Kelly made an interesting observation on her Blog which made me think deeper about culture and traditions: "Personally, I never really learned to use art to express my culture. This may be more important for people closer to their cultures."
I was lead to think about the similarities and differences between culture and traditions and that lead to thoughts about the language of art and how we interpret it.
If you would ask a person from another culture what their culture is all about, would they recognize their culture in the same manner that we do (or think we do)? In our time and place that has such ease of trade and movement can we even define certain cultures? Does culture change through time and contact with other cultures?
Our book tells us to include the study of other cultures in lessons and also states that "art is an international language." As teachers, it's important to realize many differences in the language of art that have to do with associations with color and design. For example, we may think of white as a color of purity but in other countries, white represents death. Thus an artist from another culture may create a work of art that expresses one thing to them but affects us in an entirely different way.
When we teach about other cultures we might be the ones who help students make comparison and contrast connections through works of art. The book makes a good statement, "art helps students understand that there is a connection between an artwork's content and the culture and time in which it was created. It helps students see culture as an interpretive social scheme that people project upon existence in order to create their own identity." -Clements, page 4
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