The Teaching of Art Related to the Home Part 1

The Teaching of Art Related to the Home.

by Federal Board for Vocational Education.

FOREWORD

Since the organization of the vocational program in 1917 the teaching of art in its relation to the home has been recognized as an essential part of the home-economics program.

Great difficulties have been experienced in securing adequate instruction in this field. Many schools, especially in the rural communities, employ no art teachers. In such schools the only art instruction is that given by the regular home-economics teacher, and is commonly reduced to a minimum of applicable content.

The teaching of art has dealt too exclusively with the creation of artistic things, and it is not easy to change the emphasis over into the field of appreciation and discriminating selection.

Clothing, home planning and furnis.h.i.+ng, care of the sick, serving of foods, care of children, and family relations.h.i.+ps, all have an "art"

side. The successful discharge of household responsibilities is conditioned largely upon a perception of this truth.

There has been a dearth of teachers prepared to teach art in its application to homemaking. In the last decade, however, several of the inst.i.tutions approved for training vocational teachers of home economics have introduced courses in this field, and the number of such inst.i.tutions is increasing.

This bulletin was prepared under the direction of Adelaide S. Baylor, chief of the home economics education service, by Florence Fallgatter, Federal agent for home economics in the central region, a.s.sisted by Elsie Wilson, a member of the home economics teacher-training staff of Iowa State College.

The Federal Board for Vocational Education and Home Economics Education Service appreciate the cooperation of State supervisors, members of teacher-training staffs, vocational teachers, and art teachers both in the schools and colleges, and their contributions of material for this study.

It has been undertaken to meet a demand expressed very generally during the last 14 years by teaching staffs for a.s.sistance in adapting art instruction specifically to homemaking, to the end that all instruction for homemaking may be made more effective.

J. C. Wright, _Director_.

THE TEACHING OF ART RELATED TO THE HOME

Section I

INTRODUCTION

All art is life made more living, more vital than the average man lives it--hence its power. Taste, unlike genius can be acquired; and its acquisition enriches personality perhaps more than any other quality.--E. Drew.

Professor Whitford[1] bases his book, An Introduction to Art, on two hypotheses: "(1) That art is an essential factor in twentieth century civilization and that it plays an important and vital part in the everyday life of people; (2) that the public school presents the best opportunity for conveying the beneficial influence of art to the individuals, the homes, and the environment of the people."

In keeping with this present-day philosophy, the introduction of art instruction into the public schools is increasing. Through the influence of home economics, a field of education in which there is an urgent need and wide opportunity for practical application of the fundamental principles of art, art instruction is finding its way into many of the small schools as a definite part of the vocational programs. Whitford[2] refers to this present-day trend in home economics as follows:

At first there was very little articulation between the courses in art and the courses in industrial art or household art. At the present time we realize that these courses are all related, and all work together through correlation and interrelation to supply the child with those worth while educational values which aid in meeting social, vocational, and leisure-time needs of life.

Not until all girls in the public schools can have their inherent love for beauty rightly stimulated and directed may we look forward to a nation of homes tastily furnished and artistically satisfying or of people who express real genuineness and sincerity in their living.

With the inception of the vocational program in home making through the pa.s.sage of the Smith-Hughes Act by Congress in 1917, art was recognized as one of the essential related subjects. Thus, in the majority of the schools that have organized vocational homemaking programs, art has been included as a part of these programs and an effort has been made to apply the principles of art to those problems in everyday life in which beauty and utility are factors. The aim has been to develop in girls not only an understanding of these principles but also an ability to use them intelligently in solving many of their daily problems.

Therefore the teaching of art in home economics courses is primarily concerned with problems of selection and arrangement. The girl as a prospective home maker needs to know not so much how to make a pattern but how to choose one well; not how to make a textile print but how to select and use it; not how to design furniture but how to select and arrange it; not how to make pottery but how to select the right vase or bowl for flowers. At the same time, teachers of related art in vocational schools have endeavored to show that true art is founded upon comfort, utility, convenience, and true expression of personalities as well as upon the most perfect application of art principles. Considerable emphasis has been given, therefore, to a consideration and utilization of those material things that afford opportunity for self-expression. The importance of such self-expression is stressed in the following words by Clark B. Kelsey:[3]

The home expresses the personalities of its occupants and reveals far more than many realize. It stamps them as possessing taste or lacking it. Thinking men and women want backgrounds that interpret them to their friends, and they prefer that the interpretation be worthy. They also want them correct for their own personal satisfaction.

In art courses that are related to the home, an attempt is made to build up in girls ideals of finding and creating beauty in their surroundings and to bring them to the point where they can recognize fitness and purpose and see beauty and derive pleasure from inexpensive and unadorned things that are available to all homes.

Mr. Cyrus W. Knouff[4] has well expressed something of the importance of such a practical type of art training as follows:

Show the people through their children that one may dress better on fifty dollars, understanding art principles, than on five hundred dollars not understanding symmetry, design, color, harmony, and proportion. With this knowledge you furnish a lovelier home on five hundred dollars than on five thousand without it. Get your art away from the studio into life. Teach your children the gospel of beauty and good taste in their letter writing, their picture hangings, their clothes, everything they do.

Since the vocational program also provides cla.s.s instruction for women who have entered upon the pursuit of home making, as well as for girls of school age, there has been some opportunity to extend art training to these women through adult cla.s.ses. An attempt has been made in cla.s.ses in art related to the home, home furnis.h.i.+ng, and in clothing cla.s.ses to give a training which will help them to better appreciate the influence upon family life of attractive and comfortable homes, of careful selection and arrangement of home furnis.h.i.+ngs, and of intelligent purchasing and selection of clothing.

For the girls who have dropped out of school and have entered upon employment, part-time cla.s.ses have been organized under the vocational program. To these the girls may come for a definite period each week to secure such instruction as will further extend their general education, better prepare them for their present work, and also improve their home life. To the extent that the employed girl improves her personal appearance, makes her living quarters more attractive, and enjoys the finer things of life she is more valuable to her employer and is an a.s.set to society. Much has been accomplished in this direction but there is a large opportunity in most of the States for more definite attention to such needs of the employed girl.

Section II

PURPOSE OF THE BULLETIN

The aim of related art education is to develop appreciation and character through attempting to surround one's self with things that are honest and consistent as well as beautiful.--Goldstein.

The vocational programs in homemaking are designed for girls over 14 years of age in the full-time day schools, many of whom do not complete high school or do not have opportunity for more than a high-school education; for those young girls, 14 to 18 years of age, who having dropped out of full-time school can attend the part-time schools; and for women who are in position to attend adult homemaking cla.s.ses.

The provision of time in the programs for related subjects as well as for home-economics subjects covered in these three types of schools has made it possible to develop the principles of art and science as more than abstract theories. In this way these principles become fundamental to the most successful solving of many of the problems in home economics. The fact that these principles may be applied repeatedly in many different home-life situations means in turn a very much better understanding and subsequent use of them.

Through the comparatively few years in which these vocational programs have been in operation, teachers in all States have attempted with some success to give an art training that is both practical and vital to young girls and women. They have, however, been confronted with many baffling problems. Some of these have been considered by committees on related subjects and an urgent request was made by one of these committees that a more detailed discussion of these problems be published. It is the purpose of the bulletin to point out some of the most significant problems in connection with art courses that are related to the work in homemaking and to present the pooled thinking of various groups upon them to the end that girls and women may know how to make their homes attractive even with limited incomes and how to choose and wear clothing effectively and becomingly. Some of the questions to be answered in an attempt to solve these problems are:

1. What should be the place of art in the homemaking program?

2. What are pupils' greatest art needs?

3. What cla.s.sroom training will help meet these needs?

4. What are the best methods to use in teaching art?

5. To what extent will laboratory problems function in meeting pupils' needs?

6. What results should be expected from art training in the homemaking program?

7. How can these results be measured?

In vocational programs the courses or units in art related to the home are taught by both art teachers and home-economics teachers. In the larger schools they are frequently a.s.signed to the regular art teacher, provided she has had sufficient contact and experience in homemaking to give her the necessary background for making the fundamental applications. In this case she follows very closely the work in the homemaking cla.s.ses and makes use of every opportunity for correlation of her art work with the home.

In the smaller schools in which the vocational programs are organized there is usually no special art teacher and therefore the home-economics teacher must give all of the art work. In most States training in art is included among the qualifications for vocational home-economics teachers. The teacher-training inst.i.tutions are providing instruction in art and also special methods courses in the teaching of related art in public schools in order that their prospective teachers may be as well prepared as possible to handle the related art as well as the home-economics courses.

This bulletin is intended as a help to teachers of related art courses, be they regular art teachers or home-economics teachers, to art instructors and teacher trainers in colleges, and to supervisors of home economics. The following tabulated suggestions indicate how it may be of service to these four groups: