Panel presentation at the 2011 Foundations in Art Theory and Education national conference. Participants: Dr. Lori Kent, prof Jane Hesser, prof. Rick Salafia, and prof Laura Ruby

1. NOTE: the two videos may be available on YouTube under 9tle of individual presenta9on
FATE 2011 • St. Louis
Excavating Kindness, Caring
and Cooperation
In Contemporary Art Theory
Dr. Lori Kent • Moderator
lorikent@gmail.com
Jane Hesser
Laura Ruby
Rhode Island School of Design
Rick Salafia
University of Hawai’i
jhesser01@risd.edu
Kutztown University of
lruby@hawaii.edu
Pennsylvania
salafia@kutztownedu

2. ?

3. ?
What can be taught through art?
…Foundations-level skill-building activities benefit from
content that is meaningful to the student, right?

4. Carrie Mae Weems
from the Kitchen
Table Series

5. Robert Mapplethorpe
Self Portrait (1978)

6. Gerhardt Richter
From the Baader-Meinhoff Series

7. ?
Should morality/ethics be left in the
hands of “experts”?

10. ?
How can art/design address very
complex problems?

12. ?
Can artists/designers save the world?

14. Dr. Lori Kent • Asst. Prof. of Visual Studies
• is an artist/researcher •
And working on models for digital-based embedded education within the advertising industry

21. !

22. Christine
Borland
English Family China
(1978)
..”explores life,
death and how
social systems
and institutions
exploit and devalue life.”

23. Mierile Laderman-Ukeles
As Artist-in-Residence at the
NYC Department of Sanitation
.

24. Mel Chin
Safe House
(2008)
.

25. William Kentridge
Drawing for Stereoscope
(1998-99)
.

26. What else?

27. Excavation...

28. Rousseau and Freud: Past informs present?

29. TELEVISION...
I turned off the
television

30. Turned on
Smart radio and web...

34. Give back, volunteers

35. …participate in TEDx culture

36. School in SeaEle
…look for models.

37. …find daily inspiration.

38. Coomon, KIva
…participate.

39. …a book or two.

40. …re-shape curricula to emphasize Social Justice.

41. Focus on CARE

42. Jane Hesser • Rhode Island School of Design

43. Jane Hesser
RISD, Photography (RISD) and Clinical Social Work (Simmons) ,
teaches of 2D and “Psychology of the arts.
Jane Hesser is an artist, psychotherapist and teacher with ten years
of experience teaching art and design at the college level. She has
taught at Brown University, Montserrat College of Art and The
Rhode Island School of Design. Jane combines her interests in
psychology, art and education in her writing and presentations. She
also teaches a popular psychology course during the summers at
RISD, in which students earn liberal arts credit while a major
portion of the coursework is studio based. Her current focus of
study is the relationship between empathy and the teaching and
learning of critical thinking skills, especially as this relates to the
process of critique. Her clinical focus is on group work and
women's mental health.

44. Jane Hesser: A Supremely Kind Moment
I volunteer for a non‐profit called Girls Rock! in which girls between the ages of 11
and 18, who have liEle or no musical experience, learn how to play an instrument
of their choice, form a band and play a concert over the course of one week. The
major goals are to foster empowerment, cri9cal thinking skills related to social
influence and the media and to help girls build self esteem. Last summer I coached
a band of five girls. The drummer was very quiet and 9mid, the bassist was au9s9c
and struggled with social skills, the singer was afraid to speak into the microphone
for the first three days. One guitarist was quiet and shy and the other was
confident, outgoing and expressive. An interes9ng mix. All week long the twelve
year old guitarist was infinitely pa9ent, kind, generous of spirit and helped her
band‐mates come out of their shells and work together. She coached them
emo9onally and lead through example. She wrote a great song and carried more
than her share of the the work load. When it was 9me for the big show, with
everyone they knew and a packed hall of strangers cheering them on, the 11 year
old singer developed paralyzing stage fright. The band communed, literally put
their arms around her as she cried and figured out a way to go on. The guitarist
would sing and play the song at the same 9me. With some help, the singer
gathered up enough courage to sit near the stage and watch. At the very end of
the song, with one chorus leV to go, the guitarist, who had been quiet all week
long, looked at the singer, siWng below the stage and smiled. The singer ran on
stage, the guitarist who had been singing quickly stepped aside, and the singer
finished the song. The crowd went wild. There was not a dry eye in the place, and
everyone involved was changed forever by five liEle girls.

45. Jane Hesser (via pre-recorded video)
The Role of Empathy in the Teaching of Critical Thinking Skills in Foundation-Level Art
Education

46. Focus on COOPERATION

47. Rick Salafia • Kutztown University of Pennsylvania

48. Rick Salafia
Associate Professor of Foundations, Kutztown UniversityS culptor,
Rutgers MFA, Father of two teenagers …kind to me.
A kind moment:
when i was a senior in high school i took my first art class. the
first day we went outside to draw a large tree in front of the
school. when i was done my teacher looked at it for a moment in
silence, then looked at me and said where have you been for four
years? years later i found the drawing and realized how incredibly
kind and generous he had been to me.

49. Rick Salafia
The Self Selection Bias: Fostering the Collaborative Instinct (see link below)
hEp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXCeshATP0E

50. Focus on KINDNESS

51. Laura Ruby• Department of Art University of Hawai’i

52. Laura Ruby
is the 2008 recipient of the Hawaiÿi Individual Artist Fellowship (the
highest honor in the visual arts). Her prints and sculptures have
been shown in national and international solo, juried and invitational
exhibitions. Some of her artworks are: her Nancy Drew Series,
about the art of art-making and the art of detection; her ongoing
Diamond Head Series which currently has over 60 prints,
drawings and site-specific installation sculptures, and is about land
and power in Hawaiÿi–about the exploitation of land, and its
resources and people and their livelihoods; her “Image and Word”
series; and her upcoming “I’m Always Thinking of Chaucer” series
May 1 about the conjunction of The Canterbury Tales, jazz and art-
making. She also has large commissioned site-specific sculptures,
among them Chinatown–Site of Passage. She has taught art at the
University of Hawaii since 1977, and she recently edited the book,
Mo‘ili‘ili–The Life of a Community, and is currently working on a book
entitled Honolulu Town.

53. a kinder gentler art theory and critical practice:
the circle model

67. http://www.dailygood.org/
http://www.donorschoose.org/
http://www.randomactsofkindness.org/
http://www.payitforwardmovement.org/
http://www.volunteermatch.org/
http://www.ehow.com/how_4881033_donate-books-
prisons.html
http://www.child.net/volunteer.htm

68. Resource list and copies of this presentation:
www.slideshare.com • loriakent
(after Sunday)
Photos: Lori Kent, Central Park Conservancy Tulips, 1998-2006