Individual Crossroads Reflections

Louise Cameron

Art Teacher Extraordinaire, 1981-1989

What does progressive mean in an
art curriculum?

Give students a problem to solve using visual language. Example: create a work of art that represents the idea of Adam and Eve. Create a work of art that interacts with the school’s physical environment in some way. Using your leftover photos, tell a story, real or fictional.

Memorable projects and events:

A video made by two imaginative friends in Bi-State busses on the parking lot across the street. Did we have permission? I don’t think so.
Two works that interacted with the school environment: strips of translucent fabric that were attached to the circular vent in the ceiling so that they fluttered in the air currents; and a structure built across the hallway so that students had to walk through it to get to class.

Hand puppets made of papier-mâché heads and bodies constructed on my sewing machine. The boys really got into using the sewing machine.

The mural we painted on the outside wall of KSHE with On the Wall Productions. It depicted a takeoff on the Greek Porch of the Maidens on the Acropolis.

Photographs printed in the darkroom that had very little ventilation. Photos leftover at the end of the semester were selected and arranged in a poster with narrative text.

Group critiques done as we sat in theater seats imported from Childgrove School. Only positive comments were allowed.
A large playground climber we built and installed at Childgrove School in U City.
Wooden spoons made using very sharp chisels in a middle school class of all boys. Several parents told me how thrilled they were with their spoon.
Pit firings of ceramic pieces using sawdust we got from a factory on Skinker.
Several inflatable structures made using sheet vinyl donated by Mayor Jim Conway’s business. The structures consisted of several “rooms” connected by tunnels. Fabrication involved using irons and aluminum foil to melt the plastic to form seams.
AP art history taught so early in the morning that several students fell asleep often in the dark as slides were projected. And several students scored at the top in the national exam.
Class action taken on a student who fell asleep in an easy chair that was in the art room. Classmates wrapped him up in toilet paper so that when he woke up at the end of class he couldn’t move.
When we painted metal folding chairs. Students had to design and execute their paintings and then we actually used the chairs. There were landscapes, portraits, and abstract designs painted with acrylics.

When we made ceiling-to-floor marble rolls made with strips of poster board and masking tape. Inevitably the tracks collapsed every weekend, meaning that students had to keep starting over. I think the project lasted most of the semester!