Propiedades colorimétricas de materiales dentales

Ann is a high school art teacher in a small, rural Midwest town. She has been teaching for four years and recently has been granted tenure in her district where she serves as the district’s lone art teacher. In the four years that Ann has been teaching, she has worked hard to expand the small art program to triple the enrollment in her introductory art classes, which has secured a steady flow of students continuing in more advanced art offerings. In addition to being the district’s only art teacher, Ann coaches the school’s volleyball team, facilitates the high school art club, and serves as the senior class student council advisor. Outside of work, Ann spends time with family and friends with whom she is extremely close. When Ann is not working at school or visiting with family and friends, she is trying to carve out time to make art—a practice that provides her great personal satisfaction. Despite the joy Ann derives from making art, she

wrestles with how to prioritize time for it in lieu of more demanding professional obligations and social commitments. The following case explores Ann’s quandary to maintain an art practice while fulfilling professional obligations and social commitments.

4.01.01 Ann’s Background

Ann grew up as an only child in a small rural town in the Midwest. Ann’s mother is a corporate executive at a large insurance company while her father works as a mechanic. Growing up, Ann’s father struggled with alcoholism and was not present as a father until he sobered up when Ann was a teenager. As a result of his absence in the family, Ann’s mother was the primary provider. To make ends meet, Ann’s mother worked long hours, often staying at the office late and regularly leaving town on business trips. The only child to an overworked mother

and an absent father, Ann stayed with friends in the neighborhood when she was not in school. Despite her inconvenient familial circumstances growing up, Ann has a good relationship with both of her parents.

My mom and I are super close, we’re like best friends for sure. And she had me when she was nineteen so we are fairly close in age too. Now that I’m older now too, we’re buds and we do everything together. (Ann, 9-6-14, p. 4)

While she sees her mother as a friend, she also admires her as an ambitious woman with a strong work ethic.

During her formative years growing up, Ann was at neighbors’ houses while her parents were gone. During this time she developed close friendships with other kids in her neighborhood. She maintains many of these friendships to the present day. One friend Ann stayed with was a friendly, well-liked girl named Tristan. Tristan was one of Ann’s best friends. Ann spent much time with Tristan and her family when her parents were gone. However, in junior high, Tristan was diagnosed with cancer and quickly passed away. Following Tristan’s sudden and tragic death, Ann withdrew from friends and family—grieving the loss of her friend in isolation. She reflects on this traumatic time, explaining, “I went through this season of being depressed and grieving people and not wanting to be out there, and that’s probably why I hated school. And it all kind of plays into why I didn’t want to try anymore” (Ann, 9-10-14, p. 17). The loss of her friend shook Ann’s worldview—leading to an existential crisis of sorts. She was bitter and angry. Despite this unprecedented loss, over time Ann slowly emerged from her grief—still distraught but no longer wanting to be alone.

Her unconventional family life and the tragedy of losing a close friend played a role in Ann’s performance in school. She confesses that she was not the greatest student growing up.

She had low grades and often was in trouble for cutting class or not participating in activities. “I wasn’t rude, I was just very apathetic and that would tick a lot of teachers off. I wasn’t

disrespectful or harmful in the classroom, I just didn’t do anything” (Ann, 9-10-14, p. 8). Ann explains that a major reason for her disinterest in school was that she was still grieving the loss of her friend Tristan. Another reason pertained to the way instruction was delivered at her school. She complained that most of her teachers lectured content in what can be described as a teacher-centered approach (Cuban, 1984). Consequentially, Ann did not feel that she could make personal connections to content because she could not engage with the material—thus making it boring and meaningless to her. She explained her learning process in the following way: “I learn best when I’m applying it. Like you can talk to me all day, but I don’t understand anything, but then if I’m able to apply it in some way then I’m definitely going to get it” (Ann, 9-10-14, p. 14). Her disdain for the teacher-centered approach she experienced would later shape the way she taught—prefacing a student-centered approach with meaning making central to her curricula. In an effort to boost her GPA, guidance counselors enrolled her in an introductory art class her senior year of high school. This was when Ann first met Mrs. Green, a teacher who would become immensely influential in Ann’s life. Ann affectionately identifies Mrs. Green as the best teacher she ever had. She was nurturing, kind, and caring—attributes Ann prizes as a teacher herself. Unlike other teachers who were biased by Ann’s apathetic reputation, Mrs. Green was more interested in seeing what Ann was capable of.

She knew to just give me respect and believe in me, and in my other classes where I had terrible grades teachers didn’t care and she did. She didn’t care about me having good grades, but she cared about me participating and trying. (Ann, 9-6-14, p. 5)

Mrs. Green had a demeanor that was unlike anything Ann had experienced before. Ann describes her as being very motherly. In her class, Ann felt respected, trusted, and supported. As a result of Mrs. Green’s demeanor, Ann worked harder than she ever had in any other class.

Soon art was all that Ann cared about. She had finally found a school subject that was interesting to her, and—more importantly—a subject that she where she felt she was successful. The subject spoke to Ann’s learning style. It allowed her hands-on learning experiences where she could explore different materials and techniques. The expressive component to art making resonated strongly with her—it was through drawing and painting where she developed a voice to express complicated feelings and traumas.

It felt natural, and it felt like I was finally good at school. I had just never excelled. We would do our first drawing assignment and turn it in, and it would be clear that I had something…not having any prior knowledge. You know, I just came in and I didn’t know anything else from anyone else in the room—it just kind of like happened, like my brain just sort of thought that way. (Ann, 2014, pg. 14)

She describes having a natural affinity for art; it was something she was good at without having to try.

Ann recalls the first time her artwork was displayed publicly in the school as a defining moment in high school. She recounts that “[i]t wasn’t really a big deal but it had my name on it, and the whole school could see it and that was the first time I was like associated with my art” (Ann, September 10, 2014, p. 14). Following her public debut, Ann worked hard to produce the best art that would get displayed on the bulletin boards or in the hallways. This was something that became very important to Ann. “I always needed, and I always wanted [my art] to be displayed” (Anne, 9-10-14, p. 14).

As a result of her success in art, Ann tried to spend most of her school day working in Mrs. Green’s classroom. In doing so, she developed a personal relationship with her art teacher. Through their time together, Mrs. Green would share her own artwork with Ann and other

students. She mostly created mosaics and collages, but also made large tiled sculptures. Once she invited Ann and a few others to her house to visit her studio. The experience of seeing her work and her workspace made Mrs. Green multidimensional. Ann suggests Mrs. Green did not see herself as an artist, but rather, she viewed her practice as a hobby—work done more for personal satisfaction than to be received as fine art. Seeing this aspect of Mrs. Green left a significant impression on Ann. Mrs. Green showed her that art teachers could also make art, a perspective Ann would later adopt towards her own art practice while teaching.

Although Mrs. Green served multiple roles in Ann’s life—a nurturing mentor and an inspiring artist—perhaps the role that left the most profound impact on her was that Mrs. Green was a cancer survivor. Still working through the grief of losing her best friend Tristan to cancer, Ann viewed Mrs. Green as someone who could provide her a sense of closure toward her lingering trauma.

I guess I would ask her, ‘How are you so positive even though you have this terrible disease? How did you make it?’ because [Mrs. Green] was like the nicest person to everyone, and she was so happy to be at work everyday and I was like, ‘You have every right to be bitter at life’—she was really sick and she wasn’t [bitter]. I couldn’t wrap my mind around that, like, ‘Why aren’t you angry about it, because I’m angry that my friend was sick, so why aren’t you angry yourself? I don’t get it.’ (Ann, 9-10-14, p. 17)

Mrs. Green’s optimism, gratitude, and enthusiasm for life inspired Ann to adopt a radically different personal philosophy—one that embodied hope and strength over fear and loss. This new worldview was probably the most important lesson learned from her time with Mrs. Green.

Just seeing her struggle and never complain, and she was always there and always positive, always excited to see people, and didn’t take things for granted and I just admired her character overall—like it wasn’t just her as an artist or a teacher—it was her as a woman, who she was. (Ann, 9-10-14, p. 17)

Mrs. Green was not only a teacher who helped Ann see her true potential, or a respectable craftsperson; Mrs. Green was a role model figure that influenced Ann greatly in her adult life, both personally and professionally.

After high school, Ann went to community college where she studied business in place of art. She knew how immensely difficult it was to make a living as an artist and she chose a more conventional—and lucrative—path, similar to one her mother had taken herself. Yet, after one semester, Ann dropped out. She recalls that “[t]here were a lot of things that weren’t clicking [there]” (Ann, 9-6-14, p. 6). She describes the program as very competitive and overly statistical. After dropping out of community college, Ann worked in retail while trying to figure out what to do next. She thought deeply about what job she would actually want to do. “And so I thought about my high school art teacher and that made me go back and think, maybe I should take art classes again, maybe I should keep going into this especially if it’s something that I like” (Ann, 9-6-14, p. 3). Ann enrolled in an art program the following year. She started out in studio art but later switched to art education. She admits that she questioned her ability to pursue studio art. She recalls, “I think I was concerned about my skill level because I didn’t have a lot of

experience and I think I was nervous and I didn’t think I was good enough [to major in studio art]” (Ann, 9-6-14, p. 6).

Ann acknowledges that her choice to become an art teacher was largely influenced by Mrs. Green. “I wanted her job pretty much. When I thought about what I wanted to be doing for the rest of my life I could see myself there” (Ann, 9-6-2014, p. 6). Teaching art satisfied two values that were important to Ann: working in an art related field and serving others. Because Ann was not too confident in her technical abilities as an artist, she felt being a full time artist was impossible. Even so, she still wanted to pursue an arts-related profession. Studying art education seemed like a viable option because being a masterful artist was not a prerequisite for being an excellent art teacher. Being an art teacher was not only about being skillful in art but also about being a good teacher—someone who was nurturing, caring, and kind, like her teacher Mrs. Green. Indeed, being a good role model and cultivating a safe space for young people to make art was important and meaningful. Ann felt that working as an art teacher was the perfect occupation because it allowed her to draw on her blossoming love of art making to help her students cultivate their own artistic voice.

4.01.02 Ann’s Art Practice

Ann struggles with identifying herself as an artist and does not really see the things she makes as fine art. She views her art practice as more of a hobby—something that she has not committed as much time to as she would like. “It’s something I enjoy, like some people like sitting down to read a book or cooking a nice meal, I enjoy just sitting down and drawing” (Ann, 9-10-14, p. 15). She is currently interested in more representational drawing and painting. She has an affinity towards Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and Expressionism—preferring

artwork that elicits an emotional response. Nevertheless, she expresses an eagerness to

eventually explore other artistic styles too, like abstract expressionism—artwork where subject matter is not so obvious or emotionally charged.

Despite her casual tone toward her practice, she actively tries to maintain some semblance of a consistent art practice while juggling teaching responsibilities and social commitments. Making art is important to her because she feels good when she does it—like a form of therapy. Notwithstanding, prioritizing time for art is challenging. Ann explains that she is most productive over winter breaks when it is cold and snowy out—times when she is trapped inside and can focus her attention inward. She finds summers a difficult time to make art because it is a time when her family and friends are always inviting her to do different activities, like barbecue or hiking. She finds it hard during those times to pull away and prioritize time to draw and paint.

Most of the artwork Ann produces is done in sketchbooks. Because of Ann’s busy schedule and limited room at her home to make art, these sketchbooks become a private and mobile art space where she can work. She usually carries her sketchbooks wherever she goes in case the moment arises where she can pull away and draw. In her sketchbooks she illustrates song lyrics to her favorite bands, like the Artic Monkeys and Incubus, using a style that is very graphic and illustrative. Many of the drawings are of distorted figures with song lyrics integrated into the compositions. To create these drawings, she uses graphite, colored pencils, pastels, ink, and watercolors.

Ann explains that there is no conscious theme being explored in her drawings. She illustrates lyrics that stick with her, prose that resonates with events happening in her life.

I can just hear a song and it’s exactly how [I’m] feeling and [I] don’t feel alone and all these emotions come around. So I imagine it has much deeper meaning than just random lyrics. It might be something I’m going through and I’m like, ‘I can relate to this, this helps me’. (Ann, 9-6-14, p. 1)

When she listens to the songs, she is able to visualize imagery that accompanies what she is hearing. Ann is extremely selective about what she illustrates, too—she has never illustrated a whole song or an album in sequential order. While she has illustrated selected lyrics from whole albums, the order is more determined by personal relevance than the musicians’ mixing.

In spite of the fact that these sketchbooks are Ann’s prized art possessions, she does not think of them as the kind of art she would want to show publicly. “It’s kind of like my own space” (Ann, 9-6-14, p. 8). The drawings are done mostly for herself as a way of working through different emotions—a way to make sense of her world. In referring to her current sketchbook, Ann explains:

This sketchbook would be titled an old relationship I was in because I’m still very much attached to that. I still kind of think through it—like all the lyrics, all the quotes revolve around this guy still. Like I always feel like there’s something that you’re going through, something that you can’t get over fast…like certain things stick with me, and that’s what my art becomes about. (Ann, 9-10-14, p. 22)

The goal of these sketchbooks is not necessarily to produce art but rather, to heal from personal traumas. She explains, “I would like to see a breakthrough of not feeling that negative emotion or not being tied to that person anymore, something like a change happening” (Ann, 9-10-14, p. 23).

In addition to drawing in her sketchbooks, Ann also does commissions and gifts for friends, family, members of her church, and people in her community. Ann explains, “One lady is a friend of my grandma’s and they bought a new house and I made something for their new place” (Ann, 9-10-14, p. 15). Even though this work provides her additional income and local notoriety as an artist, she does not really see what she does for them as true art. “It doesn’t feel like true art making because I’m just creating this image that [they] gave me, like there’s no creativity on my part, I’m just using my skill” (Ann, 9-10-14, p. 15). Ann distinguishes this kind of work as skill-centered and equates it more with craft than fine art. For Ann, fine art is creative, meaningful, and intellectually rigorous.

Seeing the limitations of doing commissions and a need to produce work bigger than a sketchbook page, Ann longs for the opportunity to further explore oil painting and complete larger works on canvas. She spent a summer working with oils and became enamored with the medium. She is drawn to the thick textures that can be built up with oils. Even so, it is something that time and space prevents her from pursuing further. “I live in an apartment and I don’t have the space to have a painting up and work on it for months and months. Then you also have to think about the fumes and everything” (Ann, 9-6-14, p. 2).

In addition to creating large oil paintings, Ann expresses an interest to make art that is less autobiographical and more about social issues that other people can find meaning in as well.

Like creating artwork that matters to someone else, that’s an avenue I’ve been thinking about more—like how can this matter to someone else because it matters a lot to me, and