Friday, February 19, 2021

Literacy, Learning and the Visual Arts


My 2021 Group of Seven wall calendar (Wyman Publishing) features J.E.H. MacDonald's 1912 "Early Evening, Winter" on its February page.  I was thinking about it, about MacDonald's work, and about how much I've always enjoyed sharing famous Canadian paintings with adult learners.  I re-read Katharine Child's "Giving Students Roots and Wings" (Literacies, 2, fall 2003, 12-17), and then called up my QLNB literacy colleague Cheryl Brown to talk about educative uses of one of her favourite painters, Maud Lewis.  Here's a snippet of that conversation.


CB: Illustrators are artists - sometimes their work makes it into museums.  There are artists who are already in museums, and sometimes their work makes its way into books for children.  Like Maude Lewis 123 [Carol McDougall and Shanda LaRamee-Jones] and Katie and the Starry Night [James Mayhew] and Tomie dePaola's books.  There are all kinds of them.  There are books that talk about Frida Kahlo.  Even Mi’kmaw Animals - Alan Syliboy is an artist.  I think about the Maud Lewis book in particular because it's for babies.

I find this exciting because sometimes art isn't accessible.  It's in a museum somewhere.  Maybe you can look at it in an art book, but you're not going to let your two-year old play with that art book.  Having this art in a children's book makes it accessible.  To have something like Maud Lewis 123 in a format that makes it accessible to toddlers is what I find exciting.  They'll get to know Maud Lewis' cows and cats.

In the same way we make words and letters visible in children's early learning worlds, we need these pieces of art available to them.  The art is pleasing, and also part of our cultures. I've got a Rene Collins in my home that future little ones will see.  They'll know who Emily Carr is, and so on.


WD:  Yes, that makes sense.  At times, I have had European artwork by Monet or Van Gough - I mean pictures of work by Monet or Van Gough - available in my adult learning classrooms; sometimes in books and sometimes on the wall.  I usually have a Tom Thompson or an Emily Carr reproduction up.  I will always have a Group of Seven calendar in my class.  I haven't had reproductions of Maud Lewis' painting which seems like an oversight that I'll want to correct.  But whether I'm helping adults prepare for the Canadian GED or welcoming newcomers into sharing in Canadian history, it feels like my job, as an adult educator, is to constantly offer visual representations of this part of Canadian culture.

And if you're going to take a test like the GED or the citizenship test, the Emily Carr and Group of Seven seems like something that’s going to come up; something you ought to, at least, have heard about.

When you talked about facilitating your own adult literacy classroom, you said that you used art to offer some adults....  That the chance to explore a different medium or a different modality gave some learners the opening they needed to work on their skills.


CB: Yes, well, it appeals because it’s more sensory and also multi-modal.  That's the thing about it - that it's multi-modal.  It's no accident that, quote, "fore-grounding the language, tools and practices of art" is in the "Communication and Literacies" goals of the New Brunswick Curriculum Framework for Early Learning and Childcare.

Some educators don't have an art background.  They don't have a lot of information around this, which is why some of the professional learning workshops I’ve seen involve the facilitators bringing art materials and engaging with the video and using the materials with educators so that the educators then know, "Well, this is how I could use charcoal with pre-schoolers." Or, “These are the words associated with clay and its tools.”

One of the biggest things for pre-schoolers is the words.  So, with clay there are words: "modeling and molding, balls, coils, bridges, columns" or "squash, poke, carve" and so on.  This vocabulary that goes with the actions is one reason why this is part of "Communication and Literacies."  Being artistic by using the materials or looking at art is a way we create meaning and obtain meaning.


WD: Right, although I'd think, in this context, it’s also about fine motor skill development?


CB:  Yes, that too.  But that's under "Play and Playfulness." [Laughs.]  You take your "Communication and Literacies" glasses off and put your "Play and Playfulness" glasses on.  Or you take your "Play and Playfulness" glasses off and put your "Well-Being" glasses on and recognize that painting or using play dough is cathartic and expressing yourself improves your well-being.


WD: Yeah, okay.  And my sense is that a holistic adult learning class would have all those glasses as well.  Well, I guess I just believe that - that humans are humans, and this way of involving art in education is a 'whole-human' approach to learning.


Cheryl Brown (@CherylAnneBrown) is co-creator of the Storytent and Bookwagon programs, QLNB's Community Literacy Coordinator, and long-time advocate for and facilitator of a variety of family literacy initiatives.

Wendell Dryden (@wendelldryden) is co-creator of the Storytent and Bookwagon programs, a Community and Adult Literacy worker, and long-time advocate for and facilitator of a variety of family literacy initiatives.