The Importance of Self-Reflection for Community-based Educators

This paper discusses today’s world of postmodern community-based art education and what is being termed “arts in corrections.” It elaborates on the importance of self-study for educators in this realm, emphasizing the role of reflection in gaining new ideas and interpretations about one’s actions and practices and discussing how one can appropriately conduct such research. The author uses autobiography to explore the factors that assisted in developing her interest in the use of art education for personal understanding and reconstruction, particularly within the area of criminal justice.

I am a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin in the Division of Art Education within the Department of Art and Art History. I was recently confronted by a fellow student about how I could, and why I would, choose to advocate for art programming within the criminal-justice system. My colleague was obviously upset by my desire to provide art education opportunities for individuals that have offended society or violated others. This was the first time I had been asked to defend my work. I felt very uncomfortable and awkward as I fumbled for quick answers. I wonder if I answered appropriately? How did I get here, and why am I inspired by such opportunities?

Community-based Art Education in a Postmodern Era

Brent Wilson (99-113) postulates that “Art education is beholden to the era in which it is practiced, and it reflects, usually in a distorted fashion, the concerns that distinguish the world of art at a given time” (p. 99). The Modernist approach of the late 20th century created easily definable principles and stepped processes, however it also created an atmosphere that did not emphasize or reward retrospection. Although this de-emphasis of historic reflection was part of the era’s purpose, human nature seemed to find both artists and the public quickly bored by the constriction of focus, and thus the period was rather short-lived compared to other historical trends. Postmodernism, to the contrary, is an inclusive genre, looking to histories, the associated characteristics and crafts, and unique qualities of individual communities. It retains the importance of individuality and the value of newness that Modernism stressed, but it looks to history, heritage and situation as positive resources and places for motivation and inspiration. This pluralistic emphasis and action makes today’s world ripe for community-based art programming.

The term community, as used in the field of art education, can be defined as “people living within the same locality, and defined by common interests such as shared concerns, cultural heritage, traditions and language patterns” (Adejumo12). The Center for the Study of Art and Community supports the idea that community-based art programs have the ability to build and improve relationships, to nurture and heal individuals and communities, to inspire and mobilize people and to educate and inform everyone. Some of the populations currently being served include at-risk youth, the elderly, those with disabilities, gifted and talented students, the underserved, the incarcerated and those with ill health. Twenty-five years ago, community-based art programming was focused on “beautification, quality of life and community animation,” while today, we are starting to hear more and more about programs that focus on improving mental and emotional states of being, conflict resolution, public safety and community revitalization (Cleveland, “Making Exact Change,” par. 3). The benefits can be profound for someone needing to heal or simply desiring to take personal growth steps and expand self-esteem, self-awareness and self-control.

Art and the Process of Self-awareness

The process of creating a work of art is very cathartic. It allows one to reflect, sort through repressed feelings, contemplate and express emotions. This path can lead to immense personal growth, as I personally experienced in my own artistic process. When artists are the center of their own projects, and their desires for the works are the focus, self-awareness and self-understanding cannot help but thrive. Art can be the process that helps people deal with all sorts of situations and feelings, from abusive and victimizing events to those of hatred and guilt (Dunn; Mullen; Williams; Williams & Taylor).

The art-making process also helps one develop goals, which are crucial for future growth. Part of this visualization comes from the ability to order, shape and control a small fragment of the world. This is often difficult if not impossible in day-to-day life, yet humans have a biological need to impose order on their environment. The creation of objects and images is comforting because it “provides a type of solace that comes from controlling chaotic elements within our universe” (Williams11). This in turn teaches skills in concentration, order and sequencing, memorization, evaluation and analysis, all vital skills for problem solving and decision making, and is supported by scientists currently conducting research on the human brain (Brune; Dunn; Rettig & Rettig). As motivation and self-reliance become more apparent, internal self-discipline and positive choices can more easily follow.

There are community-based art organizations across the nation providing these and other healing benefits to various populations. For example, the Healing Arts Project in San Antonio, Texas, provides children who have been abused with opportunities for artistic expression. The Survivors Art Foundation offers similar services for trauma-survivors in Westhampton, New York. The Art for Healing Foundation, in Montreal, Quebec, brings art education to hospitals, hospices and shelters, provides services for healthcare givers and patients. There are also many grassroots art programs designed specifically for incarcerated communities and for others at different junctions within the criminal-justice system (Brune). Everyone impacted by crime, whether an offender, a victim or a member of the community that needs healing, and art is beginning to be seen as a magnificent tool in this healing process

Arts in Corrections

The criminally incarcerated have produced art since the inception of our penal institutions (Gussak & Ploumis-Devick 35-43), but there is a vast distinction between the spontaneous art produced by the incarcerated and art-education programs designed specifically for these communities. Although programming for incarcerated populations may seem like a rather new concept, the field actually possesses a rich history, reaching back to 1870 in New York (Dunn). A hundred years later the 1970s, with its liberal approach to social concerns, saw the birth of many arts-in-corrections initiatives. However, the social agenda of the latter part of the century seems to have been parallel to that of the Modernist period seen in the art world, and thus many programs quickly found their demise (Dunn; Szekely). Three decades later, we find ourselves in the postmodern era of the new millennium, and not only are programs like the grassroots efforts seen in arts in corrections coming full circle and appearing again, they are appearing with a new mission and emerging avenues for communication and learning. The Arts in Criminal Justice conference, held in Philadelphia, Pa., in October 2007, demonstrated the expanse of the field. Academic institutions, such as the University of Michigan.[1] Florida State University, the University of South Florida and many others are getting involved as well.

Self-studies

Formal research is what we usually think of as appropriate to education research. It is designed to contribute to a general knowledge about and understanding of educational processes, players, outcomes and contexts and the relationship between or among them. This type of research is usually broken down by methodological types: experimental, correlational, survey, case study, qualitative and evaluational. (Richardson 7)

Formal research methodologies like those identified here are quite often too narrow and confining for the purposes of practical inquiry in the current postmodern age of community-based programming. Today, understanding our own practice and how we make inferences related to our practice is invaluable, especially when working with fragile populations, such as those within the correctional system (Richardson).

Self-study helps us understand our pedagogical and research choices more fully. A proper review helps us acknowledge our beliefs, values and experiences, and thus teaches us about our personal assumptions and biases. It also enables others to know who we are and where we have been (Childs 142-153).

As Bullough and Pinnegar state,

…self-study’s appeal is grounded in the postmodern university’s preoccupation with identity formation and a … recognition of the linkage of person and the play of power in self formation. Foucault offers a rationale for self-study work: “If one is interested in doing … work that has political meaning, utility and effectiveness, then this is possible only if one has some kind of involvement with the struggles taking place in the area in question. (14)

Only then can researchers be seen as competent and the theories they utilize as having merit in a practical arena (Bullough & Pinnegar).

As noted by Childs,

Our interpretations of experience are shaped by our assumptions, by our biases, by our own world views. In the same way, those assumptions and beliefs shape our decisions and our responses. Any investigation into one’s own practice should be an account of uncovered assumptions and of on-going attempts to line up to one’s professional beliefs. … It looks at the way that the personal and professional aspects of an individual impact and interact. (143)

Therefore, when working with alternative populations, such as those within the criminal-justice system, it is beneficial to have a thorough understanding of oneself and the past experiences that have shaped and continue to contribute to their own development today.

Conducting a Self-study

Self-study is fundamentally based on reflection. In order to move ahead, one must reflect back and look for information about the past that has been overlooked or repressed. The process of reflection requires that one reach into deep places of vulnerability, which can create discomfort for the researcher and others around him or her. According to Gamelin, disturbing emotions are often revealed, and not everyone is ready for this self-reflective journey. However, strength can be secured through vulnerability and valuable information can emerge from the process.

The article “Guidelines for Quality in Autobiographical Forms of Self-Study Research” offers practical points for consideration when conducting a self-study. Proper self-studies must be truthful and undertaken to help others connect with one’s position. The moments discussed should be laid out and scrutinized in order to create a pattern of experiences: “The purpose of the telling and interpreting is to enable the reader to experience the narrative as if they lived it with the insight of the interpretation” (Bullough & Pinnegar 16). It should offer an inside look at the participant’s thinking and feeling. Interpretations made of self-study data should not only reveal but also question the relationships, contradictions and limits of the views presented. They should contain complication and tension. Through this, the learning situation will be improved both for oneself and for others.

Reflections based on self-study must be engaging. The relevant themes should be evident and identifiable across both theoretical topics and conversational dialogue. A connection between the autobiography and history must be apparent and authentic, and the issues discussed must be supported by sufficient evidence so that the reader will have no difficulty recognizing authority. Childs personally testifies,

I believe that personal experience is a source of valuable knowledge, a knowledge that reflects the diversity of real life and resonates with its complexities. Using this as a resource gives us an opportunity to examine our actions and to consciously construct and reconstruct a personal identity that responds to a newly transformed worldview. (151)

Other Educators Utilizing Self-study

The book “Just Who Do We Think We Are? Methodologies for Autobiography and Self-study in Teaching” contains a number of personal stories that are good examples of educators using self-study in their own lives and work (Mitchell, et al.). Anastasia Kamanos Gamelin is of both Greek and Turkish descent, has dual Greek and Canadian citizenship, and speaks and lives in both a French and English world. She started exploring the techniques of self-study in her doctoral dissertation in order to better understand how she came to be a writer, teacher and academic. She now teaches in the Education Department of Saudi Arabia’s first private institution of higher education for women and utilizes self-study as a way to approach social, cultural and educational change and believes that valuable knowledge can come from dual identities and conflicting roles. Gamelin notes:

Transformation rests upon an awareness of how our personal, institutional and cultural stories influence and shape our “lived stories” and experiences … it is both self-affirming and self-confirming, and returns meaning to the educational process. (188-192)

Mary Phillips Manke used self-study to try and understand her sexuality and how she, as a lesbian, fits into this world and academics in particular. She compares being “queer” and conducting a self-study by discussing the difficulties she experiences in both realms and how it has made her feel like an outsider. Manke explains,

Queerness implies an inclination toward change, toward radicalism … Self-study research is not necessarily radical. It takes place within educational institutions that aim to conserve the culture. Yet within this fairly narrow context it is continually asking questions about change and seeking self-emancipation … Where traditional researchers seek to exclude the self or compensate for its presence (Peshkin, 2000), self-study researchers seek to include the self or perceptions. Thus when traditional researchers look in the mirror provided by the “othered” self-study community, they can see that their work too is produced by the self, is affected by the self, and disowns the self at its own risk. (196-197)

Kathleen Pithouse utilized the self-study process to resolve issues she felt between her privileged upbringing and the lack of resources available to other young girls in South Africa, where she grew up.

My personal need to understand how the experiences of apartheid-era privilege impacted on my learning and on my self-concept has led me to question the discourses of privilege that were widely taken for granted during my time at school. By achieving my own agency within my story of mis-educative privilege, I hope to become “better-equipped to turn [my] discourses and practices against those which constrain [me]” … [and] to make clear what it was about this particular teaching experience that was so emotionally and intellectually valuable to me. (209-210)

These studies are engaging examples of how self-study can improve the way one sees and interacts with the world, which is the goal for myself in this process.

Autobiography

Growing up in a rural farming community in Central Texas, I learned to appreciate the simple things in life. I was born into a family of German farmers who immigrated through Galveston in the latter part of the 19th century. It is amazing to recognize how much my family preserved the old-world, German culture. We raised and butchered our animals. We baked our bread, milked our cows, and made our butter. I spent many days crocheting, quilting, and sewing clothes with my grandmothers. In retrospect, my world was very small yet rich with a depth of life that is rarely found in today’s fast-paced society.

My Life and the Criminal-Justice System

While I was growing up, my father worked for the Texas Youth Commission, the “State School” as it was called, for juvenile offenders. It may sound odd, but I have fond memories of frequent visits to see him at work. My mother and I would take my father lunch when he worked on Sundays. I am not sure why I went on other days, but I always found my visits interesting. It was a strange and exciting place.

The students at the state school were allowed to participate in activities within the community, and various instances of their engagements are still memorable. I vividly remember attending a 4th of July parade when I was about ten. There was an artistic float created and manned by some of the resident students. I was particularly struck by several wooden storage trunks that had intricately carved designs and scenes. They were large, the size that would sit at the foot of a bed. One of the box lids featured a detailed landscape and another an eagle with out-stretched wings. Viewers could clearly see the images as they lined the streets. I remember being so impressed that I asked my father about them. He explained that the students were allowed to participate in various classes, and that he saw a lot of talent and attractive work. Although he is now retired, my father still speaks fondly of the artwork he watched students create.

As a teenager, I desired nothing more than to escape the small farming community with its state school, parades, and quaint German customs. I wanted to live in the fast-paced urban society that seemed to offer so much more than I had experienced. Although I was the valedictorian of my high school, I dropped out of college after one semester and ran away with a defiant boyfriend. I joke that he was like one of the students from the state school, although it is not really a joke. I soon found myself a single mother, supporting our daughter on my own.

My Art

Through my own experiences with art, I learned that it can be an alternative means of communication and expression and that it can be used to increase awareness and self-esteem. In December of 1999, I started taking community art classes one morning a week at the Austin Museum of Art. I believe I found my soul.

All my art is autobiographical. Most of my work focuses on the female figure and has to do with my emotional response and personal view of events and relationships in my life – my family and friends, the farm, struggles with my family’s religion, my sexuality, contradictions and double standards. I was fortunate to have taken a class from Lucia Viegas, a past instructor at the Austin Museum of Art, who was inspirational in helping me discover how to incorporate myself into my work.

My work and my vision are seldom the same; they are usually in the same family, with the vision leading the way, but it is impossible for me to predict the exact outcome of endeavors. I’ve spent a lot of time examining the psychological tensions that surround my femininity. Art is a safe and private place where I can explore a myriad of possibilities. I am in control. Like Frida Kahlo’s, my work is personal and is often done in solitude. Yet, ironically, a great deal of my intention is to defeat the wall of solitude that I built around myself. My pieces are titled after completion, by a process of post-rationalization, which is personally illuminating. Learning to express my self in this way has been an incredible source of empowerment.

I love experimenting with different media. My works include ceramics, paintings, drawings, photographs, sculpture and mixed-media pieces. The medium is usually determined by the message I am trying to convey. This said, I prefer working in clay. My hands feel comfortable with it. When I was a child, I made hundreds of mud pies. Perhaps it evokes memories of this or pressing pastry dough between my fingers with my grandmother. I like how ceramic work starts out as clay and through the firing process the molecular properties are transformed so that it is no longer the same product in the end – much like my sense of self as I work through the artistic process.

After discovering the artistic process, and with the encouragement and support of my current husband who is a criminal-defense attorney, I soon found the strength and courage to return to college. I completed my undergraduate degree the same month that my daughter graduated from high school, and am now working to complete a master’s degree in art education with a focus on community-based programming. Because of my past and current contacts with the criminal-justice system, it seems natural that I am drawn to arts in corrections.

Restorative Justice

My studies regarding art education within the criminal-justice system raised a more global concern for me about how we are treating our fellow citizens. In June 2007, I attended the opening reception for the National Conference on Restorative Justice.[2] The ideas and theories encompassing restorative justice were new concepts for me. According to restorativejustice.org, restorative justice “is a response to crime that focuses on restoring the losses suffered by victims, holding offenders accountable for the harm they have caused, and building peace within communities” (Prison Fellowship International par. 1). Restorative justice is an emerging way of thinking about crime and our response to criminal offense. It holds offenders accountable for their actions and the harm they caused and seeks redress for victims. The goal is reintegration of both the perpetrator and the offended into the community and the elimination of any of future criminal activity (Haley; Wundersitz & Hetzel).

One of the keynote speakers at the Art in Criminal Justice conference was Howard Zehr, a professor at the Eastern Mennonite University (Eastern Mennonite University). He is a photographer, a photojournalist and an international consultant on restorative justice and victim/offender conferencing. One of Zehr’s previous projects involved photographing men on death row. He is currently working with Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz on a photo/interview project, “When a parent is in prison” (Easter Mennonite University). Zehr noted that crime is a violation of both people and relationships. “[Restorative justice] creates obligations to make things right. Justice involves the victim, the offender, and the community in a search for solutions which promote repair, reconciliation, and reassurance” (Zehr181). Haley further elaborates on this idea by noting that the emphasis is on restoration – restoration of the offender’s self-respect, restoration of relationships between offenders and victims, and restoration of trust for everyone within the community.

A Model Program

At the Arts in Criminal Justice Conference, I saw first-hand how art is being used to promote both personal and interpersonal growth experiences for those within the correctional system. It was also made clear how art is serving as both a bridge and platform for restorative justice projects.

The October 2007 conference was hosted by the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program (MAP), which started in 1984 as an antigraffiti campaign. MAP’s fundamental goal is to utilize mural-making and art education as a way to confront crime and deter negative behavior. Almost 25 years later, MAP’s mission has not changed, yet it is working to create a more holistic program addressing the needs of both victims and offenders.

MAP’s Healing Walls project joined inmates from Graterford prison, victims of crime and community advocates in dialogue and mural-making sessions. In developing this location of positive engagement, dialogue sessions were held in the community where the mural was to be placed and inside Graterford in order to include the offenders in the project. Art classes and painting sessions were held in the prison gym, where all participants worked together to eventually create murals on parachute fabric. The fabric pieces were then installed at various locations throughout the community. Two murals were created; they contain riveting images that deal with the impact of crime and the journey toward healing, one from the inmates’ perspective and the second from the point of view of the crime victims. The voices of these participants – both the inmates and the victims – haunt the murals and capture the pain and the tragedy that all parties have sought to transcend. More important, these murals created a bridge between disparate groups whose paths otherwise would not have crossed. …. Although complex and challenging, Healing Walls succeeded in creating a space for healing and reconciliation. (Philadelphia Mural Arts Project par. 9)

Tomorrow

My personal experiences with art taught me that reflection and personal development are inherent components of the art-making process. Art helped me learn to express myself through the self-reflective process. It gave me the tools necessary to improve the way I move through the world and interact with it. I found a private place to explore my life and heal from the pain of various events in my life. I hope to share the powerful and healing aspects of art with others so that they too can develop better relationships with themselves and others.

My close association with the criminal-justice system has given me an appreciation for the different paths of the human condition. Separation of the fabric of our families and our communities is partly responsible for the United States having the largest prison system in the world. The land of the free now has one out of every 32 citizens under some kind of correctional supervision (Pew,). Ideas regarding justice and how it should be implemented are changing, and art is being seen as a unique tool with the ability to “translate to the needs of communities” and aid in their rebuilding (Cleveland, 2002, par. 7). It is my hope, and now part of my life’s mission, to engage art within the criminal-justice system. In this way, art becomes a tool and a process to foster increased understanding of self and thus others, leading to a more holistic and effective approach for promoting peace and balance within our communities and truly restored justice.

This essay is part of the Community Arts Convening & Research Project, 2008, funded by a Nathan Cummings Foundation grant to the Maryland Institute College of Art. The essay was reviewed and selected by the project's Editorial Board: Ron Bechet, Xavier University of Louisiana; Lori Hager, University of Oregon; Marina Gutierrez, Cooper Union; Ken Krafchek, Maryland Institute College of Art; Sonia Mañjon, California College of the Arts; Amalia Mesa-Bains, California State University Monterey Bay; Paul Teruel, Columbia College Chicago; and Stephani Woodson, Arizona State University.

Sheila Fox received her paralegal certificate from the University of Texas in 1990 and she has had a career in environmental and administrative law for more than 15 years. Fox returned to UT and received a B.F.A. in Visual Art Studies in 2006. She plans to graduate from her alma mater with an M.A. in Art Education in 2008.

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NOTES