Leveling Up : Existing Through Art on a Spiritual Plane
It is no secret that this moment in history has stripped away several of life’s nuances and left bare the time for self-reflection and internal investigation. The COVID-19 epidemic has left many of us contemplating life on a larger plane, exploring our spirituality, and questioning the intricacies that make up our being. At times of stress and disarray I often turn to art as a meditative practice.
Through my life as a young student and even into my young adulthood years, I couldn’t put a name to the effect art had on my spirituality. My social emotional needs through a tumultuous adolescence and beyond were met by the alignment of body, mind, and spirit found in creative practices. Holistic theory and practice in art education point to a concept of development in art and clarify the particular value of art as a medium for transformational learning (Carroll, 2006). This holistic approach to art education could be the healing balm needed to combat our current curriculum illnesses, ones that are infected with standardization and the pressure to perform. We, as art educators, know that art making has purpose and value. What if the value of creating works of art lies on an entirely different plane of existence beyond what we can see? O'Sullivan's (2005) definition of transformative learning is expansive. He states, “Transformative learning involves experiencing a deep, structural shift in the basic premises of thought, feelings, and actions. It is a shift of consciousness that dramatically and permanently alters our way of being in the world. Such a shift involves our understanding of ourselves and our self-locations; our relationships with other humans and with the natural world; our understand of relationships of power in interlocking structures of class, race, and gender; our body-awareness, our visions of alternative approaches to living; and our sense of possibilities for social justice and peace and personal joy” (p. 76).
References
Carroll, K. (2006). Development and Learning in Art: Moving in the Direction of a Holistic Paradigm for Art Education. Visual Arts Research, 32(1), 16-28.
O'Sullivan, E. (2005). Emancipatory hope. In J. P. Miller, S. Karsten, D. Dentn, D. Orr, & I. C. Kates (Eds.), Holistic learning and spirituality in education (pp. 69-78). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.