A cross-cultural collaboration exploring art literacy, creativity and social transformation in China

Two art educators, from the United States and China, reflect on their collaboration to plan, implement and assess a cross-cultural experience. They developed a ten-day residency for art education students at Nanjing Normal University in China. The pedagogy presented emphasized the interplay between skill development and personal expression, product and process, and social-directed knowledge and social transformation. Through analysing student critiques, reflective discussions and survey responses the authors framed five categories critical for planning cross-cultural exchanges and broadening the scope of art education: Sensing others’ cultural orientation, Building community, Scaffolding art literacy, Minding the gap between technique and creativity, and Reflecting on identity and visual culture. In a global society, culturally responsive art educators benefit when collaborating to help their students gain new perspectives on cultural assumptions, analyse common concepts such as aesthetics, visual literacy and critique, and reflect on the interdependence of teaching, creating art and social responsibility.

来自美国和中国的两位艺术教育者反思和评价了他们合作研究的计划、实施以及跨文化的体验。他们在中国南京师范大学开展了十天面向艺术教育专业学生的教学。整个教学强调技能发展和个人表达、结果与过程、社会导向的知识与社会变革之间的相互作用。通过分析学生的评论、反思性讨论以及对调查问题的回答，作者提出了五个开展跨文化交流和扩展艺术教育视野的关键性问题，即体验他国文化；建立共同体；构架艺术素养；关注技能和创造力之间的落差；反思身份意识和视觉文化。在一个全球化的社会，当合作有助于学生获得看待文化假设的新视角，分析诸如审美、视觉素养等共同的概念，评论和反思教学、艺术创作和社会责任之间的相互依存关系时，那么具有文化应对意识的艺术教育者将能从中获益。