2016 Conference Presentation: How art supports critical literacy.

1. The Art of Critical Knowing:
Collagistic Interpretations of Reading With/Against Text
Vivian Vasquez & Jerome Harste

2. For the past 5 years Peggy Albers, Terri Holbrook, and I have been involved
with an auto-ethnography of ourselves as artists. We have been interested in
describing the process as well as what gets highlighted when someone engages in art
as opposed to engaging in other literacies (say, writing).
Art is a product as well as a process. As a process we have found that Jasper
Johns captured it about as well as anyone (BrainyQuote.com, 2016):
“It’s simple, you just take something and do something to it and then do something
else to it. Keep doing this, and pretty soon you will have something.” What he fails
to explain is what happens in between and during the “do somethings.”
In my Causey address (Harste 2013) entitled “Transmedition: The Art of Learning,”
I laid out four affordances that our research team, as practicing artists, studying
ourselves thought art highlighted over written language literacy. They were:

3. *Art affords us the opportunity to see more differently, aesthetically, emotionally
*Art affords critical expression: The questioning of taken for granted values
*Art affords abduction: The exploration of possibility, creativity, and imagination
*Art affords agency: The ability to impose a different order on experience.
In answer to this year’s symposium question, “How does art support learners
in taking on a critical stance?” Vivian and I decided to develop an instructional strategy
that would feature Jacob Johns’ insights into art as a process
as well as highlight the affordances I outlined art as affording.
To that end we created a Critical Collage Workshop which ran 5 hours over
two days for inservice teachers enrolled in a critical literacy masters degree
program. For purposes of this presentation we examined 50 of the collages
produced. In previous courses with these participants we had introduced what
we have called “risky texts,” that is picture books and adolescent novels that
raise importance social issues, everything from homosexuality to racism to
xenophobia. We began our workshop building from that base.

4. Take Something and Do Something to It.
In Phase 1 we asked participants to come to the workshop having identified
their favorite social issue book; one they felt strongly about. We asked them
to identify a picture or page that captured what they thought was the central
thesis and make a copy of this for use in the first layer of their collage.
Example 1: I took the book “I’m Glad I’m a Boy, I’m Glad I’m a Girl” (Darrow, 1970)
and identified the theme as “Positioning.”
Example 2: Vivian took the book “Froodle” (Portis, 2014) and identified the
theme of “Bullying.”

5. Then Do Something Else to It.
In Phase 2 we asked participants to think broadly about the social issue by
“Reading With and Reading Against a Text” (Janks, 2014). What were all of the
manifestations of their issue in modern times – both complimentary and contradictory?
We invited them to “research, research, research” by exploring the internet and
by searching newspapers and magazines to find related stories and articles.
Example 1: I found stories about Black Lives Matter, Toronto’s Gay Parade
interpreted by a protest, Trump quotes putting down Hillary, Mexicans, etc.
Example 2: Vivian found articles on bullying (Bullied to Death) as well as
questionable advice as to what teachers should say to children who reported
being bullied (Just Act Less Gay).
'Bullied to death': 9-year-old WV boy kills himself after
being tormented ...
www.rawstory.com/.../bullied-to-death-9-year-old-wv-boy-
kills-himself-after-being-tor.

6. Keep Doing This and Soon You Will Have Something.
In Phase 3 we asked participants to do two things: (1) find or create a visual image
that captures the essence of the social issue being address (Simons, 2014), and
(2) in the spirit of “stenciling a resistance” (Craig, 201) stencil a word or phrase as
a final layer over your collage.
Example 1: I drew an image of Donald Trump with the phrase “Citizenship Redefined?”,
splashed paint across my whole canvas, and then added a banner reading,
“What Does It Mean It Mean to Be a Responsible Citizen in Our Society Today?”

7. Example 2: Vivian added a variety of well known images of people who had been
victimized via bullying (Ann Frank, Mathew Shepard, etc.) and stenciled
“Neutrality Helps the Oppressor. Never the Victim.” She also embedded a mirror
in the center of her collage so that viewers see themselves reflected in the collage as
they interacted with it.

8. We classified the collages produced in terms of themes addressed. This is what we found:
Racial Equality/Inequity (N=8); Poverty (N-4)

9. Themes:
Resistance (N=8); Mental Health (N=2)

10. Questioning Materiality (N=3) Questioning Cultural Norms About Women & Beauty (N=4)

11. Ecology (N=4); Questioning Cultural Practices (N=5)

12. Gender Issues (N=3); Inclusion (N=3)

13. Homelessness (N=2); Bullying (N=3)

14. Deb: As a Case Study

15. In Phase 1 we asked participants to come to the workshop having identified
their favorite social issue book. One they felt strongly about. We asked them
to identify a picture or page that captured what they thought was the central
thesis and make a copy of this for use in the first layer of their collage.”
What book did you identify? What theme or social issue did you see the
book speaking to? What page did you select and why this page and not another?

16. Deb Responded:
“At first I chose this book because I thought it was an Indigenous story that could be used
in primary or elementary classrooms because perspective is missing in classroom libraries.
However, when I read against the text and began to research it further, I came to realize
that neither the author nor the illustrator is Indigenous.
In fact, when I checked Goodminds, a book store on the Six Nations reserve in southern
Ontario, they had this to say about the book:
“The Rough-Faced Girl is a fictional and romanticized Cinderella fairy tale transplanted
by author Rafe Martin to the shores of Lake Ontario.”

17. “I quickly realized that my attempt to bring Indigenous voices and perspectives
into the classroom was in fact an example of cultural appropriation. That became
the social justice issue.
At first I had planned to use a picture from the book of the main character tending
the fire (the way she became the “rough-faced girl”). In the book, her scars from
tending the fire were a source of ridicule, whereas this role would likely be seen
as a position of honor.
I settled on the image from the cover because it showed the main character hidden
behind her hands, peeking out at the reader. It seemed to symbolize how
cultural appropriation hides Indigenous culture and makes it into something
two dimensional.”

18. In Phase 2 we asked participants to think broadly about the social issue by
“Reading With and Reading Against a Text” (Janks, 2014). What were all of the
manifestations of their issue in modern times – both complimentary and contradictory?
We invited them to search through newspapers and magazines to find related stories
and articles.
Deb responded:
“What One Native Woman Thinks Everyone Should Know About Native People”
http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/what-one-native-woman-thinks-
everyone-should-know-about-native-people/
“Is There an Indigenous Way to Write about Indigenous Art”
http://canadianart.ca/features/indigenous-way-write-indigenous-art/
“American Indians in Children’s Literature”
https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.ca/2016/05/stereotypes-of-native-people
“A Much Needed Primer on Cultural Appropriation” and “Cultural Appropriation Bingo”
http://jezebel.com/5959698/a-much-needed-primer-on-cultural-appropriation
“Inappropriation” http://uphere.ca/articles/inappropriation
Goodminds Website: http://www.goodminds.com/home
“About” http://www.goodminds.com/about

19. In Phase 3 we asked participants to do two things: (1) find or create a visual image
that captures the essence of the social issue being addressed (Simons, 2014), and
(2) in the spirit of “stenciling a resistance” (Craig, 2015) stencil a word or phrase as
a final layer over your collage.
What visual image (or images) did you decide on and why? What word or phrase
did you stencil over the top of your collage and why?
Finally, say something about your collage overall.
What should others know about your collage?
How did layering a variety of words and images affect your representation
of the issue you chose?

20. Deb initially responded by repeating herself, but then went on:
“I settled on the image from the cover because it showed the main character
hidden behind her hands, peeking out at the reader. It seemed to symbolize
how cultural appropriation hides Indigenous culture and makes it into
something two dimensional. I designed my poster so that the hands were
3 dimensional (by cutting apart the hand images and putting them on
cardboard – with some fingers on more cardboard than others – to create
a sense of depth). I also painted the girl red shown in the picture (redskin
stereotype) and her hands and arms a rainbow of colors to represent
diversity of personalities and peoples and cultures.”

21. “It took me quite a few days finally to settle on what to stencil on top of my collage
of images. At first I was going to go with “Appropriation” or “Cultural Appropriation”
but the poem “I’m Not the Indian You Had in Mind” by Thomas King kept playing
through my head over and over. I decided that is what needed to be stenciled
onto my collage.
When I posted my collage I also posted a QR code that would take people to the
video where Thomas King performs the poem. I don’t think anyone actually did
get around to viewing it, but I felt like it rounded out the collage.”
Text Connection:
Poem by
Thomas King, “I’m Not the Indian You Had in Mind”

22. Conclusions:
Given Deb’s response it is easy to argue that the Critical Collage Workshop we developed clearly
supported her in experiencing the affordances I talked about in my 2013 Causey address:
Deb saw not only saw things differently but also became aware of underlying issues.
Her response was clearly critical, questioning what others had taken for granted.
She had epiphanies which generated new conclusions and insights.
She took agency – In fact in a recent memo I received from her she is incorporating the
Critical Collage Workshop in the Native curriculum guide being developed for Ontario schools.

23. Conclusions:
Overall, responses from the Critical Collage Workshop were much more nuanced,
sophisticated, complex, and critical than were artistic
responses we studied In previous years when using art to respond to risky texts.
This is true for the Sketch to Stretch responses we studied (2012, 2013) and the
Reading With and Reading Against a Text responses we studied last year.
Some examples from last year’s study of students reading
With and Against a Text.

24. Conclusions
While having an extended amount of time clearly contributed to the quality of the responses we
received, what is unclear is just how much art itself contributed. Reading With and Reading Against
a Text has as an underlying mantra “research, research, research.” This constant invitation to research
may well explain the quality of and criticality of the responses we received. Although we cannot
clearly sort out which factor – time, art, or research – contributed the most to participants taking on
a critical stance, it is clear that the combination of the three led to a highly productive, critical,
and quality curricular engagement; one in which not only the power of critical literacy but
also the power of art are featured front and center.