Isabel Castaño

Dr. Amber Ward

Unit Paper 3

March 1st, 2018

There are many times in art where the big idea of vulnerability is being explored and

viewers look beyond it. The 21st Century Art Education approach we are taking in class to look

at vulnerability in depth is visual thinking strategies and psychological safety. When a big idea

such as vulnerability is being explored it is important to keep students in mind and the types of

art that you present that they themselves can be vulnerable to. In her article Vulnerability in the

Art Room, Libba Willcox says, “Students and teachers must embrace their personal vulnerability

in the art room to engage in creative risk-taking that minimizes shame” (115). Willcox is making

a point to say that it is important that both students and teachers recognize the kinds of things

that make them feel vulnerable and to embrace those things rather than be ashamed of them.

When people feel ashamed it then takes away from their learning experience and their

experiences when viewing or creating art. Art tells a story and the stories are important ones that

help people connect to their emotions and the outside world. Daniel Pink says that stories

“sharpen our understanding of one thing by showing it in the context of something else” (101).

Vulnerability in art is important because it allows for people to embrace their own personal

stories and experiences in order to understand that people have different things that can trigger

their vulnerability and that it is not something to feel ashamed of but rather embraced.

Touching on the subject of vulnerability in a first grade classroom would be a little more

difficult because the stories of the children are just getting started in their early lives. In order to

modify the 21st Art Education approach to fit my classroom I could ask students to think of a list
of three things that make them feel sad and to have a reason why that makes them feel sad. Once

they have their list in mind I will give them painting supplies and ask them to use different colors

that they associate with being sad and to use those in their paintings of the different things that

make them feel that way. I think this will really allow students to get in touch with things that

make them feel vulnerable without them actually knowing what vulnerability is.
 References

Pink, D. (2005). A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age.

New York: Riverhead Books

Willcox, L. Vulnerability in the Art Room: Explorations of Visual Journals and Risks in the

Creation of a Psychologically Safe Environment.