the responsibility it entails once our weak tendencies are acknowledged. The small planet based on Saint-Exupéry's book is my own psyche, my own territory, the vast complexity of my being. And I will spend my lifetime exploring all corners of it. The unicorns on the boot patterns remind me that I must stand proud with my two feet protected by my dreams and ideas. And the doves are a reference to the spiritual aspect of love, what I understand as hope, because just love can save us from the hardships of reality.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge, and it therefore,. as a rule, meets with considerable resistance. Indeed, self-knowledge as a psychotherapeutic measure frequently requires much painstaking work extending over a long period. (From Aion: Phenomenology of the Self published in The Portable Jung, edited by Joseph Campbell, Penguin Books, 1976, p. 145.)
If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Please leave your comments or send me an email with your impressions about this artwork. Much courage to all of you!
I have prints available through the link below. For enquiries about the original artwork, please email info@chellvassallo.com
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"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." Marcus Aurelius
The quote I chose from Marcus Aurelius helped me understand (or at least accept) that our personal struggles and victories will never be fully understood by other people. And it is ok! Life is not about being accepted, or loved, or understood by others. Life is about carving an authentic pathway in this dense forest of existence, feeling the pain from the thorns blocking the way, and rejoicing with the freshness of the air after a rainy day.
]]>"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." Marcus Aurelius
My kids arrived as thunderbolts during the night of my life: they brought light, noise, fear, strength and joy. They exposed my vulnerability before the forces of nature, and I had no choice but embrace it with resilience. Every single day is so intense, I feel so alive, it's a struggle, it's difficult, it's amazing, sometimes I feel my entire being will be disintegrated, and the following minute we witness a rebirth. I decided to call this emotional amalgam love.
The quote I chose from Marcus Aurelius helped me understand (or at least accept) that our personal struggles and victories will never be fully understood by other people. And it is ok! Life is not about being accepted, or loved, or understood by others. Life is about carving an authentic path in this dense forest of existence, feeling the pain from the thorns blocking the way, and rejoicing with the freshness of the air after a rainy day.
The artwork "Resistance" was a reaction to this magnificent and chaotic period of my life. The background with Marcus Aurelius' sentence is a reminder that everything is an illusion, so there is no need to despair, but it is paramount to observe reality from different angles to better comprehend and be a part of it.
Despair would paralyze our actions, and the thorns of time would grow around us like a trap or a cage. If we wait too long, we will be hostage of our own ineptitude. Life is in constant movement, so we must tune our rhythm and follow Nature.
The rose... ahhh the precious rose. Sometimes we hold on to things that are already gone: old ideas, concepts, people, situations, relationships, ways of life... you name it! We are so afraid of venturing into the unknown that we hold so tight to the dead rose, with all the petals already on the floor, that we are incapable of noticing the thorns surrounding us. Too much resistance can create an imprisoned life.
The dress with stripes makes a reference to the concentration camps during WWII and the thorns itself can be understood as the barbed-wire fences surrounding the camps.
Although this artwork has a function in my personal psychological realm, every symbol in it is open for countless interpretation based on the viewer's experiences. I invite you to appreciate it and connect with the story inside you that is waiting to be resignified.
You can buy a print of Resistance here.
Drawing together Anne Frank. The image used as reference can be found on the official website of the Anne Frank House.
Prepare your favorite media and join me during a drawing session... I will draw Anne Frank this time. I use charcoal on a gessoed panel. The session lasts about 1h30min. During the session, I share some fundamentals of portraiture with charcoal and some of my techniques. Let's have fun and use our time together to develop our drawing skills to the next level!
]]>Drawing together Anne Frank. The image used as reference can be found on the official website of the Anne Frank House.
Prepare your favorite media and join me during a drawing session... I will draw Anne Frank this time. I use charcoal on a gessoed panel. The session lasts about 1h30min. During the session, I share some fundamentals of portraiture with charcoal and some of my techniques. Let's have fun and use our time together to develop our drawing skills to the next level!
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Drawing together Albert Camus. The image used as reference can be found on the following link: https://www.theguardian.com/books/boo...
Prepare your favorite media and join me during a drawing session... I will draw the philosopher Albert Camus. I will use charcoal on linen. These 2 sessions will last about 1h30min. During the session, I will share some fundamentals of portraiture with charcoal and some of my techniques. Let's have fun and use our time together to develop our drawing skills to the next level!
]]>Prepare your favorite media and join me during a drawing session... I will draw the philosopher Albert Camus. I will use charcoal on linen. These 2 sessions will last about 1h30min. During the session, I will share some fundamentals of portraiture with charcoal and some of my techniques. Let's have fun and use our time together to develop our drawing skills to the next level!
Part 01
Part 02
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Drawing together Frida Kahlo. The image used as reference can be found on the VOGUE website: https://www.vogue.com/article/frida-k...
Prepare your favorite media and join me during a drawing session... I will draw Frida Kahlo this time.
I will use charcoal on a gessoed panel. The two sessions will last in total about 2h45min. During these sessions, I will share some fundamentals of portraiture with charcoal and some of my techniques. Let's have fun and use our time together to develop our drawing skills to the next level!
]]>Drawing together Frida Kahlo. The image used as reference can be found on the VOGUE website: https://www.vogue.com/article/frida-k...
Prepare your favorite media and join me during a drawing session... I will draw Frida Kahlo this time.
I will use charcoal on a gessoed panel. The two sessions will last in total about 2h45min. During these sessions, I will share some fundamentals of portraiture with charcoal and some of my techniques. Let's have fun and use our time together to develop our drawing skills to the next level!
Part 01
Part 02
]]>Charcoal Drawing of Mr. Bentley, the patron of my kids' school.
Media: Charcoal on Bristol Paper Size: 18" x 24"
]]>Time-lapse showing the drawing process of a commissioned artwork - Thundercats.
Media: Charcoal on Bristol Paper Size: 18"x24"
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