Part 1 (1/2)
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]