Presenting Artistic Endeavors

In Santa Fe this past summer, I was excited to discover an Art-O-Mat machine, a novel way of presenting artwork. Art-O-Mat machines are retired cigarette vending machines that have been converted to sell small artworks for $5.00. More than 100 can be found across the United States. Artists can apply to sell their work through them, artwork that has to be the size of a package of cigarettes. Most often the work is created on a block of wood or fits in a cardboard box.

You couldn’t support yourself with these, but I think the approach is an engaging idea. Maybe it will inspire you to develop a similar method of presentation with your students. One approach might be to give each of your students the same size box or cube. You could challenge students with a particular art problem or let them decide what to do, but the final presentation of the work is just as important here.

Presenting, along with creating and responding, is one of the artistic processes included in the new, voluntary National Visual Arts Standards, due to be released in March. Presentation is the term being used for this process by visual arts, whereas Performing is used by dance, theater, and music, and Producing is used by media arts. The three artistic processes are considered to be equally valuable and the Visual Arts Standards are intended to be comprehensive and inclusive of all media.

The anchor standards for Presenting are: Students will (1) select and analyze their artwork and the work of others when deciding what artwork to present; (2) use a variety of methods for preparing their artwork and the work of others for presentation, and (3) communicate artistic meaning through sharing their work and the work of others.

What might this approach to Presenting mean to your students? The intention is that students take a much larger role in choosing and preparing their own artwork or the artwork of others for presentation. It will be to their advantage to explore a variety of ways of working (individually or collaboratively) to present their artwork (in traditional exhibitions, in unusual settings, online, through videos, animations, etc.). Students will be more responsible for their own choices in presenting their work and will have more opportunities to practice the 21^st century skills of critical thinking, creativity, innovation, communication, and collaboration.