Heather Denmark

February 22, 2015

Research Brief
Globalization can be a tricky endeavor to identify. However, through my research on the
subject, my sudo-educated opinion defines it as being a blend of two or more, cultures. Cultures
can be an equally confusing topic to definitively surmise but in this case culture could deal with
a religion, nationality, hobby or even just a common interest. That being said I have decided to
conduct my research brief on multicultural art and art education. This is not to say that I will be
focusing on Afro-centric, Latin-centric or even low socio-economic art. The idea of multicultural
art is the blending or globalization of two or more cultures to create a new work.
Multicultural education is a concept, a process, and an educational reform movement (Stuhr,
1994, p.171).
Tale as Old as Time
Too often the history of multicultural art education is littered with political social
oppression. Take for example this excerpt from a book entitled Beyond the Multicultural Art
Education in which it states that cross-cultural and multicultural research has tended to
emphasize problems and cultural deprivation and neglects the cultural knowledge and scholarly
theories of particular groups (1999, Boughton & Mason, p. 26). In the United States we have
labeled these groups as minorities, given them/us a soap box to stand on and listened while we
all oppress one another. This is poured out into our words, lives and artwork. This is not the type
of cross cultured art Im referring to. I am looking at this with the aspect of inventiveness and
cultural comradery. To shed light on a new history of internet sharing, hybridized, cross-cultured
art and art education. All forms of education act as social intervention and the implementation

of these forms reconstructs society in various ways. Therefore, multicultural art education also
reconstructs society (Stuhr, 1994, p.171).
The Known Multicultural Education World and What the World is Doing
According to Delacruz, after conducting her own research in the field of Multicultural Art
curriculum she eludes to three theoretical commonalities to be mindful of:
(1) a call for greater diversity of artist considered in programs of study and for an effort
to engage students in historical/contextual inquiry, (2) a need to expand and revise central
notions in art history, criticism, and aesthetics and the manner in which we study the
artistic exemplars of diverse cultural groups, and (3) a concern for the underlying
frameworks that perpetuate patterns of social injustice (Delacruz, 1996, p. 85).
Artists and art teachers alike are looking into the world of artistic cultural heritage with fresh
eyes. The world at large has access to more art than it ever has in the past. With that, we as
educators can create lesson based on contemporary art customs cultural relevant around the
globe. We can infuse our knowledge of the past with the ferocity of the future and globalize our
classrooms to meet the every growing need for diversity.
Artwork over the past 20 years has culturally developed from analog to digital. We can
now witness and create art over the internet and through programs like Photoshop with speed
that historical artists could never have even imagined. Our ideas of culture are no longer limited
to our blood heritage, it can include something as universal as a blog or twitter account. Radio,
television, film, and the other products of media culture provide materials out of which we forge
our very identities; our sense of selfhood; our notion of what it means to be a male or female; our
sense of class, of ethnicity and race, of sexuality; and of us and them (Kellner, 1997, p. 1).
Impact and Importance to the World

Multicultural Art and Art Education is vastly important to our local and global
communities. Never in the history of man has there been a time where the world was more
connected. We can conduct business, chat with a friend or even look for love, literally all over
the world without leaving the comfort of our own homes. This poses a huge advantage and a
huge disadvantage. Humans are becoming more physically isolated but our brains are
exponentially more connected. Cultures are allowed to blend ideas easily by connecting in a
chatroom. If you were to go to https://code.google.com/p/translating-chat/ you would see how
you dont even need to know the language of the person you are speaking with because it will
translate it for you in real time. The need for translators will soon diminish because we have
programs that will communicate for us and we will be able to trust that they are translating our
intentions without the possibility of human error. In the classroom, you could imagine a lesson
where classes from all over the globe come together to create an art work. Where a student in
Indonesia can connect with a student here in the states to make a group project. The future of
multicultural art education is limited only by the minds willing to push the boundaries.
The Unknown
We have only begun to hit the tip of the iceberg. There is so much for us to learn about
our present cultures, not to mention cultures of the past. It is impossible to quantify all of this
knowledge and it something we should not strive for in our classrooms. However, we should be
mindful not to teach in a way that isolates or only uses a few cultures. We should expose our
students to as much as we can but more importantly inspire them to seek other cultures on their
own. We will never know what situation will spark that thought in a student to create a new idea,
a new artwork, a new genre, a new world.
My World

When I was a teenager I began to travel. I was a typical American with all of my customs
and prejudices in check. Not that I was mean, or unwilling to learn, I had just never been
exposed to a culture unlike my own, and this is coming from a person who was born in South
Florida and grew up in Central Florida, both areas are rich with cultural diversity. Each culture is
so vastly different yet we all have some commonalities. If you look at pottery almost globally, it
has a similarity to it. The use of drawings, color, paint, performance, is present in almost every
people group. Although we havent always shared our ideas in the past we are sharing them now.
Just look at the infusion of Anime in the Western Hemisphere. It has exploded and created an
entire wave of artists that love cartoons. Art and cultural relevancy has the ability to change the
world.
References
Boughton, D, & Mason, R. (1999). Beyond Multicultural Education: International Perspectives.
New York, NY.
Delacruz, E. (1996, January 1). Approaches to Multiculturalism inArt Education Curriculum
Products: Business as Usual. Retrieved February 18, 2015, from
http://www.elizabethdelacruz.com/uploads/5/4/3/6/5436943/delacruz_multicultural_prod
ucts.pdf
Kellner, D. (1997, January 1). Cultural Studies, Multiculturalism, and Media Culture. Retrieved
February 17, 2015, from
http://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/essays/culturalstudiesmulticulturalism.pdf
Stuhr, P. (1994, January 1). Multicultural Art Education and Social Reconstruction. Retrieved
February 18, 2015, from
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1320218?sid=21105926641653&uid=3739256&ui
d=2&uid=3739600&uid=4